If you're an Alabama beat writer, you get these questions to the point of ridiculousness.

Where's Ben Davis? What's going on with Ben Davis? Why isn't Ben Davis playing?

So you can understand why a lot of beat writers tweeted on Saturday when Davis took the field during the second half of the Crimson Tide's win over Mercer.

It was the first career action for the redshirt freshman linebacker, a Gordo native who was the top-ranked player in Alabama's top-ranked 2016 recruiting class.

While Davis didn't record any stats, he played several snaps during the second half, correctly read a zone-read play on his first play in the game and contributed to Mercer quarterback Tanner Brumby being tackled for a loss.

"Everybody was proud of the fact that he was able to go out there and do what he did," star linebacker Rashaan Evans said. "Ben Davis works very hard. He's going to be one of those guys that comes up and shows everybody that he can play."

Remember, not everyone is Julio Jones or Calvin Ridley. Not every five-star recruit is going to come in and immediately be one of the top players in the country. Some five-star recruits are ready to contribute immediately upon arrival to college. Some need time to develop.

Davis is in that second category.

But these are the kinds of sometimes unrealistic and oftentimes unfair expectations that fans have for players that were ranked among the top-10 nationally coming out of high school.

And it's because of that ranking and these expectations that we in the beat writer world will probably continue to get those questions even now that Davis has played some.

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.