For this year’s Alabama football team, quarterback is not the only position up for grabs.

With James Carpenter leaving, the Tide has a vacant spot at the most important offensive line position, left tackle. The two main players expected to compete for that spot are senior Alfred McCullough and junior Aaron Douglas, a junior college transfer who played at Tennessee in 2009.

McCullough has some game experience from last year, stepping in whenever a lineman was injured. He is a versatile player who can play multiple positions on the line. Douglas is slowly impressing coaches and players.

“Alfred has done a nice job and there is a competition between him and Aaron,” Saban said. “Alfred has more experience and knows the offense better, but Aaron is making nice progress as well. We feel really good about the way our tackle prospects have progressed.”

Sophomore offensive lineman D.J. Fluker said, “Alfred is a good player, and he is always willing to work. He does anything you need him to do. Aaron has the right mentality and has been progressing. He always wants to watch film. They have been battling and have a nice competition going.”

Plenty to work on

The one thing head coach Nick Saban has been preaching on a daily basis is getting better every day at practice.

With the Tide holding its first scrimmage this past Saturday, Saban said there are still things the team can improve on.

“I didn’t think we tackled very well so we are putting emphasis on that this week,” Saban said. “I didn’t think we played upfront well because we didn’t strike blockers and hold the point of attack like we need to. We threw the ball well and the receivers played well, but we still need to do better with consistency in protection when we throw the ball so that we can minimize negative plays.”

Saban also said that with time, players will continue to get better.

“First time guys go out there, especially young guys, there is a little anxiety,” Saban said. “I think as these guys get more playing experience, they will be more confident. There will be less anxiety and they will see the things they need to improve on and get better from scrimmage one to scrimmage two.”

Working on future opponents

For the first time this spring, the Tide took time at practice to prepare for next year’s opponents. Head coach Nick Saban said it was just another step in the team’s preparation.

“Our goal and focus for this week is to continue to try to install things,” Saban said. “We want to challenge our players to learn more of the things that they need to know. Today was the first day that we worked on next year’s opponents. We wanted to look at things we don’t see from our own offense and defense that we will have to play against next year. We wanted our players to have the basic fundamentals and resources that they need so that the time comes next year we won’t be starting from scratch.”

Notable home games for the Tide in 2011 include Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU. Notable away games include Penn State, Florida and in-state rival Auburn.