Since Nick Saban was named Alabama’s CEO in 2007, Tuscaloosa has been like a factory for defensive linemen. But don’t mention that around defensive end Da'Shawn Hand.

Hand, a rising senior, is primed for a starting role next season, replacing future NFLers Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson, after three years as a reserve. But the former five-star recruit said it’s much more than just plug and play at Alabama.

“Man, it’s wild that y’all keep using that word,” Hand told BamaOnLine in Tampa, Fla. “It’s just a process, and you gotta buy in. Once you buy in, it’ll work out for you, for the best.”

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The nation’s No. 5 recruit and top-rated strong-side defensive end in the 2014 cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Hand saw action in all 15 of the Crimson Tide’s games in 2016, coming off the bench. He registered 21 tackles, five quarterback hurries, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

But when asked to prematurely reflect on his junior season, he did so with a smile. He said “it’s been a good learning experience” and praised the senior linemen for helping him to gradually improve his craft while seeing more of the field.

“It’s great,” Hand said before the title game. “It’s more of a brotherhood. It’s not like a mentor and a mentee. It’s more just like a bond, and we just help each other out with anything.

“… I can go on for days. Just the way you do things in a game or just vet moves, keys, what you see, how to read the formation. Just different things like that. And how to watch film.”

As one of the top prospects to ever sign with Alabama, the amount of playing time Hand has seen in his three years may not be what many expected when the Woodbridge, Va., native committed to the Crimson Tide on Nov. 14, 2013.

But he has been a key cog that has helped Alabama’s defense keep rolling the past two years and will be one of the senior leaders for the Tide during its 2017 campaign. It may not be the exact route he or others envisioned, but Hand’s moment is coming, as Tomlinson knows from his own experience.

“Da'Shawn Hand is one of those players who controls his own destiny,” Tomlinson said prior to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. “He comes to practice and works hard every day. He’s a great pass rusher. He just has to continue to work.

“There’s a lot of talent around him. That’s one of the things about coming to Alabama. There are going to be a lot of great people around you and it’s hard to stand out with them around you. We have a great defense. That’s what we’re built on.”

With there being so much talent among the position group, is it ever frustrating, or maybe even motivating, to have to work one’s way up to a starting spot, sometimes slowly?

“In most cases I’d say it would be frustrating, but in my case I found it motivating,” Tomlinson said. “My teammates always pushed me to get better. No one was in it for himself. … In a defense like this you have to take it out of yourself. You can’t be selfish on this defense. You always have to motivate the person next to you to get better while you are working to make yourself better.”

And Hand has embraced that same approach. When asked questions specifically about himself, he instead spoke highly of his teammates and the collective defensive line group.

“We’ve got some older guys still, Jon, Dalvin, and I just learn from them,” Hand said at the Tide’s Media Day in Tampa. “And then we just keep chopping at it. Then you’ve got Da'Ron (Payne), then you got the newcomers coming in, Raekwon (Davis), of course you know (Josh) Frazier, O.J. (Smith), Johnny (Dwight). So we’ve got a whole combination of people.”

He will be one of the top names on a new-look defense next fall, after admittedly improving his formation recognition. Having Hand and Da'Ron Payne return to the defensive front seven will give Alabama a huge boost in terms of experience after losing seven starters once again on that side of the football.

But as much as he doesn’t like to hear it, the assembly line continues to roll inside the factory that is the Crimson Tide, as two future Sunday starters will be replaced by a pair of five-stars and potentially a behemoth, 6-foot-7 sophomore.

“That’s the thing with any good organization. You don’t wanna rebuild, you just wanna reload,” defensive line coach Karl Dunbar told BamaOnLine in Atlanta. “And we’re bringing on Quinnen Williams, you’re bringing on Johnny Dwight, you’re bringing on Raekwon Davis, you’re bringing on O.J. Smith, and when guys graduate, other guys step up.

“And I think that’s been the great thing is seeing these guys mature as far as Dalvin and Jon are doing it now. It’ll be Payne and Hand and Josh Frazier and all these guys coming in.”

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