The tweet remains pinned at the top of Rashaan Evans' Twitter page, the first thing you see when you click on the Alabama linebacker's profile.

"I'll win the Butkus Award," it says, a message Evans originally posted in late February.

Evans is that confident, that optimistic he's about to have a breakthrough senior year for the Crimson Tide.

"I believe in that tweet," Evans said, "and I'm going to keep it up for the rest of the season."

Evans will be one of the Tide's defensive leaders, set to finally be a full-time player after posting 53 tackles and four sacks as a backup and spot starter last season.

The former five-star recruit is in line to start at inside linebacker, the position he moved to last spring after spending his first two college seasons at outside linebacker.

"I'm a lot more comfortable now (at inside linebacker)," Evans said. "That whole transition when I first started was me learning the position, trying to learn the plays. Now that I know the plays, I can play a lot faster now. I'd probably say that's the biggest thing."

Evans gained valuable experience late last year, stepping in as a starting inside linebacker after Shaun Dion Hamilton suffered a torn ACL during the SEC championship game.

Those games also showed Evans' talent.

Evans had seven tackles and a sack in Alabama's Peach Bowl win over Washington and then 11 tackles, a shared sack and a pass breakup during the Tide's loss to Clemson in the national championship game.

Outgoing star linebacker Tim Williams hugged Evans in the locker room after the title game and told him, "Keep your head up, bro. You played a great game, man, a great game."

"The fact that I had the success playing on the stage that I did, I feel like just playing in a regular game would be just a lot easier now that the fact that I did play on that stage last year," Evans said last week.

While Evans is focusing strictly on inside linebacker this spring, he said Alabama coaches plan to move him around this season in order to take advantage of his athleticism and pass-rush ability.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Evans ran the 40-yard dash in 4.60 seconds last spring. Only two linebackers ran faster at this year's NFL scouting combine.

Will be interested to see how Bama uses Rashaan Evans. Super quick. Big time closing speed. But he could be teams best edge rusher in 2017. pic.twitter.com/07UM1clOgj — Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) March 4, 2017

In February, it was Evans expressing optimism on Twitter about his senior season. On Saturday, former Tide teammate Jarran Reed tweeted about Evans.

@616evans4 y'all better watch for my boy breakout year best LB in college football hands down ..turn up young bull — jarran reed (@1j_reed) April 1, 2017