During spring practice, Nick Saban was asked about the progress of the Alabama’s inside linebackers.

The Crimson Tide coach was blunt, as usual.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A position group that has long been one of the Crimson Tide’s most stable units is now one of its greatest concerns heading into the 2019 season. Even with Butkus Award finalist Dylan Moses manning one of the two spots in the middle of the defense, the collection of inside linebackers is wracked with inexperience and saddled with questions about its overall talent level.

The leading candidate to partner with Moses is Josh McMillon, a redshirt senior who has played 166 defensive snaps in his career. For years, Alabama has been populated with top-flight defenders patrolling the second level. Dont’a Hightower was paired with Rolando McClain, C.J. Mosley with Nico Johnson, Reggie Ragland with Reuben Foster, Foster with Shaun Dion Hamilton and Hamilton with Rashaan Evans.

It was as if one great linebacker unit begat another, allowing Saban’s defenses to dominate over the last decade.

But in recent years, the depth within the position group has diminished. Recruiting misses, turnover within the coaching staff and premature departures among players have introduced uncertainty within a unit that has long been a bastion of dependability. Between 2015 and 2018, Alabama signed 10 inside linebackers. Two of them, Adonis Thomas and Shawn Jennings, transferred without ever playing a down. Another, VanDarius Cowan, was dismissed after his freshman season. Then there is the case of Ben Davis, who was once the No. 10 overall prospect in his class. Since his ballyhooed arrival, he has played 20 defensive snaps and is now primarily practicing with the team’s edge rushers.

Davis came to Alabama at the same time as Mack Wilson. Wilson became an All-SEC selection, but he elected in January to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft — a decision that was questioned by people at Alabama.

In turn, he left a major void that has highlighted the recruiting shortfalls of the last few seasons. Markail Benton, a former four-star prospect, has been mostly deployed on special teams. Jaylen Moody, once rated the 1,197th recruit in the nation in 2018, has also seen limited action. At one point last year, Moody was the only inside linebacker Alabama signed after the Tide failed to land JJ Peterson and Quay Walker, who went to Tennessee and Georgia, respectively. But Alabama then reeled in Washington’s Ale Kaho last August. Kaho, considered one of the best players at his position coming out of high school, was expected to make a sizable impact. Yet after being used sparingly on defense — 10 snaps in two games to be exact — he missed some time during this spring while dealing with some personal issues, according to Saban. And when Kaho returned, he was seen at the back of the line during drills.

“He’s still transitioning,” Moses said in March.

So too is a unit that had three different position coaches in the previous four seasons, cycling from Kirby Smart to Jeremy Pruitt to Pete Golding, who is now in his second season at Alabama.

It seems no coincidence the volatility seen at inside linebacker has coincided with the changes in leadership — trickling down to the evaluation of recruits and in some cases the development of the players already on campus.

Whether Alabama can recapture some stability in the near future is uncertain. As of now, questions remain within a sector of defense whose strength has long been taken for granted.

“We just have to keep on working,” Saban said, “and keep on working with them and see where it takes us.”

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin