Marlon Humphrey was incredulous, still trying to process what happened in the final minute of his college career.

The Alabama cornerback stood in the locker room at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium with sunglasses covering his eyes. His team had just lost the national championship to Clemson when Hunter Renfrow caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson with one second left on the clock.

The former walk-on receiver for the Tigers was now a hero in the northwest section of South Carolina and parts beyond. In the Tigers' 35-31 victory, he tormented the Crimson Tide's defense, making 10 receptions for 92 yards and scoring twice.

"He's definitely something serious in that slot," Humphrey said.

The player charged with guarding Renfrow for much of the night was not Humphrey, but Tony Brown. Brown mans the Star or what is commonly referred to as the nickelback position. What was once considered an auxiliary role, occupied by reserve players with marginal talent, is now seen as an essential job.

Against Clemson, according to CFBfilmroom.com, Brown was targeted four times and conceded three catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. Over the course of 99 snaps, the junior cornerback was in coverage on 66 of them. It was a tremendous challenge considering that Brown had to defend a receiver who had the space to utilize all nine branches of the route tree while running slants, curls, digs and comebacks.

Eleven days before Renfrow did his damage against the Tide, Brown explained what he was up against while playing as Alabama's nickelback.

"Watching film comes into play, knowing tendencies comes into play, knowing down and distance, where they are at on the field, all that comes into play," Brown said. "You need to know that to play the slot."

In a bygone era that existed before spread offenses began to predominate, the position to which Brown has been assigned was considered a specialty role. Nickel and dime personnel groupings were called packages and used primarily in third-down situations.

Back then, the Sam linebacker was a starting position and an integral piece in a team's 4-3 front -- the standard base defense deployed by teams in pro and college football for years. Back when Alabama coach Nick Saban was the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in the early 90s, the defensive strategy he implemented then was much different than the one he uses now.

"You played maybe one team, like the Houston Oilers were a run-and-shoot team, so you would play nickel or dime almost the whole game," he said.

Now, the Tide's standard alignment includes at least five defensive backs. Alabama was in nickel and dime 85 percent of the time this past season, according to ProFootballFocus.com. Saban, as he has shown throughout his tenure in Tuscaloosa, was willing to adapt as SEC programs like Ole Miss and Texas A&M placed a premium on scoring points in a hurry.

In today's game, teams are routinely attacking with "11" personnel and empty sets, stretching the field horizontally and vertically. The proliferation of athletic tight ends, who could easily be mistaken for big-bodied wideouts, has created matchup problems for defenses. So, too, has the increase in players like Renfrow -- cerebral, elusive receivers who can read coverages and use option routes to get open.

"With all that field it can be a real challenge," Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick said.

Yet the Star cornerback is charged with neutralizing both weapons -- big and small -- while operating in a section of the field where traffic creates chaos. It's why former quarterback and analyst Joey Harrington says only the most well-rounded player can excel as a nickelback.

"That might be one of the most difficult positions to play on defense because not only do you have to cover space because you often don't have a sideline to work with, but you also have to play run support," he said. "That's the key is finding a guy who is athletic enough to cover a quick slot receiver and tough enough to tackle a 210-pound tailback coming at you downhill. Find me a handful of those guys in the country. You're going to struggle."

The Tide did pinpoint one: Fitzpatrick. Before Eddie Jackson fractured his leg on Oct. 22 -- necessitating Fitzpatrick to move to safety -- the New Jersey native was the Tide's nickelback. He was ideally suited for the role. With a 6-foot-1, 203-pound frame, Fitzpatrick has the physical traits to tackle in space. He also has the football IQ required for the position, quickly diagnosing what is about to transpire based on formation recognition. In the past, Saban has praised Fitzpatrick's preparation, which is why he entrusted him to line up in the slot.

"It is one of the hardest positions to play in football because you kind of got three guys in one -- a linebacker, a safety and a corner all wrapped in one guy," said Derrick Ansley, Alabama's defensive backs coach. "You got to be tough enough to play close to the line of scrimmage and you got to be skilled enough and athletic enough to cover guys one-on-one if he's running away from the safety. That's a skill-set you have to recruit and it's a skill-set you have to develop. But if you have the right body type and the right mentality, I think those things can make it work."

Over the years, Saban has been able to identify players with those traits -- from Javier Arenas to DeQuan Menzie to Fitzpatrick. He may have to do so again this offseason.

Jackson and Humphrey are gone, so Alabama will have to fill two of its five defensive back positions. The Tide could conceivably leave Fitzpatrick at safety and Brown in the slot. But both players could be used as outside corners as well.

If Brown moves and Fitzpatrick remains in his current spot, Shyheim Carter figures to be the top candidate to play the Star. When Brown was out with a pulled muscle last month, Carter, a freshman, practiced there during some preliminary bowl practices.

However the Tide chooses to manage the Star could have major implications for Alabama in 2017, and Saban explained why.

"[The nickelback] has to be a much more complete player," Saban said, noting that he is a hybrid mix of a Sam linebacker and a fleet-footed defensive back. "That's why the position is named Star. So it has changed quite dramatically in the last 10 or 15 years."

Alabama's last game of the 2016 season illustrated just how marked the transformation has been for a position that now is as important as any on the field.

After all, it was in the slot that an undefeated season went up in smoke, leaving Humphrey and his teammates to contemplate what could have been.