Phil Savage has watched Alabama play five games without committing a turnover. He has seen the Crimson Tide's offense evolve under the direction of new coordinator Brian Daboll. He has witnessed the defense hold its first two SEC opponents to a grand total of three points.

And yet none of those storylines have sparked his intrigue quite as much as this one: The Tide's youngest players having an opportunity to get on the field for extended periods.

"I would say it's significant because historically it hasn't always been a given that they could get a chance to go in games before mop-up time," Savage, Alabama's radio analyst, said. "This is significant playing time in the third and fourth quarters. I think it has been the most exciting development for the whole season, at least from my view."

It's been an unexpected boon for the Tide, the top-ranked team in the nation. And it should spark concern for the rest of the SEC that seems to be slipping further and further behind the program that resides in Tuscaloosa.

On the way to a 59-0 rout of Vanderbilt and a 66-3 beatdown of Ole Miss, Alabama put away both teams early, which in turn allowed a slew of freshmen to play.

Fourteen newcomers were deployed by the Tide on offense and defense, and collectively they averaged 31.2 snaps in those two games, according to ProFootballFocus.com.

In a span of eight days, backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was on the field for 68 plays, receiver Jerry Jeudy 56 and backup left tackle Alex Leatherwood 32.

"[When] you come to Alabama, you're already excited to be playing at Bryant-Denny under the best coaches in the nation," said linebacker Keith Holcombe. "But then to actually be out there out on that field, running around hitting people, it takes a lot of pressure off you. You're getting ready, getting comfortable with the game play, stuff like that. So it just gets you ready to be a featured player."

Some of the new faces are showing even now they belong on that big stage.

Against the Rebels, Tagovailoa spearheaded four consecutive touchdown drives while, by and large, working alongside reserves.

Meanwhile, the defense held strong throughout the game as the Tide interchanged 28 players to suppress the Rebels.

"You look down there and essentially see a freshman All-America team and those guys are operating at a pretty high level, I would say, in terms of what they have been asked to do," Savage said. "As wide of a margin as the scores have been and as dominant as Bama has been, there is definitely a silver lining that these younger guys are getting a chance to play and string some drives together both on offense and defense. That's kind of been the highlight of the year for me is just watching those guys."

Shaun Dion Hamilton has been similarly enthused.

The senior linebacker will leave the program after this season.

But he senses the future is bright because the team's youngest players are gaining significant game experience.

"It's very valuable," he said. "I love it."

It wasn't always Alabama coach Nick Saban's plan to use as many freshmen as he has in the early stages of this season. Injuries to running back Josh Jacobs and multiple outside linebackers created some holes that needed to be filled, necessitating the participation of the Tide's most recent batch of signees.

"This year, I will say that we have had to end up playing a few guys that we probably wouldn't have played if we hadn't had lost a significant number of guys at certain positions," Saban said. "So there's two ways to look at it. If they're ready to play, we play them. We need the help on special teams. But if they're not ready to play and they need more time to develop, whether it's psychologically, mentally, physically, however it is... So if we have to play them before they're ready, that's not a good thing either."

That hasn't been the case, however.

Alabama's youngest players have acquitted themselves well to the point that Savage is convinced the Tide will be in contention for a national championship for the foreseeable future.

"Someone asked me, 'How much longer can Alabama keep this going?" Savage said.

It didn't take him long to think about his response.

"Based on what we have seen so far from these guys," Savage replied, "I'd say at least two to three more years."

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin