The Alabama linebacking corps is a who’s who of injured players — Shaun Dion Hamilton, Mack Wilson, Christian Miller and Terrell Lewis will all miss this weekend’s game and Hamilton is lost for the year.

There’s hope on the horizon, though, as Wilson should be able to return should the Crimson Tide make the College Football Playoff, while Miller and Lewis could return before the SEC Championship Game.

However, the defense is certainly showing some signs of weakness, according to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit. On Saturday morning’s SportsCenter, Herbie said he trusts coach Nick Saban and DC Jeremy Pruitt to find answers, but the cracks are starting to show right now.

“It almost caught up to them against that Mississippi State attack,” he said. “Nick Saban warned all of us that, ‘Hey, everybody keeps trying to crown us as the best team around, and we’ve got issues. We’ve got concerns.’

“Right now, they’re just holding on and it’s forcing them to play more nickel and more dime because they don’t have enough linebackers. Leave it to Nick Saban and Jeremy Pruitt to find answers.”

Against Mercer this weekend, the Crimson Tide will have time to get some young players up to speed, but Saban will certainly still be holding on to hope that some of the linebackers mentioned above can return soon.