re: Slight change in Secondary

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Before facing the Southeastern Conference’s top passing and scoring offense at Ole Miss, No. 1-ranked Alabama is still tweaking its nickel and dime secondary.

At Tuesday’s practice, true freshman Patrick Surtain II was spotted at left cornerback with the starter from the last two games, Trevon Diggs, inside at Star. And on Wednesday, Surtain and Diggs were at the same positions with Shyheim Carter playing safety and Xavier McKinney moving to Money. Saivion Smith was at right corner, and Deionte Thompson was at safety.

Following Wednesday’s indoor practice session, Nick Saban addressed the movement.

“We played (Diggs and Surtain) two games in a row to try to get some experience,” Saban said. “I think we’re happy with Shyheim Carter and what he’s been able to do, but the one thing that Shyheim is is he’s sort of a jack of all trades. He can play Star, he can play safety, he’s played corner before, he’s played Money. He’s played every place in the secondary, and he’s smart. He understands the scheme really well, so sometimes he gives a little bit of an opportunity to have some diversity in terms of how you play players, and that’s why we’ve been able to change up a little bit.

“I think what we’re trying to do is get guys experience for the future, whether we have matchup issues in the future that we’d like to be able to use different players against, or if we have somebody missing and we need to adjust in the backend. And I think that’s the most important thing. But both those guys have done well at whatever position they’ve played, and I think this is the biggest challenge they’re going to have to date in terms of the quality of receivers that we’re going to have to play against and the scheme that they use and the quarterback that they have and the balance that they have on offense.”

Through two games, the Crimson Tide has allowed 235.0 yards per game, which ranks 10th in the SEC. Alabama has given up three touchdowns through the air while picking off three passes -- returning two for touchdowns. The Tide has also faced 90 pass attempts (second-most) and 42 completions for a 46.7 completion percentage, which is the second-best in the league.

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