To be sure, run of the mill bowl practices and College Football Playoff practices aren't exactly the same.

For teams headed for destinations like Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta, the extra practice time that comes with a bowl invitation is used more with next season in mind than it is for a ceremonial, made-for-TV contest.

Still, even for a CFP contestant like Alabama, there will be some time spent in the coming days that will be of extra benefit for the next wave of players who will be asked to fill some large shoes in 2016. With those players in mind, here are five players who need to use upcoming practices as a spring board to spring drills in March.

34 RB Damien Harris and 9 RB Bo Scarbrough

What's on the horizon: I cheated here, but it makes sense considering that both players will likely be counted on heavily in the very near future. With Kenyan Drake winding down his UA career and the likelihood of junior Derrick Henry doing the same, chances are Harris and Scrabrough will enter 2016 winter workouts as next men up for Running Back U. Harris, who has seen action in 10 games this season, heads into the College Football Playoff as the Crimson Tide's third-leading rusher with 155 yards. Look for the true freshman to add some needed bulk in the offseason. For now, he needs to build on the game experience he's received this season, especially with Scarbrough expected to make a strong push for the starting job in the spring. As for immediate goals for Scarbrough, they're kind of the opposite of Harris' to-do list. He's pretty much there physically; now Scarbrough needs as many reps on the practice field as he can get.

9 DE Da'Shawn Hand

What's on the horizon: Jarran Reed and D.J. Pettway are both seniors. A'Shawn Robinson making the jump to the NFL a year early would seem likely. Then there's the possibility of Jonathan Allen moving on to consider, especially coming off a year that saw the junior become the first UA defender to post double-digit sacks since 2007. If Robinson and Allen join Reed and Pettway in the professional ranks, the logjam Hand has been stuck behind each of the last two seasons will clear. In that scenario, Hand and Dalvin Tomlinson would rank as Alabama's most experienced ends come spring. In limited opportunities this season, Hand has been productive, posting 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.

63 C JC Hassenauer

What's on the horizon: Being the next guy at center at Alabama has usually entailed stepping into very large shoes and that certainly hasn't changed in the Nick Saban era. In fact, the last two players to man the position for the Crimson Tide took home the Rimington Trophy, which annually goes to the nation's top center, as seniors. That's the kind of legacy Hassenauer will attempt to carry on when he competes with redshirt freshman Joshua Casher and others for the starting job in the spring.

15 S Ronnie Harrison

What's on the horizon: Alabama will lose at least one of its two starting safeties, as the eligibility of Geno Smith is a few games away from reaching its expiration date. In seeing time at both money in the dime and safety in the base, Harrison's workload as a true freshman has resembled that of Mark Barron's in 2008. Barron parlayed that experience into a starting job in the three seasons that followed. Harrison appears ready to make the same kind of move for 2016 and beyond.

6 QB Blake Barnett

What's on the horizon: If there's been a trend in replacing starting quarterbacks under Saban it's that the No. 2 guy from the previous season has moved into the starting role. It was that way when Greg McElroy replaced John Parker Wilson in 2009. Happened again when AJ McCarron replaced McElroy in 2011 and in 2013 when Blake Sims stepped in for McCarron. While it wasn't exactly seamless this time around, Jacob Coker traded his role as top backup a season ago for starter in 2015. Will it play out that way again in 2016? The emergence of Montana State graduate transfer Dakota Prukop, who is expected to choose between UA and Oregon tonight, as a possibility for the Crimson Tide could throw a wrench into the previous formula. Otherwise, Cooper Bateman will likely head into the offseason as the latest backup quarterback looking to take over behind center. The belief, though, is that Barnett is the quarterback of the future. With the starting job coming open for the third time in as many years, the spring would be as a good a time as any for the redshirt freshman to make a move. Putting himself in good stead with the coaching staff right now will go a long way in positioning himself for March and beyond.

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