As Alabama fans await news about the Tide’s vacancies at offensive and defensive coordinator, there have been a few changes on the lower level of Nick Saban’s staff.

Analyst Will Lawing, who spent the past two seasons in Tuscaloosa, is following Bill O’Brien to New England, ESPN reported Thursday. Lawing joined Alabama after working on O’Brien’s staff with the Houston Texans and Penn State.

Lawing’s role on the Patriots’ staff is not yet known, but he becomes the fourth former Saban staffer on Bill Belichick’s staff in New England. Patriots running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri is a former Tide player and son of current Saban assistant Sal Sunseri; Patriots offensive assistant Joe Judge was an Alabama special teams analyst from 2009-11; and Patriots special teams assistant Joe Houston was an Alabama analyst in 2019.

Alabama has seen two other analysts depart this offseason. Cornelius Williams became New Mexico’s wide receivers coach and Alex Mortensen became UAB’s offensive coordinator.

Apart from Lawing’s departure, Alabama has hired Ryan Finck as an offensive analyst. Finck spent last season as a graduate assistant working with the Tide’s offensive line after a stint as a GA for Kentucky under current Tide offensive line coach Eric Wolford. Before that, he was a GA at Wyoming and Ohio University.

One former analyst has re-joined Alabama’s staff this offseason. Jake Long, who left the program last year to become Oregon’s inside linebackers coach, has since returned.

On the position coach level, Alabama lost safeties coach Charles Kelly to Colorado this offseason and reportedly has hired Southern Miss defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong in a yet-to-be-announced role.

Drew Svoboda, who spent the 2021 season as Alabama’s special teams coordinator and last season as a special assistant to Saban, left this offseason to become North Texas’ special teams coordinator.

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