TUSCALOOSA — Welcome to Spring Football 101 at the University of Alabama — where there is no starting quarterback, no set positions along the offensive line and ... (all together now) no depth chart.

Some of you have taken this course before. It’s not for the faint of heart, although “instructor” Nick Saban talked about a wanting to see a “cautious confidence” from his players.

The Crimson Tide opened spring drills Friday on a cold, wet day more fitting for a bowl practice. The team worked out in the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility for about two and a half hours in shorts and helmets.

Players were positive about the workout.

“It was high-energy, a lot of guys moving around,” said quarterback candidate Greg McElroy, who added players were prepared for what coaches threw at them on the first day. “Guys have been studying their stuff because we hardly had any mental errors, any busts, anything. It was a fun practice, man, a lot of competition going around.”

Cornerback Kareem Jackson said spring practice certainly beats the Tide’s fourth-quarter conditioning program.

“I’m glad to get past four quarters,” Jackson said. “I think we looked pretty good today. It felt real good out there.”

Alabama next takes a week off for spring break and will resume the 15-practice spring session — which includes the nationally televised A-Day Game on April 18 — on Monday, March 23. The Tide will scrimmage on Wednesday, April 1, and Friday, April 10.

Saban, going into his third spring in Tuscaloosa, said he and his staff will put player development ahead of evaluation.

“The purpose of spring ball, first of all, is to give every player on the team a chance to be successful,” Saban said. “Knowledge, technique, what to do, how to do it, why it’s important to do it that way, I think for every individual player is critical so ... they can be responsible and do their job and execute and eliminate mistakes.”

Much of the attention this spring will be on finding a starting quarterback and three new starters on the offensive line.

“We lost some great guys,” lineman Mike Johnson said of his unit. “I look back to my true freshman year. We lost three NFL guys from the offensive line. Came back and won 10 games. It’s something you’ve got to piece together.”

Another veteran, nose tackle Terrence Cody, said the team’s defensive speed is noticeably improved from last year.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys that return on defense,” Cody said. “We’ve got a lot of chemistry. We know what each other’s going to do. We work from there. That’s what made us one of the top defenses in the country last year, was working together.”

But Saban, as he has in the past, stressed that every job is open.

“We want every player to feel like they can compete for a position. Just because a guy played a lot last year doesn’t mean he’s entitled to a position,” the coach said. “Every player’s got to be productive and every player can improve.

“You never really arrive in sports. Tiger Woods, even after winning 14 majors and however many championships he’s won, that’s what he says when he wins a tournament.

“I think the message there is everyone can improve. Everybody needs to get better. That’s the kind of attitude we want our players to have in terms of their approach to spring practice. The more competition we have, hopefully, the more that is encouraged.”