Alabama has more alumni on NFL rosters than any other college program, so it’s not unusual for former Crimson Tide teammates to be on opposing sidelines during pro games.

On Friday night, one of those intersections has Alabama’s 2022 safeties meeting in the second week of the NFL preseason when the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons square off.

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Jordan Battle and DeMarcco Hellams entered the NFL in different circumstances.

The Bengals picked Battle in the third round of the NFL Draft on April 28, adding the Alabama defensive back at a position of need for the Super Bowl contender.

The Falcons picked Hellams in the seventh round of the NFL Draft on April 29, adding the Crimson Tide defensive back to a well-stocked spot in the secondary for a team that went 7-10 in 2022.

Both players made positive impressions in their first pro games.

In Cincinnati’s 36-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers last week, Battle started at safety, made two tackles on defense and another on special teams, recorded a tackle for loss and broke up a pass while playing a team-high 50 defensive snaps as well as 15 special-teams plays.

“The goal is to get a win,” Battle said. “It doesn’t feel good that in my first game as a Bengal that I lost, even though it’s a preseason game. It’s just a standard you hold yourself to.”

In Atlanta’s 19-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins last week, Hellams led the Falcons with seven tackles and intercepted a pass while playing a team-high 61 defensive snaps as well as four special-teams plays.

“It was my first NFL game,” Hellams said, “but the field is still 53 yards wide, 100 yards long, so it’s just a different uniform, different team.”

Battle sustained a leg injury in Cincinnati’s first practice at training camp and missed more than a week of on-the-field work. But he kept mentally sharp, as he showed against the Packers with his pass breakup.

Green Bay and Cincinnati held joint practices before their game, and Battle said he learned something giving up a touchdown pass in the scrimmage that helped him break up a pass by Packers quarterback Sean Clifford at the goal line in the second quarter of the game.

“They ran a corner route on the goal line, and they got me in practice,” Battle said after the game. “Today, they ran a seam route, and that’s what I thought they was going to run in practice, but they ran it today. And when they ran the seam route today, I was ready for it and made the breakup. Obviously, I hold myself to a higher standard. I could have made an interception and got us off the field.”

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The Bengals have played in the AFC Championship Game for the past two seasons and are aiming to end the 2023 campaign with a victory in Super Bowl LVIII.

“This is the time to get better in the preseason,” Battle said. “The first game is coming up, and by the first game, we want to be perfect. That’s the goal to be perfect so we can have a perfect season. We talked about it as a team, being 20-0. In order to do that, we have to make adjustments whether that’s before the game, during the game or after the game to not make that same mistake in the next game, so making adjustments is a big, big thing for us.”

Hellams intercepted Dolphins quarterback Mike White in the end zone to end Miami’s opening possession.

“It meant a lot to me,” Hellams said. “It was just a blessing. I just wanted to do the right thing as far as being on my keys, making a play for the team, making a play for my guys out there. (Cornerback) Tre (Flowers), you know, he did a good job deflecting the ball. Hats off to Tre for giving me a chance to make that play. He put the ball in my possession, and I made sure if it touched my hands, I caught it.”

Atlanta coach Arthur Smith said Hellams played in his first pro game the way he’d played in the college game.

“The same thing you saw at Alabama – the guy’s around the football,” Smith said. “He’s a good football player.”

Hellams said it just felt good to play football again.

“It’s going to help me a lot,” Hellams said of his first pro experience. “As far as my first preseason game, it was a great opportunity for me to show my coaches what I can do, to show my teammates what I can do as well, and it was also a great moment for me to get back on the field. Football is my favorite thing to do, so getting back dirty, get a little bit of jitters. But all it takes is that first hit, first contact, and you just realize ‘I’m back playing football again,’ so that takes a lot of the pressure off.”

Battle and Hellams are connected in their first NFL season by more than their Crimson Tide background.

The Bengals drafted Battle after losing safety Jessie Bates III in free agency. The five-year starter left Cincinnati for a four-year, $64.02 million contract with the Falcons.

Atlanta signed Bates and drafted Hellams even though 2022 starting safeties Richie Grant and Jaylinn Hawkins remain with the team.

Cincinnati lost both its starting safeties from the 2022 season, with Vonn Bell also cashing in during free agency by departing for the Carolina Panthers.

Battle joined Dax Hill and Nick Scott as the candidates to fill the vacancies at the back of the Bengals’ secondary. Hill joined Cincinnati as a first-round pick last year, but he played more on special teams than defense as a rookie. Scott started 16 games for the Los Angeles Rams last season after starting once in his first three years in the NFL.

The Bengals and Falcons square off at 6:30 p.m. CDT Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.