Alabama freshman defensive end LaBryan Ray made in impact in the Crimson Tide’s game at Texas A&M last Saturday — but he wasn’t expected to before the season began.

Ray, whose redshirt was intact until the Ole Miss game last week, recorded an impressive 14-yard sack in the 27-19 win over the Aggies.

Nick Saban said Monday the original plan was to “probably redshirt” Ray in the 2017 season, according to a report from AL.com. He wasn’t among the Tide early enrollees and didn’t participate in spring practice drills.

So what changed?

Injuries to three top outside linebackers in the opener brought a positional move for Ray, the report said. He practiced with Alabama’s outside linebackers for two weeks when Anfernee Jennings was out, but didn’t see game action.

Then, Da’Shawn Hand hurt his knee against Ole Miss, and it was time for Ray to get in the game after being shuffled back to the defensive line.

“We felt like he was going to have more opportunity to play and we needed to play him and it would actually enhance his development to play,” Saban said.

“We felt like he was a very instinctive, good, play-hard kind of guy,” Saban added. “He is all of that and he’s smart and he’s able to go in there and execute and play and react the way we’d like for him to so he’s developed nicely and we’ll continue to play him.”