Justin Eboigbe on facing Alabama offensive line: 'Iron sharpens iron'

Alabama fans have talked about practices in the past. Sometimes, going up against your own teammates is tougher than the actual games. With the way Nick Saban has recruited in Tuscaloosa over the years, some of the best players in the country get to battle it out on the practice field.

Defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe acknowledged the same recently when discussing going up against the Alabama offensive line. Eboigbe matches us against JC Latham on a daily basis, a preseason All-SEC first-team selection.

The old saying of “iron sharpens iron” is what sticks out to Eboigbe.

“I think the biggest thing is iron sharpens iron,” Eboigbe said. “They’re going to be one of the best o-lines, if not the best o-line, we face this year. So, each and every day we get a chance to go up against each other — especially during camp where it’s good on good, each and every period — it’s one of the best things. Because I may not play another player as good as any of the five I’m going up against in practice… Everybody in that o-line group is good.

“Each and every day I get the chance to go up against them, I take advantage of it.”

Eboigbe has seen some good offensive line throughout his college days. I mean, it’s almost tough to face a bad offensive line when playing eight SEC games. And then making the College Football Playoff back in 2020 and 2021, some solid offensive lines were present there.

There have been different iterations of the Alabama offensive line for Eboigbe too. The 2020 group won the Joe Moore Award, protecting quarterback Mac Jones and blocking for running back Najee Harris en route to a historic offensive output. Facing them on a daily basis likely was not a fun task.

These days, as mentioned, Egoigbe is going up Latham — one of the best right tackles in all of college football. Iron sharpens iron is the mentality he has with the matchup. Egoigbe feels whenever Alabama takes the field every Saturday, he will have an easier matchup than the one from a week’s worth of practice.

Eboigbe will get to face off against somebody new on Sept. 2, with Alabama playing Middle Tennessee State in Tuscaloosa for the season opener. Whoever he lines up against will surely have a tough task on their hands — a well-prepared and battle tested Justin Eboigbe.