Will Alabama’s offensive line be better in 2024?
One of the biggest question marks for Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide football team entering the 2024 season is the offensive line. This spring the Crimson Tide coaches were tasked with replacing three starters along the line with JC Latham heading to the NFL and Seth McLaughlin and Kadyn Proctor testing the transfer portal.
On Monday night Coach DeBoer addressed the big guys upfront during his segment on “Hey Coach” and detailed the importance that the offensive line plays for the team.
“I think when your offensive line is the makeup of the right people – and I’m talking about character and things like that; work ethic, team-first guys, humility, all those characteristics along with talent – man, you’re setting yourself and your team up for a great opportunity,” DeBoer said.
“And the reason is every single day, if you can protect your quarterback and you can function well in the run game, you’re giving yourself a chance to read the plays from a quarterback perspective and let those wide receivers work, which means also that the defensive guys are getting their work in, too.
“If you’re on an offensive line and it’s a sack or a tackle for loss each and every play in practice, the rest of the team really isn’t getting that work in that they need to get better. And so it does all start up front. I think that especially that group, when you talk about a group that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety.
“They can certainly be the team-first guys that everyone else looks to and takes a lot of pride in and can learn from each and every day.”
Coach DeBoer also spoke to the improvements that his offensive line made during spring ball.
“That group did a great job from Practice 1 to Practice 15,” DeBoer said. “I really haven’t thought through which group had the most improvement, but if I had to start somewhere, I’d go to them because of just how they seem to develop their overall game. You guys didn’t see it but in Scrimmage 1, they ran the ball well but they didn’t probably protect as well.
“And you saw what we did in the final scrimmage, and there was some really solid pass protection, which allowed the quarterbacks to be able to work down the field, throw balls not just short and quick but also with some play action, got the run game going. So I thought they did a real nice job overall.
“Some moving parts in there, some guys played a couple of different spots and we gained some depth and flexibility with some of the positions they played.”
Since spring practice completed a couple of weeks ago, the Crimson Tide have landed Proctor back from the portal and that should help solidify the offensive line even more heading into the inarguarl season of the Kalen DeBoer era of Alabama football.
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