The camp portion of August is winding down with classes about to begin in Tuscaloosa. It's that gap week between the second scrimmage and the official beginning of game week next Monday.

A few defensive players who'll step into bigger roles stopped in to chat with the local media about the state of things with Louisville coming up Sept. 1 in Orlando.

-- Quinnen Williams appears to be in line to follow Da'Ron Payne as the nose tackle in the Alabama defense. That required adding some mass to his frame. Right now, he said he's 305 pounds.

-- That's up from the 250-range when he got here two years ago. Last season he was at 285. "It feels great," Williams said. "Just being with our nutrition staff and Coach Cochran and the people around you. Not just gaining weight and fat but really in muscle so you can still be a dominant player out there. So, it really went OK."

-- Williams described fellow defensive lineman Raekwon Davis as "an animal."

-- "Raekwon's just a different human," Williams said. "He's so huge and he's so athletic to be that big and strong and never get tired. So, he's just an animal I've never seen before."

-- Jonathan Allen really took Williams under his wing in his senior year when Williams was a freshman. Now, he said he's helping young players like Stephon Wynn and LaBryan Ray.

-- Dylan Moses spoke at length about the challenge of transitioning into Alabama's defense as a true freshman. Former five-star Ale Kaho is in that process after arriving a week late. "I feel like he's coming along," Moses said. "He's a new guy, he just got here last week. He has a lot to learn. He, and like every other freshman, is going to be stressed out. He's being thrown into the fire, he's having to learn so much in so little time. I've been trying to help him out, as far as learning the plays and what-not."

-- Moses, a five-star guy himself, said it's like a "1-2 punch" with him playing next to Mack Wilson at middle linebacker. They feed off each other and their chemistry is already very strong.

-- Junior defensive back Shyheim Carter said he's still moving around to a few different positions from corner and Star to safety.

-- The difference between corner and safety? "The biggest adjustment in that is," Carter said, "well, both positions you have to have really good eye discipline, but it's just like the angles and knowing how to do it. Anybody can know what to do, it's knowing how to do it."

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.