SDS continues a series looking in depth at teams and their biggest subplots heading into 2015. Next up, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

1.Will a quarterback emerge?

For much of the offseason, it looked like Alabama wouldn’t have to deal with a quarterback controversy this time around after last year the big question was whether or not the starter would be Jake Coker or Blake Sims. Sims, of course, won the job last year, but it seemed to be Coker’s to lose this time.

Yet the talk of the Alabama preseason camp has been a five-way race for the starting job. Coker still looks like the leading candidate, but he’s missed some practice time with a foot injury, giving more opportunities to his competition. David Cornwell, Cooper Bateman, Alec Morris and Blake Barnett all remain in the mix. Cornell was taking most of the second-string snaps when the public was able to see practice, but word is the true freshman Barnett has impressed after enrolling early.

No matter who wins the starting job, this isn’t really the kind of stability at the quarterback spot head coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin were looking for heading into the season. The Tide returns two starters on the offensive line, Cam Robinson and Ryan Kelly, but is relatively inexperienced everywhere else. Being able to settle on a quarterback would be huge if only to begin developing continuity and rhythm for the offense as a whole.

Alabama’s practices are closed to the public for the most part, so it’s hard to say for sure if Coker’s inability once again to lock down the starting job is a matter of the Florida State transfer not being good enough or his competition for the job simply being too good to ignore, but you have to think there’s some disappointment among the Crimson Tide staff that Coker hasn’t stepped up to make this decision an easy one.

2. Freshmen looking for playing time on offense

With most of last year’s first-team offense either graduating or moving on to the NFL, there are a lot of players looking for their first opportunity to start, and the Crimson Tide have a few true freshmen who could push for reps and make it a full-fledged youth movement on that side of the ball.

As noted earlier, Blake Barnett arrived on campus in time to participate in spring drills and is still in the running to be the Tide’s starting quarterback. Quarterback guru George Whitfield, whose pupils include Andrew Luck, Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel, has trained with Barnett and said is the best 18-year-old quarterback he’s seen yet.

And if Barnett happens to win the job, one of his favorite targets might be another freshman, wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley didn’t have the luxury of enrolling in January, so he’s still playing catchup to a degree in fall camp, but he might be the most talented wide out on the Alabama roster. Barnett and Ridley already seemed to have great chemistry at The Opening, an event for elite recruits in which their team won the 7-on-7 title.

Running backs Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris are two more first-year players who could make an impact. Scarbrough is recovering from a knee injury, but both he and Harris are elite prospects who might move up the depth chart quickly, particularly at a position where Tide players have struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons.

Even if none of them crack the starting lineup, it bodes well for Alabama having an elite offense within a couple of years.

3. Is this a national championship team?

That’s always the bottom line for Alabama in the Nick Saban era and though the Crimson Tide is considered one of the country’s top contenders, it won’t be easy. Just winning the SEC West could be a challenge with Auburn also fielding a preseason Top 10 squad, and Georgia could make a second straight SEC championship very difficult.

But if Saban’s crew can win the SEC, that’s an all but an automatic bid into the four-team College Football Playoff. There the Tide would look for some redemption and rebuilt pride after falling to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal game last season.

Those Buckeyes aren’t going to be easy to dethrone either. While nobody on the Crimson Tide roster has grabbed hold of the starting quarterback job, Ohio State has three of the best college quarterbacks in the country on its roster (though Braxton Miller has moved to receiver). TCU, Baylor and Oregon are all legitimate national title contenders with the kind of hurry-up, fast-paced offense the Crimson Tide dreads.

Simply put, Alabama is really, really good, but so are a lot of other teams. And as the Tide found out last year, the playoff system makes winning it all that much tougher.

SDS Takeaways

As with every year, Alabama’s success in 2015 hinges on which players step up and fill some important roles.

There’s no doubt the Crimson Tide has talent across the board and a roster 99 percent of college football would trade for, but can they mesh into a championship squad this season or is true greatness a year or two away?

Injuries, or avoiding them, will play a huge role. Coker could use more time on the field preparing for what is potentially his first year as a starter. The consensus is he’s got the tools, but something has continually held him back. Running back depth has usually been a trademark of Saban’s Alabama teams, but Scarbrough and Kenyan Drake’s struggles to stay healthy, combined with some offseason departures, could leave Bama thin in terms of ball carriers.

Kiffin’s offense took center stage last year as the Tide averaged nearly 37 points per game, but the team could shift back to an old-school defensive focus this season with linebacker Reggie Ragland, cornerback Cyrus Jones and defensive linemen A’Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed and Jonathan Allen all returning starters with potential to be huge stars.

There’s likely a paper-thin line between glory and disappointment for Alabama this season. Will the right people step up to help the Tide navigate a difficult schedule that includes road games at Georgia and Auburn and a neutral site contest with Wisconsin? Bama is the favorite to win the SEC and if it can get back into the playoff it might have as good a shot to win it as anyone.

But it none of it seems like as much of a lock as it has in some previous seasons.