Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer joined McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, and he discussed why he’s confident in the offensive line this season.
“In practice, I think there’s been more consistency, not just in the run game but in the pass game,” DeBoer said. “It starts with good communication and everyone being on the same page. Coach Grubb and Adrian Klemm, our offensive line coach, I think have done a good job of homing in on what we can do well and really worked on that the latter part of fall camp. Had a good idea after the spring, and you can see it just with how they installed going into fall camp that there were specific things we feel we were good at. We had to make sure those were strengths, and there’s things that you still want within your offense that you just got to improve on so you don’t become predictable, one-dimensional and all that.”
Protecting the quarterback was not a strength for Alabama last season, and neither was getting movement up front in the running game. Alabama was 15th in the SEC in average rushing yards per game last year.
Alabama’s offensive line will look different because there is only one returning starter, but the Crimson Tide are close to having their new starting lineup assembled.
Right guard Michael Carroll is the only player on the starting offensive line that started games in 2025, and the rest of the starting offensive line will be made up of transfers and players that were reserves last season.
The starting left tackle position was won by Jackson Lloyd early in the offseason. The 6-foot-7, 326-pound sophomore is set to protect the blind side of quarterback Keelon Russell.
Cal Poly transfer Racin Delgatty will be the starting center, and it sounds like Mississippi State transfer Jayvin James is taking the majority of the snaps at right tackle.
One more spot is up for grabs on the offensive line, and it is left guard. Alabama sophomore Mal Waldrep Jr. is in a battle with junior William Sanders. They’ve both been in the program for at least a year or more, and the competition between the two has heated up in fall camp as DeBoer confirmed that he wants to put the best five offensive linemen on the field and not have a lot of rotation.
