Tuscaloosa News: Kendall Kelly expected to open spring at safety

Talk about a big surprise, this one certainly qualifies. I think we generally knew there would probably be a wide receiver or two that might get a look at defensive back, but I would have never guessed it would be Kelly this spring. Given his 6'4 and 210+ pound frame, I would expect that Kelly would be more of a strong safety (i.e. not likely an addition to make up for the loss of Robby Green), but admittedly Kelly is a great athlete so it is perhaps possible.

With that said, though, if this truly is a long-term deal and not just an experimental deal for a couple of days, I imagine this will take a while to yield results. Making the transition to a Nick Saban defense is hard enough for any defensive back, and Kelly himself has never really even played defensive back, not even at the high school level. It's going to be a huge transition for him, and I imagine one that will take quite some time to get some positive results.

Also, on a closing note, remember a couple of years back when Saban moved Demetrius Goode -- who was coming off of a torn ACL -- to cornerback? It only lasted for a few days, and Saban later admitted that it was done just to "loosen" Goode up on the field a bit, thinking that he had gotten too timid for contact after the knee injury. Kelly has spent much of the last two seasons suffering from a hip injury that required surgery, so perhaps Saban is just trying to do with Kelly what he did with Goode. Perhaps not, mind you, but I suppose it's a possibility, and we'll have to wait and see a bit to find out if this move is indeed a permanent one.