Alabama’s ‘Juice Squad’ with Coach Kap

During the 2023 offseason, Alabama fans heard about the offensive line and how good they were going to play. Alabama had three offensive linemen over 350 pounds. They were being heralded as the 'people movers.'

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Instead, the opposite happened, as Alabama's offensive line had a rotating door at left tackle for most of the season, a competition at right guard until midseason, and snapping issues that eventually caused Alabama a chance to play for a national championship.

Understandably, fans are slightly weary when hearing about the offensive line. However, that didn't stop Coach Kapilovic, or Coach Kap, from praising the returning players for Alabama's front five, "I love the older guys. Booker is a stud, and he's a great human being and leader. Jaeden [Roberts] has done a good job. We don't have a lot of older guys. Brock's (James Brockermeyer) has been around for a little bit. He's battling with Brailsford."

"Everybody knows how critical the offensive line is," Coach Kapilovic said. "We know this a critical time here because we are so young and lack a little depth. Early development is critical."

Offensive tackle is one of the positions where Alabama is thin. Right tackle JC Latham is in the NFL draft, and left tackle Kadyn Proctor has returned home to Iowa. There are no players on Alabama's roster who have experience starting at offensive tackle at the D1 level.

"Obviously when you go in and have no one who has been a starter at tackle on your roster, it's a challenge," Coach Kapilovic admitted. "But, we do have talented kids on this roster who are capable of doing it. It's just a matter of them understanding the scheme, the techniques they're being taught, and it's just going to be a grind from now until we get to that first game."

Kapilovic mentioned potentially a competition between Brailsford and Brockermeyer. Brailsford has starting experience at Washington, but Brockermeyer has been at Alabama for three seasons. How does he approach the competition between them?

"It's great competition. We're rotating guys. Nothing is better for your team than competition. When you have a guy behind you who is pushing you and can win that job, that raises the level of play from both of those guys. Brock is an extremely intelligent kid, it's amazing how he's picked up this offense so quickly. Having a partner who has been through the offense also helps. It's good to see those two guys competing."

Alabama's offensive line has a new saying: Juice squad. If you look at Coach Kapilovic's Twitter bio, there's a gold 'juice squad' chain.

The offensive lineman of the week will get to wear the new chain. He said "Nobody gives the o-line any love...I like to show them some love. we have 'juice squad' hoodies and hats, we even have a big gold chain. It's amazing how much they love putting that thing on. We promote our guys."