Alabama football quarterbacks, linebackers and what else we'll be watching at A-Day

Alabama football's culmination of all the work from the spring arrives this weekend.

The Crimson Tide will hold its A-Day spring game on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+/SEC Network+) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

There will be plenty of Alabama players to watch, but here are some position battles to examine.

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The quarterback battle

In case you haven't heard, Alabama has a quarterback battle on its hands. The departure of Bryce Young to the NFL Draft leaves the Crimson Tide having to replace an elite talent at the game's most important position.

The top two contenders, Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson, have both participated in A-Day before (Milroe twice, Simpson once). Neither has done so in this capacity, though.

Milroe figures to get first go with the offense as the more experienced of the two, but how the two alternate remains to be seen. That's likely to be the way it's handled, considering Alabama is not likely to tip its hand based on playing time. And frankly, the starter likely hasn't been decided yet anyway.

So, keep an eye on how Milroe and Simpson look. The battle won't likely be decided in the spring game, but a strong performance from one and a poor performance from the other could play a sizeable role in the decision for who starts in the first game.

Also watch to see who plays the most sound football and who makes the most mistakes. Alabama coach Nick Saban stressed the need for the quarterbacks to play clean football earlier in the spring. A mistake here and there in one scrimmage is not going to tank one quarterback's chances of starting, but it doesn't help his case either.

"One of the things that sometimes you have to learn that you’ve got to eliminate the bad plays to play winning football," Saban said. "So there’s some plays in the game that kill you. So to be able to eliminate those things is as big a part of being able to execute all the good things."

The newcomers

Alabama has a young team, which includes 26 early enrollees, a high for Saban teams at Alabama. Plus, there are four transfers, two from the junior-college ranks and two from the transfer portal.

That provides plenty of players we're interested to see on A-Day.

At the top of the list is running back Justice Haynes. The buzz is significant around him after the first two scrimmages.

"If you are just a guy sitting on a log watching, you would never know he’s a freshman,” Saban said. “So he's a very talented guy. He can make cuts. He can make you miss. He's got some power, good speed. He's a good receiver. So he’s done a really, really good job all spring.”

Freshman safety Caleb Downs also has drawn strong reviews in the spring. Both he and Haynes will likely have an opportunity to play with Alabama's top groups at some point Saturday.

On the transfer front, Malik Benson is a name to watch. The junior-college receiver could make a quick impact on this offense.

The linebacker competition

Alabama has two openings at the inside linebacker spots from the 2022 season-opening lineup with Henry To'oTo'o and Jaylen Moody departing for professional opportunities.

Deontae Lawson is out for the spring with an injury, but he figures to have a good shot at one of the openings. He won't be one of the players to watch at A-Day, so put an asterisk next to who you see starting at inside linebacker with the first-team defense. Still, take note of who is there.

Alabama figures to have a variety of players in contention for the openings at the inside linebacker spots. Perhaps Jihaad Campbell and Georgia transfer Trezmen Marshall will start. Or maybe Shawn Murphy gets the nod.

A-Day won't determine the starting duo, but it will provide an opportunity to see what at least one of the new starters looks like.

The offensive line

The exact combination of starters is always of interest, but there's so much time before the season that the group with the starters Saturday might not be the group by the fall. Take note of that, but more so, watch to see how this group looks overall.

Every offensive lineman who has spoken this spring has expressed a desire to dominate this season upfront.

"We want to be the ones on third-and-3 and we're like 'Oh, that's easy. We're just going to run behind the right side or behind the left side. We're just going to run the ball,'" guard Tyler Booker said. "We want that mentality of 'Man, we have to play Alabama this week. How are we going to stop that run?' That's the mentality that we want to have and honestly, through the spring, the way that we're playing, that's the way Alabama played when I was growing up. This is what I see Alabama football as."

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: Here's what to watch at A-Day