Alabama graduate assistant Vinnie Sunseri, who played for Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa before a short stint in the NFL, is leaving the Crimson Tide's staff to join Bill Belichick in New England in a support staff role, sources have told AL.com's Matt Zenith.

The son of Alabama linebackers coach Sal Sunseri, Vinnie was a special teams specialist and defensive back for Alabama from 2011-13 and was a member of two national championship squads.

Though not as significant, Sunseri's departure comes on the heels of longtime assistant Burton Burns leaving the Crimson Tide last week for an NFL position. Burns just finished his 13th season with the Crimson Tide and his second as the assistant athletics director for football.

Friends for more than three decades, Saban and Belichick worked together for four years from 1991-94 in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns, where Saban reported to Belichick as the head coach's defensive coordinator.

"I personally like Nick and (Saban's wife) Terry, his family, and there's no coach I have more respect for than Nick Saban," Belichick said in December in anticipation of the special HBO release documenting the two coaches. "So I learned a lot working with him in Cleveland and, before and after, he continues to impress me as a great football coach, great person."

In the NFL, Belichick's success is well-documented, spending one more year with the Browns than Saban prior to being fired at the end of the 1995 season. Belichick landed on his feet however, leading into defensive assistant stints with New England (1996) and the New York Jets (1997-99) under mentor and then-head coach Bill Parcells prior to him taking over the Patriots soon thereafter.

The Patriots are getting an intelligent defensive-minded support staff addition in Sunseri, who likely admires film study as much as Belichick — or he wouldn't have been promoted. Belichick is one of the league's gurus when it comes to watching tape, says veteran quarterback Tom Brady. The two have met for film review every Tuesday for the past 20 years during the season.

“I love it. It’s what I love to do,” Brady told Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald last January. “It’s all football, it’s all preparation. We go awhile, an hour, two hours. It’s just a lot of talking about the opponent. It’s a lot of great insight. Everyone sees something different.

“We’ve been at it a long time. So there’s a lot of consistency.”