Alabama Football Spring Practice 13 - 2016

Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans (32) and Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster (10) work through drills during Alabama's 13th spring football practice, Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com )

Reuben Foster and Rashaan Evans go way back. Before they got to Tuscaloosa, the two were five-star recruits at Auburn High.

So, there isn't much concern about chemistry when Evans stepping into a starting role after Shaun Dion Hamilton's season-ending knee injury.

They're more than comfortable out there together. Both talked about that dynamic and independently described an interplay you might not expect from a couple of middle linebackers.

"(It's) crazy, funny -- like we'll laugh at one play and the next we'll be mad," Butkus Award winner Foster said. "I don't know, but the chemistry is there though, I promise you."

Wait, middle linebackers laughing on Nick Saban's field?

"Probably when we mess up on something," Foster explained. "So we won't get in our heads and be down on ourselves for something."

Evans corroborated the surprising story.

"We could be in the middle of a play and be telling each other jokes," Evans said. "It's crazy. That's kind of how we are. We've been playing with each other for a little bit. We played with each other in high school. It was kind of like that, too. Being able to do it again all on the big stage is amazing."

Evans stepped into the bigger role in the SEC Championship Game when Hamilton went down with a torn ACL. He's been transitioning from outside linebacker to being Hamilton's understudy in the middle.

He had a lapse just after entering the game that allowed a Florida touchdown, but Foster was there to help.

The question for Evans is where they find time for smiles in their serious jobs.

"It really can be anything, we're just out there having fun," Evans said. "I feel like if you don't have fun with the game you can take it too seriously and be too timid and not play to your best ability."

The two will be at the center of the nation's No. 1 defense entering the Dec. 31 Peach Bowl semifinal against Washington.

The stakes are as high as ever, but Evans said they handle it their way.

"We try not to be too tense, because whenever you are in a big game like that you want to try and kill everything," Evans said. "That's how we try to do it."