Alabama football utilized the I formation in the 56-23 over Mississippi State, and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was pumped to discuss this with reporters on Monday.
“How awesome was that?” Grubb said.
The I formation is not used as much as it was in previous decades because the sport of football has evolved and will continue to evolve. It is more common to see teams run plays out of the Shotgun and implement RPOs. However, if running the ball out of the I formation can juice up a team, then all signs point to doing it.
Grubb believes that the 2025 Alabama football team had some success with running the football from under center, and he shared how he and the rest of the staff approached the possibility of running the I formation more in 2026.
“I think first thing you want to think of the scheme is are we effective at it?” Grubb said. “It’s something that all the way back to the spring, we put some time and effort into, and certainly talking to our defensive staff, the run fits are different. The linebacker’s vision on what their keys are and things like that can be just different, and so, when you’re talking about 12 [Keelon Russell] being under center and handing off the football in I formation versus being in Gun zone reads and things like that, it’s another element of things that defenses have to look at and respect and work hard at. Last year, we had some success a little bit out of under center, and those are things we wanted to build on in different regards this year. So, I think for Keelon to be able to do those things and operate from under center, utilize the boot game as well, has been a big time plus for us.”
Despite the fact that running back Daniel Hill fumbled the football on the Crimson Tide’s first play in I formation, Grubb praised the offensive players for the way they executed up front.
“I know Daniel [Hill] fumbled that first play, but if you watch the wide shot of that first play, we’ve got guys like Racin [Delgatty] and Jay Lindsey finishing their guys 25 yards down the field. It was some excitement when guys see that, and they get juiced up when running the football like that.”
The physicality of Alabama’s offensive line and tight ends is something to behold, but the ultimate test of strength will come this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
No. 6 Alabama will host No. 2 Georgia this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will be on ABC.
