*Eli Ricks, Alabama Football News: Draft Scout Player News

07/20/22 - CB *Eli Ricks, Jr/2023, Alabama

In breaking down his team Tuesday at SEC media days in Atlanta, Nick Saban isolated cornerback as a particular area of potential concern on the defense. "Defensively I think we've got seven starters back," Saban said of a group that returned several players, including safety Jordan Battle and linebacker Henry To'o To'o, for their senior seasons. "Again, the biggest challenge is how do we replace the corners that we lost, because corner is probably the one position that puts the greatest restriction on what you can do on defense. That's going to be a significant challenge for us, as well." Expectations might be highest for Ricks, who was a third-team Associated Press All-America pick as a freshman at LSU in 2020 before a shoulder injury prematurely ended his 2021 season. Saban noted at the beginning of Alabama spring practice how the shoulder injury affected Ricks' physical development and how he needed to gain back weight.

But by the spring game in mid-April, Ricks was part of the second team behind McKinstry and Jackson, who started the game with the first-team defense. Saban said after the game that Ricks was part of a three-way competition for a starting job but he needed to continue to learn the system, something Battle acknowledged Tuesday at media days. "He's fits in very well. Week in, week out, we can tell -- I mean, when he first got there, he had a problem with comfortability because the defense and the playbook but since he's been going up and seeing Coach T-Rob [Travaris Robinson], he's acclimated very quickly," Battle said. Saban's lone comments about Ricks at Tuesday's session were more pointed. "Eli Ricks is a guy that has started in this league," Saban said. "He has to, sort of, prove that he has a good understanding of what we want him to do, how we want him to do it and why it's important that way." - Birmingham News

Jr/2023