TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- If it were a real game, then maybe we would have seen Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris in full uniform at Bryant-Denny Stadium last month.

Maybe B.J. Emmons would have been far enough along in his recovery to get some playing time, too.

But seeing as it was A-Day, there was no need to rush back three of Alabama's top four running backs from last season. Instead, the Crimson Tide's spring game became a showcase for the one big addition to the already crowded backfield.

Najee Harris, the 6-foot-2, 227-pound early enrollee from Antioch, California, started for the second-team offense and lived up to his five-star billing. On 17 carries, he picked up 70 yards. But it was how he picked up those yards that impressed the most, showing a veteran's understanding of when to press the hole or when to jump outside. His speed and lateral quickness, given his size, was something to see.

"He's fun to watch," tight end Miller Forristall said. "A great guy, and he works hard. He's going to be good."

Early in the game, Najee Harris went full-on Superman on the defense, hurdling over veteran safety Hootie Jones for a nice gain. The crowd gasped, and everyone knew that this rookie was too good not to have a role on this team.

When coach Nick Saban was asked what that role might be, he found a way to outline an issue Alabama faces this season: too many running backs and not enough carries.

Joshua Jacobs rushed for 585 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman last season, earning a spot in the rotation. And despite all the buzz around Harris, fellow early enrollee and four-star prospect Brian Robinson has held his own in the competition.

"Look, you know, we have some good young players," Saban said. "I think Brian Robinson had a really good spring, I think Najee made a lot of progress this spring. We've got Jacobs. We've got Damien Harris. We've got Bo, who didn't play today. I think B.J. Emmons showed last year -- and he didn't play today -- that he can do some things.

"So I think all these guys -- there's a lot of competition. I think it will make them all better, and I think it's good to have that kind of depth at that position. And there may be a couple of those guys that we try to create some kind of role for so that they can contribute in a way that's going to help the team."

For offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and running backs coach Burton Burns, solving the puzzle of what pieces fit where won't be easy. It's not as if Alabama is thin at receiver, after all, with Calvin Ridley back, Robert Foster poised to come into his own as a senior and Jerry Jeudy winning A-Day MVP as an early enrollee with five catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

Picking a starter is going to be hard enough. Scarbrough, who rushed for 454 yards and six touchdowns during the Iron Bowl, SEC championship and both rounds of the College Football Playoff, could be one of the best backs in all of college football. Yet, it's easy to forget that Damien Harris actually led the team with 1,037 yards rushing last season and is arguably the more consistent back and has fewer issues fumbling the football.

Maybe Harris is good enough to leap to No. 3 on the depth chart. Or maybe he, Jacobs and Emmons all become co-No. 3s.

If you were hoping that A-Day would provide some separation at running back, that didn't happen. If anything, it muddied the waters even more, and in the process showed that this might be the deepest backfield in Saban's career at Alabama.