No. 3 Alabama: The Tide do have some questions to answer

Dr. Saturday will unveil its preseason Top 25 team-by-team during the next 25 days. This list is based on returning starters, schedule and prospects. However, we all know that once the games begin, things can change very quickly. Still, we thought we’d give our best guess heading into the 2015 season.

No. 3 Alabama

2014 record: 12-2, 7-1 in the SEC

Returning starters: 3 offense, 7 defense

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2015 Outlook: Alabama has a lot of questions to answer entering 2015.

Now, we’re not saying that as a way of panicking and predicting a terrible season for the Tide. Look at their ranking. We think Alabama is going to make the playoff.

The questions that Alabama has are ones that 125 other FBS teams would gladly like to deal with. But it doesn’t mean they’re not legitimate. And the answers to them will decide if Alabama misses the College Football Playoff, simply makes it, or wins the national title.

Who will play quarterback? Right now, the easy answer seems to be Jacob Coker, the Florida State transfer who was the trendy pick to start in 2013 before Blake Sims won the quarterback job, is the favorite to start in 2014. But Alabama hasn’t named a starter yet, and five quarterbacks have gotten reps in fall camp, including redshirt freshman David Cornwell (not to be confused with Jameis Winston’s lawyer).

“You know, it’s really complicated, and it’s probably not really important,” coach Nick Saban said when he was asked about his quarterbacking timeshare in practice via TideSports.com. “It’s important to me, it’s important to us. It’s our plan. But it’s not a plan we put out for speculation. They all got turns.”

Let’s assume Coker is the likely starter. Because of his reputation, he’ll have higher expectations than Sims, who threw for over 3,400 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2014. If Coker replicates what Sims did last season, Alabama should be in good shape. Although he’ll need significant support, which leads us to the next question.

Who is the No. 2 running back? Derrick Henry is back, but many others are not. Ever since his breakout performance in the 2015 Sugar Bowl, Henry has shown immense flashes of being able to be a bellcow back. But can he handle 300 carries? Alabama has shown it likes to feature a running back committee under Saban, but the team’s second-leading returning rusher is Kenyan Drake. He suffered a gruesome ankle injury against Ole Miss. Will he be as effective as a rusher and receiver as he was in 2014? If so, it helps an Alabama running game that lost T.J. Yeldon to the pros, dismissed Tyren Jones and saw Bo Scarbrough suffer a knee injury and get suspended for four games.

Who is the top receiver? Amari Cooper might as well have been the top three options at receiver last year. He had 124 catches, three times as many as No. 2 receiver DeAndrew White, who had 40. Oh, and White is gone, too. The Tide’s leading returning receiver is tight end O.J. Howard, who had 17 catches for 260 yards.

Alabama’s passing game can be just as good as it was last year, but it’s not going to have the benefit of being able to count on a top-five draft pick like Cooper. But even then, Robert Foster, Chris Black, ArDarius Stewart and others will have to combine to replicate Cooper’s production. And it’d be a boon for Alabama’s offense if one of them had 80 or more catches and emerged as a go-to receiver.

Can Alabama weather a tough schedule? We’re leaning yes to this question as well as finding positive answers to the first two inquiries because of our ranking. The Tide may have the toughest schedule in the country with a season-opening game against Wisconsin and a rotational conference game against Georgia included with the full slate of SEC West teams. If Alabama wins the SEC West and the SEC Championship Game, it’s going to get into the playoff even if it has one or two losses simply because the schedule is not forgiving.

Player to watch: Cyrus Jones, CB

Jones, a senior cornerback, is one of two returning starters in the Alabama secondary. He’ll be the Tide’s top corner and counted on to be a stabilizing presence opposite Tony Brown, who had 10 tackles in 2014.

He played through a hip injury in 2014 and has said he’s close to 100 percent for 2015. His health will be important for an Alabama secondary that lost Landon Collins to the NFL and was burned by deep passes at times in 2015. With five starters returning in the front seven, Alabama should be stout against the run. If it’s going to be a national title contender, it needs to be great against the pass, too. Even Saban, in his opening comments at SEC media days, said it was important for his team to support the front seven by not giving up the big plays it did in 2014.

Breakout player: O.J. Howard, TE

We mentioned Howard in the opening segment of the post but he’s worth mentioning again. It’s entirely possible he could end up being Alabama’s leading receiver in terms of catches, or at the very least, an important safety valve on third down.

At 6-foot-6 and 242 pounds, Howard also has speed to stretch opposing defenses. He can be a mismatch for both opposing linebackers and defensive backs. Saban has said his team will likely use more two tight end packages without fullback Jalston Fowler, who graduated after 2014.

“Jalston certainly was an outstanding player for us, and he will be missed, but it will create an opportunity for other players at other positions,” Saban said. “We have always operated more with two tight ends and one back and two receivers as a base formation. When we had Brad Smelley and players like that in the past. And Jalston, being a fullback, was kind of an anomaly for us because it’s not a position that we really recruit. So we’ll probably go back to tight ends playing those types of roles in our offense, whether it’s O.J. Howard, Ty Smith, those bigger, athletic guys who have some of the same skill set.”

Miss one of our Top 25? No. 4 USC, No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 8 Florida State, No. 9 Clemson , No. 10 Oregon, No. 11 Georgia, No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 13 UCLA, No. 14 LSU , No. 15 Georgia Tech , No. 16 Arkansas , No. 17 Ole Miss , No. 18 Arizona State , No. 19 Oklahoma , No. 20 Arizona , No. 21 Tennessee , No. 22 Missouri , No. 23 Stanford , No. 24 Boise State , No. 25 Wisconsin .