With only 10 starters back, including three on offense, Alabama and Nick Saban are in rare air.
The Crimson Tide aren't considered the team to beat in the SEC West this season. That is Auburn, which has only 12 starters back, four on offense, but potentially has the best quarterback in the league in Jeremy Johnson.
Johnson threw only 35 passes last season, but he completed 27. He started the season opener against Arkansas because Nick Marshall was suspended for the first half, and Johnson was brilliant, completing 12 of 16 attempts for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Gene Chizik, the former Auburn coach who started recruiting Johnson when he was a freshman in high school, has said Johnson will remind fans more of Cam Newton than of Marshall before this season is over.
Coach Gus Malzahn didn't waste any time hiring the fired Will Muschamp as the Tigers' defensive coordinator, and the former Florida head coach has eight starters back.
However, the one thing fans should never do is take Alabama lightly.
Saban may lack warmth publicly -- he does do things behind the scenes for organizations and individuals -- but no one will ever accuse him of not being a great football coach.
Right now he and Ohio State's Urban Meyer appear to be the national stars, and Saban is at the head of an SEC class that includes Steve Spurrier and Les Miles, who have both won national championships as head coaches.
Saban has won four national titles and Meyer three.
Not taking Alabama lightly starts with not taking Saban lightly. He may have a little something to prove after last year's showing against Ohio State in the first round of the inaugural College Football Playoffs.
Not to mention that at the SEC media days in July he blamed that loss on players who lost their focus after getting their NFL Draft status reports.
That came across as a whiny excuse.
So what better time than now to prove he still has the drive and energy. Saban, who turns 64 on Halloween (of course), is 177-59-1 as a college head coach but 86-17 at Alabama.
Over the past six seasons the Crimson Tide are 72-9.
The past five recruiting classes have been ranked Nos. 2, 1, 1, 1 and 1 nationally. Breaking down the numbers a little more, he has signed 20 five-star players and 71 four-star players among those five classes.
Alabama doesn't rebuild. Saban just says "next," whether it is a quarterback, a running back or a defensive back.
If the Crimson Tide need to establish one thing early and then improve it each week, it is on the offensive line. Last season's leading rusher, Derrick Henry (1,025 yards), is back, as is Kenyan Drake, who missed most of last season with an injury.
Drake is a threat to score every time he touches the football, whether it's on kickoffs, receiving or running.
The defense will always be the foundation of Saban's teams.
Another thing that has some doubting Alabama's chances to win the SEC West is that the Crimson Tide have a tough schedule.
They open in Arlington, Texas, against Wisconsin and two weeks later host a very talented Ole Miss. Two weeks after that they go to Georgia, and their other Eastern Division game is against Tennessee, an improving team much like the Razorbacks, who also face the Tide in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama also has road games at Texas A&M, Mississippi State and closes with the Iron Bowl at Auburn, most likely with the entire football nation watching on television.
The bottom line is you don't win four national championships and dominate the SEC without a great coach, and Nick Saban is why no one should ever take Alabama lightly.
Sports on 08/30/2015