Nick Saban on what he looks for when he analyzes offensive line play

Alabama has one of the top quarterbacks in college football. And when it comes to protecting Bryce Young, the offensive line really has to do its job.

Nick Saban discussed what he looks for in an offensive line, especially now that he’s without his center.

“First of all, we’ve always had a culture of toughness around here, so I’m always looking for how physical are we playing, how tough are we playing, how are we finishing plays, how are we protecting our skill guys as well as the technical aspects,” Saban said Monday. “Are we doing things technically right, footwork, hand placement, targets, those types of things. Those are all things that we need to improve on.”

Losing center Darrian Dalcourt meant Saban had to make changes to the offensive line mid-game against LSU last week. Chris Owens moved to center and Damieon George jumped over to right tackle to replace Owens. Alabama won 20-14 and is now preparing for New Mexico State this week.

Nick Saban assesses Alabama’s O-Line play after in-game shake-up

This week, Saban gave his thoughts on the new-look line’s performance.

Saban was asked about how Dalcourt’s absence impacted things in Alabama’s win over LSU.

“I think Darrian going out certainly didn’t help the issue any,” Saban told reporters on Monday. “Chris got moved in [and we had a] new right tackle. Right tackle [George] did pretty will in the game, actually. Chris hadn’t played center for a while. We had a couple snap issues. A couple times, he probably could’ve executed things a little better. I think he did a good job relative to the reps that he had.

“So we have to be more prepared that if something like that happens that guys are going to be confident enough … [to] go in there and get the job done and do well. But that’s no excuse. We need to be able to execute and everybody’s got to be able to do their job.”

Dalcourt is day-to-day with a sprained ankle sprain, Saban said, so his status for Alabama’s game against New Mexico State is up in the air.

“I can’t really make a call right now,” Saban said. “He’s not able to do some things in practice tomorrow, he dressed out today. Didn’t really do a whole lot. If he can do some things tomorrow then maybe he can play in the game. We’ll have to just wait and see.”