TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The reaction was pretty much what you would expect.

When Patrick Surtain II first got his playbook at the University of Alabama, he made a point of showing it to his father who had coached him at American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla. It was impressive, but he didn’t have the same eye-popping reaction as the son.

The elder Patrick Surtain had played for Nick Saban too.

“I knew that the playbook was going to be big,” the junior version said. “It was going to be filled with a lot of information. We just had to study it, watching film every day and try and get the basics and understand it.”

Even so, there’s only so much a freshman can do, especially while playing such a challenging position. For most players getting the playbook completely down takes months, at minimum, and learning the defense to the point that it’s all second-nature usually takes nearly a year.

Nevertheless, Surtain had an impressive season, tallying 37 tackles including 1.5 for a loss, a forced fumble, with an interception and seven pass breakups. Inserted into the first unit for good on the second defensive snap of the Ole Miss game he more than held his own against the Rebels’ outstanding receivers, and everyone else.

One of the highlights was that he was able to play on the same field as his father. The senior was an NFL Pro Bowl cornerback and three-time Pro Bowl selection from 2002-04 with the Miami Dolphins from 1998-2004 and played four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2005-08.

“It’s a great feeling,” Surtain said before playing Oklahoma at Hard Rock Stadium for the Orange Bowl. “I used to watch him play, now he’s going to watch me play – so it’s a little different. I always dreamed of it, and he always dreamed of it for me. I’m just going to carry the torch.”

Consequently, Surtain was a staple on All-Freshman teams, including by SEC coaches.

“He’s very good,” former nose tackle Quinnen Williams said.

“He just put his head down and worked, which is what you gotta do because when you see it played out you never know what can happen,” former outside linebacker Chirstian Miller said.

Only Surtain is now sophomore, the year when most players make the most progress, and he’s in a unique situation. Not only is be benefitting from an offseason in the weight room, and sort of having Nick Saban as an extra position coach (he continues to refer to himself as being a glorified graduate assistant for the defensive backs), but the coaching staff has been reconfigured this season.

In addition to Karl Scott, one of just three assistant coaches back from 2018, Charles Kelly was added as the associate defensive coordinator and another secondary coach. The former Florida State defensive coordinator will primarily focus on the safeties, where Alabama has to find a new starter, while Scott will oversee the cornerbacks.

But during practices both coaches are hands on and run the defensive backs through drills.

“Charles Kelly was a guy that I've oftentimes considered being a coordinator here,” Saban said. “ I thought Pete [Golding] did a really good job last year and should be the coordinator, but I also thought that Charles Kelly would be somebody who could do that because he's been in our system with other people, Jeremy [Pruitt] at Florida State, Jeremy again at Tennessee.

“That's like having a coach that's been on our staff in terms of knowledge and experience and terminology.”

That means more eyes on the players, more instruction and more knowledge that can be tapped. It also provides another person the defensive backs can turn to and learn from.

With senior Trevon Diggs back from the foot injury that sidelined him last year, plus junior Xavier McKinney a fixture at safety, Alabama is looking pretty strong in the secondary as a whole, and light years ahead of where it was a year ago. Last spring the Crimson Tide needed to find replacements across the board, even in the nickel and dime packages.

This spring, Alabama has the luxury of moving guys around to find the best combination of players. Even though senior Shyheim Carter has been a little limited while coming off surgery to repair a sports hernia, Diggs has spent some time at the star position (the defensive back added in the nickel formation who usually plays over the slot), which Surtain had done before.

So some of the nuances still have to be worked out, which is what spring is for, but in terms of overall improvement no one might benefit more from the changes than Surtain.

He can go from worrying about learning the playbook and becoming acclimated to the college game to playing and trying to fulfill his enormous potential.

“Just coming to a program like this, knowing we could win championships, and getting to the next level,” was what attracted Surtain to Alabama. “I had to step up.”