It was a peculiar exchange, and this time Nick Saban was the one posing a question.

"What is 12 personnel?" Saban asked a reporter during a news conference earlier this week.

The answer presented to Alabama's head coach Tuesday described an offensive personnel grouping with one running back and two tight ends. The Crimson Tide lined up in that package on 30 percent of its offensive snaps last season, and the journalist Saban tested wanted to know if it would be featured more prominently in 2017.

"Maybe," Saban said coolly. "You know, I think that's a situational thing. Look, we made a lot more plays around here when we spread people out."

It was a noncommittal response from a coach who has famously objected to the idea that Alabama will return to a more conservative, ball-control offense under new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. But using 12 personnel at a higher frequency doesn't necessarily mean Alabama will resort to playing a brand of a smash-mouth, ground-and-pound football that was more prevalent in the seasons following Saban's arrival at Alabama in 2007.

Case in point? How the grouping was used by Daboll's previous employer, the New England Patriots. Predating Daboll's second stint with the club, the reigning Super Bowl champions began tormenting teams earlier this decade by attacking opponents with multiple, athletic tight ends.

Twelve personnel offered flexibility, busting up eight-man fronts out of a standard Ace formation while at the same time giving the Patriots the ability to split Rob Gronkowski or former NFL star Aaron Hernandez out wide.

Both Gronkowski and Hernandez were often quicker than the linebackers they faced and stronger than the defensive backs in their path. They also were well-rounded enough to play both the "F" and "Y" positions -- flexed out on one play and positioned adjacent to the tackles as in-line blockers on the next.

They created nightmares for defensive coordinators around the league.

Whether Alabama can replicate what New England did is uncertain. Last season, in the system created under former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, the Tide heavily favored 11 personnel -- one running back and one tight end with three wide receivers.

Alabama was in this alignment 64 percent of the time, according to Pro Football Focus. As the Tide worked to create plays on the perimeter, tight end O.J. Howard spent plenty of time doing yeoman's work. The projected first-round pick blocked on 58 percent of his snaps and at times was a non-factor as a pass-catching threat. He and the other tight ends were targeted 70 times; the wideouts 321.

But there is a feeling among Howard's successors that they may have more chances under Daboll's supervision even though New England quarterback Tom Brady looked for tight ends only 21.1 percent of the time during the 2016 regular season and the Patriots ran 12 personnel on 15 percent of its plays. In part, that's because they recognize that due to injury Gronkowski only played in six games when Brady was starting -- limiting the implementation of a package that has devastated New England's opponents in the past.

"I don't think it's any secret that Daboll loves tight ends coming from New England," said rising junior Hale Hentges. "So I think from that aspect we're going to have a lot of great opportunities in the tight end room. I think you can see that on the horizon, some expanded tight end roles....You can tell he has an affinity towards tight ends because it was his position at New England. So, I think he enjoys working with us, because I know he knows the challenges that tight ends have. You have to be able to run, you have to be able to block, you have to be able to catch passes."

Under Kiffin, Hentges did quite a bit of No. 1, plenty of No. 2 and very little of No. 3. In 336 snaps last season, he made three receptions.

Rising sophomore Miller Forristall, who appears to be transitioning from the "F" role to the more traditional "Y" position as he's added 13 pounds to his 6-foot-5 frame, only caught two more passes than Hentges in 2016. But like Hentges, he seems excited about his prospects in Daboll's offense. Studying video from Daboll's NFL stops with the Patriots has only piqued Forristall's interest about what's to come.

"You grow up playing tight end in high school, so of course you watch Gronk," Forristall said. "But now it's like, 'His coach is here!' That's pretty cool. We have all their film. We get to watch it. That's a lot of stuff to study."

"Obviously when [Daboll] was with the Patriots, [tight ends] had a lot of opportunities there, and I'm hoping we can get some opportunities here. Hopefully we can get a little carryover."

That seems to be a legitimate possibility and 12 personnel could be the conduit toward making it a reality.

But Saban isn't tipping his hand.

Speaking of using the package, he said, "Some people do it more effectively than others. We've been able to do it to some degree around here when we needed to. I think that's sort of a situational thing and we'll probably still use it as that, whether it's short yardage, four-minute that type of thing."

Or, as that last clause indicated, in a set of circumstances when a premium is placed on controlling the ball.