TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama lost two linebackers for the remainder of the 2017 season in its season-opening win over Florida State on Saturday night, while two other linebackers sustained “significant injuries that won’t be long-term,” Nick Saban said.

Christian Miller (biceps) and Terrell Lewis (elbow) were lost for the year, while Rashaan Evans (groin) and Anfernee Jennings (ankle) are both listed as day-to-day. Saban said he is uncertain as to when the pair will be able to come back to the field.

This comes in a season where the Crimson Tide was tasked with replacing three starters at four positions in its linebacking corps. Now, Alabama’s deep pool of young linebackers is going to be thrust into a more prominent role for the foreseeable future.

“You lose two guys, the next two guys have to step up,” Saban said. “It creates opportunities for other people in the program. We’re going to have to take some of the younger guys that we have and try to develop them more quickly.

“We hate it that we lost these players. They’re both good players, they both made significant improvement and they both played well in the game. But this is an opportunity for somebody else to step up and be able to play at a high level, as well. And we’re going to work very hard as a coaching staff to help those guys get in position to do that.”

Alabama LB Dylan Moses

In the second half of the Tide’s 24-7 win over the Seminoles, Keith Holcombe and Mack Wilson handled the linebacker duties inside. Jamey Mosley and true freshman Dylan Moses saw reps at outside linebacker, with Moses used in dime rabbits.



One of either Holcombe or Wilson will replace Evans for the time being beside Shaun Dion Hamilton in the upcoming game against Fresno State. Wilson recorded three tackles and an interception against Florida State, and Holcombe was close to picking off a Deondre Francois pass, as well. Both showed they can hold their own in the middle of the defense.

After suffering a season-ending injury last year, Hamilton provided advice for Miller and Lewis from the experience he gained after tearing his ACL in the SEC Championship Game.

“It definitely sucks with two guys going down, but we just rebuild,” Hamilton said. “Next guy’s up. All the guys who get recruited here are top guys, so it’s time for them to grow up.”

As for the Jack and Sam spots, Mosley seems like the likeliest of options at one of the two, as he saw snaps inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Saban and company have a wide range of options to choose from beyond that, whether it’s Moses or another true freshman -- Christopher Allen or VanDarius Cowan -- or a redshirt player like Ben Davis or Mekhi Brown.

Asked specifically about Davis, who made the move to outside linebacker this offseason after spending his first year inside, Saban took a noncommittal approach to the question.



“We’ll see,” Saban said. “He’s one of the guys that, as a young player, has the opportunity to show what he can do. This is a relatively new position to him, so we’re going to have lots of competition at that position. We’ll sort of see who develops and who can help us the most.”

Outside of Mosley, who started his career as a walk-on, no one set to see a bigger role was rated below a four-star during their recruiting days, per the 247Sports Composite. And the good news is Evans (five-star) and Jennings are not lost for the year.

For the time being, though, some young players will receive meaningful reps, that much is certain. What remains to be seen is does the coaching staff move guys from inside to outside or vice versa during preparations for the season game of 2017?

“I think you always do that as a coach, but I also think that you have to be careful that you’re not robbing when you start moving guys around and you have a tremendous amount of reps invested in a guy in a certain position,” Saban said. “You move him to another position and then you don’t have the same reps at that position. Now you’ve created, maybe, two issues for yourself.

Alabama LB Mack Wilson

“I do think that there are some guys that have position diversity who can move and play other positions. But we didn’t just lose outside ‘backers, we lost an inside ‘backer, too. ... Mack can play outside linebacker, Holcombe can play outside linebacker. But if we move them out then we’ve created another issue for us at another position. We have some young players who we think can develop. Obviously they don’t have the experience, but we’ve played young players before. We won a national championship with Minkah (Fitzpatrick) and Ronnie Harrison playing when they were freshmen the whole time in the secondary.

“We feel like some of those guys can make a contribution. We need to develop confidence, so they have a good understanding of what’s expected of them when the game comes.”

Hamilton was asked about several young linebackers. Here’s what he said specifically about the trio of five-stars that are a sophomore, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman.

On Mack Wilson: “He has been progressing good and been working pretty hard. It’s important that him and all the other guys -- we’ve just got to keep getting better and come in every day and get better at practice.”

On Dylan Moses: “I always tell him he’s a freak of nature. He’s going to be a really good player for us. He’s got to keep on getting better.”

On Ben Davis: “Ben is really good and it’s important that he keeps getting better. Use these days and go hard in practice every day and show the coaches what he can do.”



“All those guys are really talented,” Hamilton said. “The coaches have got a pretty tough decision.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).