Alabama exits spring with more versatile OL after managing injuries

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Coming into the spring, Alabama already had two starters to replace on the offensive line. Left guard Tyler Booker is off to the NFL, and right tackle Elijah Pritchett hit the transfer portal, leaving two openings to fill.

Add to that an injury to left tackle Kadyn Proctor that held him out of spring camp, and the Crimson Tide went through the spring with a lot of unknowns up front outside of center Parker Brailsford and right guard Jaeden Roberts.

The right tackle position was primarily manned by Wilkin Formby throughout spring, who served as Pritchett’s backup last season and showed significant improvement by season’s end.

Looking at the vacant left tackle spot as Proctor recovers, Alabama was able to do some shuffling with players on the line and played some at entirely new positions. The biggest example of this was Olaus Alinen, a third-year interior lineman who slid out to tackle throughout spring, and did a solid job of it.

“We have more versatility there than I initially anticipated, and what I mean by that is, Olaus is a guy who got out there and played left tackle almost every day,” Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. “He certainly had an opportunity at left guard. I think Olaus could play left tackle, I think he could play right tackle, I think he could play left guard. You see a guy like that that’s cleanly able to function from the outside to the inside and you’re really happy about the versatility you can get there. He’s one guy that stood out.”

Alinen’s versatility was praised by his head coach as well.

“I think it’s definitely flexibility to move to different spots. You thought of him more as an interior guy,” Kalen DeBoer said. “He really continues to reshape his body and and do some things that I think have really lent him to us feeling very comfortable with him in multiple spots: left side, right side, inside, outside. So I’m really proud of him.”

Alabama also saw players like highly-rated early enrollee freshman Jackson Lloyd and Ball State transfer Arkel Anugwom work in at tackle. Lloyd was a top-50 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, while Anugwom is relatively new to the game of football but has unteachable measurables at 6-foot-6, 330 pounds.

“I think Arkel (Anugwom) is a guy that’s come in and coming along. He’s a developmental player, but doing a great job,” DeBoer said. “His heart’s in it. Guys love him. He works extremely hard. He’s a blessing to have here for sure. The young guys, I think, getting thrown in the fire, Jackson Lloyd, Michael Carroll, they are going to be phenomenal football players at tackle and they have different strengths.

“They come from opposite ends of the country obviously, their exposure to different things, but they actually were really impressive in how far they’ve come. I’m excited about their future for sure.”

DeBoer mentioned Carroll, who was Alabama’s top-rated offensive lineman in the 2025 recruiting class. He was a consensus 5-star, ranked as a top-15 player in the country.

Carroll was recruited initially as an interior offensive lineman and ranked as the No. 1 interior lineman in the country during his recruitment. DeBoer mentioned Carroll as a possible tackle option during his career, and while he wasn’t definitive about where he’d play immediately, he emphasized the importance of cross-training a player with his skillset.

“I think that’s a good question as far as just, I think, development of guys. We could sit here forever and think about what some scenarios have been, even over the last two to three years, where a guard has moved to tackle and a tackle has moved to guard and you thought you recruited a guy for this spot and he became an NFL player and first-round draft pick at a different one,” DeBoer said.

“So Michael, probably in particular, because we were obviously involved in his recruitment more so than Olaus, but Michael probably was recruited more as a guard, and he might become that someday, I don’t know, but right now he’s got that position flex, that’s really key for us and he’s got a mindset about him.

“We’ll just keep cross-training, duel-training guys. We do that across the board at a number of positions. We’ve got receivers that can play inside, outside. We’ve got safeties that can play corner, corners that can play nickel, all that kind of stuff. And that’s, I think it’ll be important for our depth and readiness when different adversity hits us.”

The final unknown is the left guard spot, which Alabama seems to have two quality, experienced options at currently. Geno VanDeMark joined the program last season as a transfer from Michigan State and served as the primary backup at all three interior offensive line positions throughout the 2024 season.

The Tide also added Texas A&M transfer Kam Dewberry out of the transfer portal, who’s shown plenty of versatility across the interior of the line himself. Both VanDeMark and Dewberry are in their final years of eligibility, having amassed significant reps in their careers.

“I thought Kam and Geno were guys that really stood out, as far as guys that could play left guard and right guard, and Geno can play left, right, or center,” Grubb said. “That part, those three players right there, from an interior standpoint, and man, you feel really excited about where you’re at and where you’re going. Those guys showed up every single day.”

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