Da'Shawn Hand making his mark this spring
Sitting for an interview in Arizona during the media day portion of national championship week, Da’Shawn Hand was confused when the interviewer introduced him to the radio audience by stating Hand will be the future guy “toting the ball next year.”
Hand, of course, is not running back Bo Scarbrough with whom he shares jersey number No. 9, but you can forgive anyone who might confuse the two. They are both large.
Hand is just larger.
He arrived in Tuscaloosa as the No. 1 recruit in the nation, but ultimately chose Alabama not just for its football tradition but also for UA’s engineering and the promise of working with the dean of engineering, Chuck Karr.
In other words, Hand is a little different.
It’s a tad unusual that a player of Hand’s ability didn’t play a bigger role in his first two seasons, but that may work out in his favor this season. Instead of being thrown to the wolves, he was able to learn the fundamentals of footwork and hand placement from veterans like A’Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed and Jonathan Allen.
Now he feels light years ahead of where he was in the summer of 2014.
“Technique, man. Man, when I got out of high school, it was like one little step and the whole play can go by you,” Hand said. “That was the biggest thing. Keeping your feet set and striking out first. Hips and hands and your feet will follow.
“In high school you could run and make a play because you were bigger and faster, but now everyone is bigger and faster. So it really comes down to technique.”
At 6-foot-4, 278 pounds, Hand is a handful for any offensive lineman to deal with. Add in his quick-twitch speed and he has the potential to be downright scary.
His strength is nothing to sneeze at either.With Jonathan Allen recouping for an offseason shoulder surgery, Hand is getting increased repetitions this spring.
The highlight of his sophomore season no doubt came in the national championship game when he recorded two tackles for loss. His potential has been evident for a while. He matches that with a work ethic — on the field and in the classroom.
Before his interview Wednesday afternoon, he joked that under no circumstances would he answer any engineering questions. You see, he’d just come from class and could take no more discussion of math.His head coach Nick Saban has noticed his play this spring.
“He's made a tremendous amount of progress,” Saban said. “He's gotten bigger and stronger. He can still run. He's still a good pass rusher. We're trying to develop him as an inside rusher as well for third downs.
“We're extremely pleased with the progress that he made and probably would have been able to contribute even more than he did last year if he'd been given a little more opportunities. I think this is going to be a really productive year for him and he's certainly had the right attitude about the things that he needs to do to develop and be that kind of player.”
Hand’s first action with the first team comes this Saturday in the team’s first scrimmage. The scrimmage is closed to the public.
Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.