One of the reporters inside the Bryant-Denny Stadium press box was unsure at first who had just gotten the interception.

"No. 26?" he said. "Who's No. 26?"

It was Kyriq McDonald, Alabama's three-star freshman defensive back from James Clemens High School.

While McDonald wasn't ranked anywhere near as high as most of his fellow Crimson Tide freshmen, the Madison native is a potential sleeper and showed during the spring that he's a competitive, physical and instinctive player.

That interception during Alabama's spring game was his top spring highlight.

"He went under the radar (during the recruiting process), but Alabama got a good one with him," said Layne Rinks, a former Alabama player who was McDonald's high school defensive coordinator. "He's said things are very fast, but he loves it and feels like he's doing a good job. He's going to do good things at Alabama."

McDonald was just the No. 47 cornerback and No. 477 overall prospect in this year's recruiting class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings despite posting big numbers at James Clemens.

After not starting as a sophomore in 2014, McDonald broke out as a junior with eight interceptions, five blocked punts and 10 non-offensive touchdowns, including four pick-sixes. He then posted 66 tackles, 12 stops for a loss and three interceptions as a senior last year while playing a hybrid outside linebacker-safety position.

"He's a playmaker," Rinks said. "He knows how to make plays in ball games. He knows how to get the ball and he knows how to score with the ball. And he's extremely, extremely competitive, and he's always had that chip on his shoulder. He played with a chip on his shoulder as a junior and made plays and got a scholarship offer to Alabama. Then, his senior year, he had a chip on his shoulder because his recruiting profile said he was often inconsistent, so he worked on that. Now, he's at Alabama, and there were people before he went down there saying that he'd never play and would only make it a year and would transfer and so forth, and he played with a chip on his shoulder all spring and got the interception in the spring game."

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound McDonald, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 seconds and bench-pressed 365 pounds during Alabama's spring testing, focused on nickel back during the spring.

McDonald was essentially the third-team nickel back for the spring game behind first-team nickel back Tony Brown, who was on the other team, and second-team nickel back Shyheim Carter, who was teammates with McDonald.

McDonald got the interception on one of the first plays he was in the game for, stepping in front of slot receiver Xavian Marks to pick off a short pass from quarterback Mac Jones. And prompting that reporter to figure out the identity of No. 26.

"It really just takes discipline and hard work," McDonald said in February. "That's how you're going to get on the field."