Alabama WR Marvin Shinn set to transfer from Crimson Tide, where is he heading?

Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Marvin Shinn (80) is hit as he attempts to catch a pass by Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Zeke Motta (17) as Carlo Calabrese (44) closes in during the first half of the 2013 BCS Championship game at Sun Life Stadium. (Eileen Blass-USA TODAY Sports)

Marvin Shinn recently tied a bow on his redshirt freshman season with two receptions in the BCS National Championship game. However, Shinn has nonetheless decided to transfer from the Alabama Crimson Tide.

“Marvin Shinn has elected to not go through the offseason program,” Nick Saban told Alex Scarborough of TideNation.com. “Therefore, he will not be going through spring practice or be a part of the team.

“I assume that he’s going to decide to go someplace else.”

Shinn came to Tuscaloosa as a four-star, ESPN150-rated wideout, making him one of the most highly-touted players at his position. That is the problem with deciding to go ahead and win yourself a title with the Tide: The roster is stacked with highly-touted players, and when push came to shove, there simply wasn’t any room for Shinn on the depth chart.

His decision definitely creates a little breathing room for the group, headlined by soon-to-be sophomore Amari Cooper. Behind Cooper, senior signal-caller AJ McCarron will also be looking at Kevin Norwood, Christion Jones, Kenny Bell, DeAndrew White, Cyrus Jones and Chris Black — like we said, it’s a crowded depth chart.

For one of the dwindling number of programs that still does not use a spread offense, there simply was not going to be enough touches to go around.

So where does that leave the 6-foot-3, 198-pound Shinn? The Prichard, Ala. native could choose to remain close to home. If he drops down a level, he will be eligible to play this fall for South Alabama. He may elect to do so after sitting out all of the 2011 season as a redshirt.

Should he choose to remain with the big boys, he was recruited out of high school by Florida State, LSU, Cal and Texas Tech. The Noles and Tigers might be out of the picture, but Cal and Texas Tech, presumably, would love to bring a talent such as Shinn aboard.

Both the Bears and Red Raiders have overhauled their coaching staffs and both are looking for weapons in the spread-formation passing game.

Of course, should he head to any of these schools, he would have to sit out the 2013 season as a transfer.

The young man is going to have to take the next several weeks and weigh out all of his options. If he wants to continue to play big-time football, he may have to go extremely far from home, and such a move may not be his prerogative.

As for the Tide, well, you saw how many wide receivers they have waiting in the wings. Somehow, we get the feeling that Saban is over Shinn’s decision to transfer already.

THE QUAD: Nick Saban kicked the four players recently arrested off the Alabama football team.

What do you think Gamedayrs?