-- No. 3 caught senior linebacker

C.J. Mosley's

eye at Alabama's first practice of the spring.

It wasn't

Trent Richardson

, but that's whom Mosley was reminded of when he spotted the Crimson Tide's newest running back,

Derrick Henry

.

"We were talking about it on the sideline, me and a couple of the players, how Henry looked like a bigger version of

Trent Richardson

," Mosley said Saturday. "But you have to do what you have to do. So we've got to make him better and he's got to make us better."

Henry looked every bit of 6-foot-3 and 243 pounds when Alabama opened practice Saturday. His size is unique enough to prompt speculation that his best fit would be at another position, but it's become clear that Henry, who holds the national high school record for most career rushing yards, will be a running back for the Crimson Tide in 2013.

Nick Saban

said last month that "a lot" of Alabama's running backs will have an opportunity to help in 2013, and Henry certainly falls into that category.

By arriving early, he'll get a jump on the competition much like

T.J. Yeldon

did in 2012.

Altee Tenpenny

,

Tyren Jones

and

Alvin Kamara

will join the fray in the fall.

, Henry's roommate, freshman tight end/H-back

O.J. Howard

said Henry was a "freak" who wakes up in the middle of the night to do push-ups.

that it was a "habit" and he'd been doing it ever since he was a child.

Whatever the case, Henry, as an early enrollee from Yulee, Fla., came to Alabama prepared. Mosley said Henry "killed" Alabama's Fourth Quarter offseason workout program.

"I'm excited to see what he's going to do when we start our first scrimmage," Mosley said.