Surrounded by a sea of orange and white, Alabama’s secondary crumbled last October in Neyland Stadium.

The Tide’s defense reached a low point of the Nick Saban era when it allowed 52 points in a loss to Tennessee, including five touchdowns by wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and a 45-yard, 15-second drive that won the game for the Vols.

A week later, one of Alabama’s starters in Knoxville rode the bench in Tuscaloosa. Cornerback Terrion Arnold, who had started six of the season’s first seven games, was replaced in the lineup by Eli Ricks. That stuck for the remainder of the season, other than Ricks’ absence for most of the Ole Miss game and the Austin Peay game because of a concussion.

“Last year was a little bit of a growing experience,” Arnold said Monday. “Kind of, like, the first time in my life I was playing corner, for real. I really had a chance to get thrown out there in the fire and really grow from it.”

Arnold finished high school as the No. 51 rated player nationally in 247 Sports’ industry composite, starring in football as a safety and and in basketball as a guard at John Paul II Catholic in Tallahassee, Florida. Arnold moved to cornerback after arriving at Alabama, redshirting his first year in 2021 after not appearing in any games. He still had aspirations to play basketball for the Tide as recently as last summer, too, but acknowledged Monday that is no longer in his plans.

Instead, Arnold is focused on playing cornerback at a high level for Alabama, and he has an opportunity. With Ricks having left for the NFL draft, Arnold is back with the first-team defense this spring opposite Kool-Aid McKinstry.

“Terrion Arnold’s been doing a pretty good job, having a good spring,” Nick Saban said Friday after Alabama’s first scrimmage.

Arnold was hardly alone in Alabama’s secondary in struggling against Tennessee’s offense. But in that game and during his other playing time early in the season, Arnold had issues with technique that led to Saban making the switch to Ricks at cornerback. Those continued when he returned to a prominent role on defense against Ole Miss.

“Well, I mean, you saw the game,” Saban said after the narrow win in Oxford. “I think Terrion Arnold plays really well when he plays with good technique. I think when he has bad habits in his technique — which I’m not gonna get into specifically — he allows the other guy to take advantage of him on release and doesn’t always put him in a great position to play the ball.”

Arnold has not avoided revisiting the ugly moments from last season, which included pass interference penalties against Ole Miss and Tennessee. Now entering his third season, Arnold said Monday he has watched film with cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson and “dissected” what happened.

“I feel like it really made me a better player and a better man, last year,” Arnold said.

Arnold’s two seasons in Tuscaloosa make him one of the most experienced players in Alabama’s secondary after three of its safeties — Jordan Battle, DeMarcco Hellams and Brian Branch — joined Ricks in departing for the NFL this offseason.

The most experienced returner in Alabama’s secondary in Malachi Moore, who graduates in May ahead of his senior season this fall. Moore played mostly as a fifth or sixth defensive back closer to the line of scrimmage his first three seasons but has split time this spring between “star,” or slot cornerback, and deep safety. Arnold and second-year cornerback Earl Little have also seen time at star, Saban said Friday.

“Earl, he’s one of those guys — this defense is full of a lot of guys that wants to be great,” Arnold said. “He’s one of those guys who’s up there meeting with coach and really just trying to put all the little things together. He’s really excited to learn and really hungry to be on the field, so I feel like it’s helping him grow and myself, I feel like it’s making be a better player because I have to get into the film room and teach him what to do. I feel like we’re all benefiting from that.”

One of Alabama’s open safety spots could be manned by Caleb Downs, the No. 6 rated player nationally in 247 Sports’ composite for the 2023 high school class.

“I feel like the impact he has made is tremendous, coming in as a freshman,” Arnold said of Downs. “With the accolades that he has, I feel like he’s a really humble guy and he really took it and really grown with it. I feel like he’s going to be a good player here.”

Downs has a chance to play over the returning safeties on Alabama’s roster, including two who have seen considerable time on special teams the past two seasons in Kristian Story and DeVonta Smith.

“Downs is doing well for a young guy, getting a lot of reps,” Saban said Friday.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.