Lester Cotton arrived at Alabama confident in his abilities and as one of the nation's top-ranked offensive guards, but didn't anticipate having much of an early impact.

He saw an offensive line stacked with former four-star and five-star recruits and thought he might have to wait until his sophomore year to work his way into the rotation. But then the 6-foot-4, 315-pound lineman played in Alabama's opening game against Wisconsin in Dallas and was a constant presence on Alabama's two-deep depth chart.

The true freshman played in four games for the Crimson Tide in 2015 and became progressively more comfortable with his new role after starring at left tackle for local Central-Tuscaloosa High School. Cotton, who had an incredible 223 pancake blocks his senior season, had to adjust to all the power and speed of players such as Jonathan Allen, Jarran Reed and A'Shawn Robinson coming at him during practice.

"What I didn't expect was for everything to move as fast as it did," Cotton said. "I thought it'd be like my cup of tea and I could move with them, but it took me awhile to get it. Once I got caught up, it was on then. I could move with them."

Cotton enters Alabama's spring football practice slate as a contender for multiple spots along the offensive line. He could play either offensive tackle or offensive guard, which serves him well on an offensive line that loses center Ryan Kelly and right tackle Dominick Jackson to graduation. Kelly took Cotton under his wing during the year and made him confident he can make a bigger impact in 2016.

Cotton could compete for the vacant starting right tackle job against junior college transfer Charles Baldwin and Brandon Greene. Baldwin is the early favorite to win the position, but how each performs this spring will be telling. Don't be surprised if he gives returning starters Ross Pierschbacher (left guard) and Alphonse Taylor (right guard) a push for their positions, too.

"I feel like I can step up a little more next year and try to earn a position to start at either guard or tackle," he said.

Cotton's spring will be interesting as he has to adjust to a new offensive line coach. Given that he could play either tackle or guard, Cotton will likely work with both Brent Key (offensive guards/centers) and former offensive line coach Mario Cristobal who will now work with the offensive tackles and tight ends. Cotton is a big fan of Cristobal, but he'll bring the same attitude and work ethic to whichever position and coach he's assigned.

"Just compete every day because you never know what will happen or when it's going to be your time to step up," Cotton said. "Older guys like Cam Robinson tell me never loaf and always go 110 percent because you'll never know when he'll go down and someone has to step up."