As Alabama heads into spring practice, Nick Saban has indicated that the Tide will going forth without at least three of its defensive players: defensive lineman Kerry Murphy, and defensive backs Kendall Kelly and Wes Neighbors. All three have been absent from team workouts due to injuries and will miss all of spring practice.
Saban wouldn’t go into specifics of the injuries, but did offer a cryptic, Nostradamus-esque prediction of exactly where he thought the future of the three players would be.
“All these guys have physical issues that have not allowed them to participate in the offseason program and will not allow them to participate in the spring, and most certainly could affect their future ability to contribute here,” Saban said.
Saban didn’t elaborate as to whether any of the three would go on medical scholarship. Murphy started four games for the Crimson Tide last season, but also battled a series of knee injuries that prevented him from doing much more. Kelly redshirted in 2009 and did not accumulate any stats in 2010. Neighbors played in 11 games for the Tide this past season and accumulated 6 tackles.
In any case, Saban certainly didn’t instill confidence that any of the three players would have even a remote impact on the team for 2011.
