Insignificant, perhaps, in the wide view but symbolic nonetheless, Da'Shawn Hand's first formal trip to the Alabama media room came Wednesday.

In about eight minutes, 30 seconds with the firing squad, he showed a little of why he was such a hot prospect two years ago. Sure, he was a five-star talent on the field, but in a mass-interview setting that can spook even the veterans, Hand worked the room with ease. He started with a joke about the engineering program that famously helped land the former No. 1 recruit. It takes a certain confidence to handle that moment. Most never achieve it.

His presence alone in front of the cameras also points to the shift in his role in Tuscaloosa. Despite his talent and credentials, Hand stepped into possibly the deepest defensive line depth chart in memory. For two years, he studied the science of A'Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed to reach this spring practice in position to make good on the recruiting hype.

Reed and Robinson are now projected first-round draft picks. It's Hand's turn. Along with rising senior Dalvin Tomlinson, Hand is getting almost all the first-team reps this spring, Nick Saban said.

Lessons remain from the two guys credited with developing an identity for the Alabama defensive line. Hand explained what they taught him.

"Technique, man," Hand said. "Man, when I got out of high school, it was like one little step and the whole play can go by you. That was the biggest thing. Keeping your feet set and striking out first. Hips and hands and your feet will follow. In high school you could run and make a play because you were bigger and faster, but now everyone is bigger and faster. So it really comes down to technique."

After playing limited snaps as a freshman, action increased last fall. His 16 tackles didn't threaten the leaders, but there were signs for the future. Three of his four tackles against Clemson in the title game were solo stops.

All the measurables check out. He ran a 4.80 in the 40-yard dash. The 6-foot-4, 278-pound lineman also benches 455 pounds with a 600-pound squat.

It's just taken some time to translate all that into on-field success. The depth was certainly a factor, but there's more to it.

"The very first day," Hand said, "the very first day it was like, 'Wow, OK. This is college football. All right."

And his first scrimmage?

"Maaan, yeah," Hand said with a reluctant grin. "Wooo. Wooo, I don't wanna talk about that one too much. I don't know, man. We ain't gonna talk about that one right now, not with the media, boy. I'm not gonna talk no more about that one."

Those teachable moments, he said, weren't discouraging. It could've bothered a player who brought practically every recruiting accolade to Alabama. It didn't.

"No," Hand said. "I feel like every football player, if you are a competitor, that will drive you, motivate you, to get better in your techniques so you can be effective in the game and start making plays, and producing in the system we have."

A lot of that goes back to what he learned from Robinson and Reed - the very players who stood between Hand and more early playing time.

"They're perfectionists, and he just talks about the different techniques that they use," said John Harris, Hand's former positional coach at Woodbridge High School in Virginia. "And the biggest thing that I remember him saying is that they would know to use certain techniques against certain types of blocks without even thinking about it. Because it happens so fast, you don't have time to say, 'OK, he's reach blocking me, so I need to respond by doing this.' As quick as it happens, they just know to do it, and I think that's something he had to work on at first."

Teammates are seeing it so far this spring practice.

Unlike those first few practices of 2014, Hand is the one teaching lessons.

"Every now and then," Tomlinson said, "he will just shock the offensive lineman and go back a couple yards and he isn't expecting it."

AL.com reporter Matt Zenitz contributed to this report.