Alabama football offensive line has plenty of competition, especially at these spots
Alabama football has an offensive line with two foundational pieces, but question marks surround them.
The spring kicks off the process of the Crimson Tide slowly, but surely, piecing together a starting five of offensive linemen who will block this season. Gone are both tackles and the center. That means three spots are up for grabs by default, while the other two should be easy to predict.
Tyler Booker is back as is Jaeden Roberts. The duo manned the guard spots down the stretch and will likely have a chance to do so again. New offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic spoke well of both, particularly Booker. He called the junior "the alpha" of the group.
Now who starts next to them on either side?
Kapilovic would tell you center is up for grabs. He indicated as much when he spoke Friday ahead of spring break while talking about James Brockermeyer and Parker Brailsford.
"Great competition," Kapilovic said. "We’re rotating guys. Nothing is better for your team than competition. When you’ve got another guy behind you who is pushing you and can win that job, that raises the level of play for both those guys. I think it’s critical. Brock is an extremely talented kid. It’s amazing how he’s picked up this offense so quickly. Having Parker here who has been through the offense also helps, but it’s good to have those two guys competing."
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Brockermeyer vs. Brailsford pits a returner vs. a newcomer. Brockermeyer is entering his fourth season with the Crimson Tide but has worked primarily as a reserve over that time. Then there's Brailsford, the former Washington center. The former All-Pac-12 second team member started all 15 games for the Huskies a season ago with two starts at guard and then the rest at center. Alabama hasn't often brought in transfers from Power Five schools to sit, but Kapilovic indicated that job will have to be won by Brailsford.
So what will it take to win it?
"It all starts with having leadership skills and communication skills and having a high football IQ," Kapilovic said. "You’ve got to be able to understand the scheme. You’ve got to be able to communicate with the guys next to you. You’ve got to get people in the right positions and from there it’s getting the ball to the quarterback. It’s getting to the right places and playing at a high level. But that’s a cerebral mental position. So that’s going to be a big part of it."
As for the tackle spots, gone are Kadyn Proctor (transfer) and JC Latham (NFL Draft). Alabama doesn't have much starting experience behind them. Top contenders for those spots figures to be players such as Elijah Pritchett, Wilkin Formby, Naquil Betrand and Miles McVay. Pritchett, Formby and McVay are all returners while Betrand is a transfer from Texas A&M.
"When you go in and you have really nobody has been a starter at tackle on your roster, it’s obviously a challenge," Kapilovic said. "But we do have talented kids on this roster that are capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of them really understanding the scheme and the techniques that are being taught and then it’s just going to be a grind from now until we get to that first game."
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: Offensive line competition focused on these spots