How DeBoer Views Alabama's Rebuilt Offensive Line

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama revamped its offensive line this offseason, bringing in 11 new players and a new offensive line coach, Adrian Klemm. The Crimson Tide's offensive line flashed bright spots on Saturday, but still has work to do to get to the point it needs to be for the start of the season on September 5.

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Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer joined Ryan Fowler of Tide 100.9, where he voiced a similar viewpoint on Alabama's offensive line.

"I'm pleased with the direction, and I'm pleased with what they're doing each and every day to make progress," DeBoer told Ryan Fowler. "You know, we would not be happy with where we're at right now if we had to play a game this weekend or next weekend. But that's not the case."

Alabama's offensive line was missing some of its top players as well, with likely starting left guard William Sanders out for the entirety of spring, and Ole Miss transfer Ethan Fields, who was getting reps with the first-team offense, didn't participate in the scrimmage on Saturday. Alabama ran Mal Waldrep Jr. out there with the first-team offense at left guard. The Crimson Tide will essentially have a brand new offensive line despite returning sophomore Michael Carroll, with Carroll playing right tackle for Alabama last season, but now getting reps at right guard. Mississippi State transfer Jayvin James got the majority of the reps at right tackle this spring.

Cal Poly transfer Racin Delgatty got all the reps as the starting center, and Jackson Lloyd got all the first-team reps at left tackle. As Alabama continues to work through and figure out its starting five, head coach Kalen DeBoer is pleased with what he's seeing from new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.

"I really like what coach Klemm is trying to instill, and working hard to instill from a mindset, just bringing that group together," DeBoer said. "They're trying to play with the lower pad level, trying to get off the ball together, execute, do their job, finish the things that people say, but you've got to do it. He holds them accountable to that, and these guys want to be held accountable. And so there's certainly a want-to factor.

"We're going to have a good balance in concepts and schemes. I think there's some things that we do well, but to really be able to keep a defense from being able to attack you, you've got to have a mix of some zone and some gap schemes."

The Crimson Tide's run game still wasn't prolific on A-Day, but the rushing attack flashed a couple of big plays. Still, Alabama's running backs failed to gain 40 yards as a unit, but the defensive front outplayed the Tide's front five on offense. The Tide's run game needs to be fixed by September, as Alabama will almost certainly be unable to have the success it did last season without an adequate run game.

"You've got to be able to run not just to the strong side, you've got to run to the weak side and be able to have things that work against the defense and how you want to attack them too," DeBoer said. "They just can't set the tone. I think there's a lot of good, positive things that we're building on. But we are far from there," DeBoer told Fowler.

"I thought the defense did a nice job of getting a little more pressure. It's hard to evaluate it when you have a quarterback that's not contact. A lot of times, more so probably than the first scrimmage, the last two scrimmages, I think our defense got around the quarterback a little bit more. I guess that goes both ways. It's good from a defensive perspective, and it's just something we've got to continue to work on from an offensive line end of things."

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.