Nick Saban reveals biggest improvement area needed for Kadyn Proctor ahead of NFL Draft

Gary Cosby Jr. - USA TODAY Sports

Offensive linemen are a huge need across the National Football League landscape.

All 32 professional teams could use a lineman in this year’s NFL Draft, and one of the top athletes in this class is excited to hear his name called. Kadyn Proctor, a former University of Alabama standout, was an offensive tackle (left tackle) for three seasons in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

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He captured a Southeastern Conference Championship as a freshman in 2023, while earning several individual honors such as All-SEC Freshman Team, Freshman All-American, first-team All-SEC, SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, and first-team All-American. Proctor dropped 17 pounds ahead of the NFL Scouting Combine, showing explosiveness at 6’7” and 352 pounds.

He could go anywhere in the first round with his size, range, power, and athleticism, but there is something Proctor has to improve on. Nick Saban recruited the Iowa native in the 2023 signing class and coached him as a freshman. The 74-year-old was on the Pat McAfee Show and detailed the biggest area of improvement needed for Proctor at the next level. 

“People look for reasons not to draft guys..

Kadyn Proctor is so talented and he can move..

I think he’s gonna be a really good player in the NFL” ~ Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/H3SsCyRhDX

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 22, 2026

“The issue with him is he is not a bad person,” Saban said of Proctor. 

“He will do whatever you ask him to do as soon as you get him into the building. When he’s not in the building, he might get a little overweight, he might not be in the best shape, and those kinds of things you have to manage with him. I think those things are manageable. He is not a self-starter who is going to go out there and get into great shape and come to camp like you want him to, but if you can get him into camp … you can get him ready to go.”

Saban does not see Proctor’s lack of being a self-starter as a negative.

“I think he is going to be a really good player,” Saban said. “And if he can’t play tackle, then he would be one helluva guard. There is no downside in taking the guy.”

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Saban feels Proctor will work out in the pros. We will see who selects him Thursday night.

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Stephen M. Smith is a team writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine.  You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.