Having a dominant offensive line has been a staple of Nick Saban’s Alabama teams and this year it’s once again trying to work back to the old days.
After an out-of-character 2021 season, the Crimson Tide’s offensive line under Eric Wolford a season ago showed a bit of promise and largely cut down on the sack totals for quarterback Bryce Young.
But the Crimson Tide took a big hit in that group following the season. Not only did the team lose two starters to the NFL (Emil Ekiyor and Tyler Steen) but it lost another to the transfer portal (Javion Cohen) along with four other reserves opting to transfer as well.
This has left a much younger group overall for Wolford to develop, but despite its youth Saban still likes what he sees from a size and mentality standpoint.
When addressing the media on Monday, Saban raved about the intangibles this unit has to offer while addressing the depth issues brought on from the offseason.
“I like the players that we have on the offensive line,” Saban said. “I think we have some bigger, more physical players. I think they obviously don’t have as much experience. But I like the attitude. I like their temperament. I like their toughness. And I think the number one thing is we got to create some depth.
“You know at that position, we probably lost more players than we gained even though the players that we gained we’re excited about how they can contribute and what their future might be. So probably need to add a little depth at that position.”
Although there isn’t as much playing experience up and down the depth chart, Saban is right about the impressive size of the line.
When looking up and down the unit it is filled with goliaths such as JC Latham (6’6″ 335 lbs), Tyler Booker (6’5″ 335 lbs), Miles McVay (6’6″ 350 lbs) and Kadyn Proctor (6’7″ 354 lbs) just to name a few.
With the offense also searching for a new starting quarterback this year, it’ll be imperative for the line to establish some tenacity in the run game along with some extra depth to round things out.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
