It was another up-and-down performance for Alabama’s offensive line against Arkansas on Saturday.
The unit was able to put together 177 rushing yards on the day with an average of 4.2 yards per carry but again pass protection showed to be an issue at times particularly in the second half as quarterback Jalen Milroe was sacked five times.
Following the game head coach Nick Saban broke down the unit’s performance and what can help it get things back on track to play more consistently.
“We made some mental errors,” Saban said. “We don’t fan the first sack of the game. We fan it to the left, the left tackle doesn’t fan, the guy runs in there unblocked and sacks the quarterback. A couple times today we got physically beat. I mean, their rusher just beat our guy. But we have to handle pressure better. I mean, we have to be able to handle pressure and stunts better. I mean this was a big boundary-pressure team. It’s exactly what they did. When 28 sacked the quarterback the first play of the game, it’s something we practiced a lot and get in the game.
“With experience, I think our guys will learn from every one of these things and hopefully be able to get it corrected.”
Experience is certainly something needed from the left tackle position at Alabama as it continued to rotate true freshman Kadyn Proctor and redshirt freshman Elijah Pritchett during the game. Both are seeing the first significant playing time of their careers and the learning curve has been large as neither has separated themselves to date in terms of pass protection.
The Crimson Tide will come back to work on Monday as it prepares for next Saturday’s game against Tennessee.
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