Through four games, LaBryan Ray's redshirt was intact. It came off last week against Ole Miss before the former five-star recruit made his first real impact Saturday in College Station.

The defensive end recorded his first sack as one of his two tackles in reserve duty in the 27-19 win at Texas A&M. His addition into the lineup wasn't always the plan, however.

Nick Saban on Monday said the play originally was to "probably redshirt" Ray in the 2017 season. He wasn't among the early enrollees and didn't participate in the spring practice drills.

Circumstances changed quickly for this Crimson Tide defense.

Injuries to three top outside linebackers in the opener brought a positional move for Ray. He practiced with the outside linebackers for two weeks when Anfernee Jennings was out, but didn't see game action.

The knee injury for defensive end Da'Shawn Hand in the Ole Miss game changed the roadmap again. The trickle down required more healthy bodies at that position with Isaiah Buggs getting more time with the first team.

"We felt like he was going to have more opportunity to play and we needed to play him and it would actually enhance his development to play," Saban said.

Ray assisted on a second-quarter tackle before cutting his first highlight tape in the fourth.

Facing a second-and-12, Ray pushed the Aggie offensive tackle into the backfield before breaking off and chasing down quarterback Kellen Mond for the 14-yard sack.

"We felt like he was a very instinctive, good, play-hard kind of guy," Saban said. "He is all of that and he's smart and he's able to go in there and execute and play and react the way we'd like for him to so he's developed nicely and we'll continue to play him."

The Madison, Alabama product was the No. 2 strong side defensive end on the 247Sports composite -- No. 28 overall.

**Correction: Story was updated to reflect the fact Ray's redshirt came off a week earlier against Ole Miss.**

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande.