Alabama Football: 5 potential breakout stars for 2017

Senior defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand may finally get a chance to shine this year. Hand has mainly been a reserve in his career so far in Tuscaloosa. This is his last year on campus and it could finally be his time.

He was named to the Lombardi Award watch list for 2017, the award is given annually to the top lineman in college football. His teammate Jonathan Allen took home the honor last season. Da’Shawn is definitely catching a lot of positive attention and expectations are high for the senior. In addition to the Lombardi Award recognition, Hand was also named to the pre-season all SEC team by the league’s coaches.

However, Hand got attention for all of the wrong reasons following an arrest for suspicion of DUI in July. Hand was disciplined internally by coach Nick Saban, but is on a path to be active when the season opens.

Last year Hand saw inconsistent playing time due to the tremendous depth of Alabama’s defensive line. For the season he tallied 21 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. The Crimson Tide are once again stacked on the defensive line but given his experience Hand should finally get more consistent snaps.

With the departure of Allen and teammate Dalvin Thompson to the NFL, Hand has an opportunity to be one of the next great defensive prospects from Alabama. Hand was recently ranked the No. 7 defensive lineman to watch in 2017 by NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein.