TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama currently has bragging rights over the rest of the country, as it leads the nation with five defensive touchdowns through the first five weeks of the season. Ohio State is second with four defensive scores.

And those bragging rights have spilled over into the Crimson Tide locker room, according to the players.

This season, defensive backs Marlon Humphrey, Eddie Jackson and Ronnie Harrison as well as defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Da'Ron Payne have crossed the goal line by returning either interceptions or fumbles for touchdowns. A season ago, cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick did the same on two occasions by way of pick-sixes.

And they’re not letting their teammates forget about it.

“I’m tired of hearing Da'Ron Payne,” junior linebacker Shaun Hamilton said. “He scored a two-inch touchdown. He’s thinking that he ran 100 yards or something. … He thinks he’s some kind of world-class athlete when I’m sure that Coach (Nick) Saban probably could have picked up the fumble and walked, took one step and scored a touchdown.”

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Payne recovered a Ryan Anderson forced fumble near the goal line and stretched across it for a three-yard score at Ole Miss. That tied the game after the half after the Tide surged back from a 24-3 deficit late in the second quarter.

The sophomore defensive tackle has heard from Hamilton, Anderson and his teammates, since he joined the touchdown club against the Rebels, but “they’re gonna have to hear it,” Payne said Tuesday when he spoke to reporters.

“He’s just hatin’,” Payne said of Hamilton’s comments.

Harrison was the most recent Alabama player to score a defensive touchdown, scooping and scoring a Rashaan Evans’ forced fumble for a 55-yard score in the Crimson Tide’s 34-6 win over Kentucky on Saturday. Harrison’s 55-yard return was the 53rd non-offensive touchdown of the Nick Saban era and the seventh for Alabama this season, which also leads the nation.

Five of the seven scores in 2016 have been on defense. Alabama has scored non-offensive touchdowns in its last seven games, dating back to the College Football Playoff semifinal versus Michigan State on Dec. 31, 2015.

But even Harrison said the other defensive backs had messed with him for not having scored a touchdown. “It just feels good to get one,” he said after the game. The players don’t waste an opportunity to compete with one another.

“It’s pretty competitive,” Dalvin Tomlinson said. “Jon (Allen) and Da'Ron Payne are always talking junk about scoring a touchdown and stuff like that. But I’m not really worried about scoring, I just wanna get a turnover or something like that. … I think every defensive player probably visualizes about it probably day in and day out. But if it happens, it happens.”

So who’s going to score the next defensive touchdown for the Tide?

“Man, it’s gotta be a linebacker,” Hamilton said. “DBs have scored. A D-lineman has scored. So, hopefully the linebackers can steal one from somebody.”

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