There’s no question that Alabama football has a different feel this spring — music is blaring through the practice fields, media members are on hand periodically for viewing sessions and assistant coaches are made available for interviews to document the progress. There are new schemes and new position group nicknames such as “SwarmD,” “Takers” (wide receivers) and “Juice Squad: (offensive line), and there’s a new man at the helm of the .

It’s certainly not the same, but spring practice has brought the program back to its most normal state: focusing on football.

“I think our kids have done a really good job of adapting to different,” running backs coach Robert Gillespie said. “The more you can adapt, the easier and faster you can adapt to change, it becomes normal. I think now it’s normal. We’re putting the footballs out there, we’re playing football and you know the word ‘different’ doesn’t come up in the building anymore. It’s become who we are.”

It had been hard to focus squarely on football the past two months. Conversations around Alabama have centered around the transfer portal, coaching searches and how the program will look post-Nick Saban. That last question won’t go away, but spring practice allows for those topics to take a backseat. As Gillespie later put it: “These kids are here to play football.”