TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Alabama baseball team will begin fall practice later this afternoon.

The Crimson Tide will practice at 2 p.m. CT at Sewell-Thomas Stadium and again at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning before a scrimmage at 9 a.m. Practices are open for the public to watch.

And third-year head coach Brad Bohannon believes Alabama fans will like what they see.

“Guys, don’t wait until we get off to a good start. These guys can play,” said Bohannon at Hey Coach on Thursday evening at Baumhower’s Victory Grille. “We’re going to take a step forward this year, I’m very comfortable saying that. We’re noticeably better. We’ve got some really exciting, dynamic young players, and they’re going to be fun to watch.”

Following the first fall scrimmage, the baseball team will be signing autographs on The Quad at noon ahead of the football team’s home SEC game against Southern Miss. Alabama will play two exhibition games this fall with the first taking place on the road at Clemson on Oct. 19 and the second occurring at home when the Crimson Tide plays host to Southern Miss on Oct. 27.

Alabama ended last season with a 30-26 (7-23 SEC) record, which was a 3-win improvement from Bohannon’s first season. With the nation’s No. 15 recruiting class, according to Baseball America, now on campus, the Tide is looking to take the next step in Year 3 under Bohannon.

“I really like where our roster is right now,” Bohannon said. “I told our kids in our first team meeting, ‘Hey, we have an SEC-level roster now.’ And that’s probably the first time I’ve said that since I’ve been the coach here.

“Now, where we’re short is we don’t have a lot of SEC experience, especially on the mound. We have a lot of arm talent, plenty of kids that throw hard and good secondary pitches and all that, but we don’t have very many guys that have flipped a lineup two or three times in an SEC game. So, we’ll be young on the mound, but we have talent and I really, really like where we are for it to be Sept. 26.”

Below are some of Bohannon’s noteworthy comments about his team from Hey Coach.

On junior college recruiting additions…

“I think every year’s a little bit different. You’re always recruiting to needs, and we’re just trying to get the best kids and players that we can, regardless of age. Over time, you can create a little more balance with your roster, and early on, you’re just trying to get good players. So, we added two junior college kids this year in Jackson Tate and Ryan O’Connell -- one pitcher and one position player -- and it had been larger the year before. So, it’s all based on need, and it’s just a really small window of kids out of junior college that can come in and have an impact in the SEC but they’re not maybe ready for professional baseball. We have to deal with that Major League Baseball draft. So, it’s a really fine line, but the two JC kids we have on this year’s team are very good players.”

On having Sam Praytor back healthy…

“He is (healthy). Sam is just in a great spot. I tried not to throw a pity party last year when he got hurt, but it was a huge blow. When you can get a really good offensive player at a defensive position, it just changes your team. Sam’s just a really good player, he would play for anybody and he’s going to have a really good season.”

On a solid base of returning players…

“We’ve had back-to-back top-15 recruiting classes, so a lot of the young players are getting a lot of attention, but I think you’re going to see returners have the biggest impact in guys like Tyler Gentry, who made the all-star team in the Cape Code League over the summer. Brett Auerbach hit over .300 the last half of SEC play last year. T.J. Reeves is an absolute grown man the way he’s swinging the bat right now. So listen -- anybody’s that’s driving around our baseball stadium if we’re hitting BP, you need to know which group T.J. Reeves is hitting in, OK, because if you’re on the road behind the scoreboard, you might get hit with a home run ball the way he’s swinging the bat.”

Alabama sophomore outfielder T.J. Reeves

On Brett Auerbach’s natural position…

“That’s a tough question to answer. He can do anything. He’s just a baseball player. He’s really well-rounded. And he caught last year more than we wanted him to because Sam got hurt, so he can play infield, outfield, and that is one of many things that makes him a really valuable player for us.”

On Canadian players Owen Diodati, Antoine Jean...

“I learned in a hurry when I was recruiting in Kentucky that I had much better luck going north and getting kids from Canada, telling them Kentucky was down south than trying to get kids from Georgia, Alabama, Florida going north to throw snowballs in March and April. So, during my 12 years there at Kentucky, I developed a strong relationship with a guy named Greg Hamilton, who runs the junior national program up there. Actually, Owen and Antoine, they don’t really have high school baseball. There’s very few high schools in Canada that have baseball, so they both played in the junior national program, and they’re both very talented, really bright and advanced socially. They missed the first three weeks of school to go play in some kind of world championship with Team Canada.

“It’s really high-end. The average baseball player in Canada may not compare to the average baseball player in the United States. But if you take the top 15 or 20 kids up there, there’s plenty of kids that are high draft picks and playing professionally and whatnot. Owen and Antonie are really high-end players and kids that should be able to help us this year and have really high ceilings.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).