As goes an offensive line, so goes a team’s success. A weak blocking unit will doom even the best QB and WR pairings and make the best RBs look mortal. For Alabama, the Tide has struggled since 2020 to field a line to play with the same prowess that many of the teams before them.
They cycled through OL coaches Doug Marrone and Eric Wolford before settling on Chris Kapilovic last season. The Wolford years saw Alabama look to beef up and roll with 350-lb zone blockers, whereas Kapilovic wanted to do more gap scheme blocking with leads and pulls to get linemen downfield and into space. It was an adjustment for the first year, but Alabama should be looking to match player types to scheme more in 2025.
With guard Tyler Booker off to the NFL, Alabama has only one spot up for grabs in 2025. However, RT Wilkin Formby is far from a lock, and RGs Jaeden Roberts and Geno VanDeMark never truly won full spots last year either, and Coach Kapilovic seemed content to rotate linemen in more than some other coaches.
So while it may be a little of a long shot that we see any true freshmen in big roles this year, it’s definitely within a realm of possibility. And Coach Kalen DeBoer definitely put a big focus on the position in his first recruiting class – this is likely the best position group, and hopefully the backbone of his team for years to come
