Alabama hasn't played its spring game yet and so the Crimson Tide still has some practices left before that. Coach Nick Saban is hoping one of his top returning defensive linemen is able to get out there as well since he has been dealing with back spasms.
Rising junior defensive lineman Da'Shawn Hand began experiencing the spasms last Wednesday in practice and had to go to the training room to get looked at. He was unable to practice Friday and did not play in the team's scrimmage on Saturday. Saban is hoping that this doesn't require surgery though as he could really use a Hand on the line.
"It's always hard to judge that. This is not something that — the doctors have assured me, or assured us, that he doesn't have a situation that he needs to have surgery on," Saban said Saturday. "This will just be a thing that, when it calms down, he'll be able to come back. We're hopeful that we'll be able to get him back next week, and he'll be able to play in the A-Day game because with him and Jonathan Allen (shoulder) both out, it really makes us thin in the defensive line where we were already pretty thin to start with. So, we're hopeful that he'll be OK, but I can't predict that right now."
Hand finished last season with 6.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and 16 total tackles. He will be looking to make a much greater impact this year considering how thin the position is and the need for him to fill that position.
[h/t SEC Country]
