Alabama OL Tyler Booker confirms team's intent to run the football
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama program under coach Nick Saban was built on physically dominating opponents, especially upfront. Whether it’s the offensive or the defensive lines, all those battles taking place in the trenches are where it starts. Over the last few years, the Crimson Tide have gotten away from that identity.
Now, I’m not saying that Alabama hasn’t had success running the ball on offense or stopping the run on defense. The Tide ranked No. 30 nationally in rushing offense last season while producing a 1,300-yard rusher (Brian Robinson Jr.) in 2021. On defense, the results — including a top-5 run defense two seasons ago — haven’t been terrible either.
For anyone who has actually watched their games however, it’s clear that something’s been missing. This is still a program that wins almost all of its games, but the physical dominance — especially upfront — has been lacking. Describing it as “lacking” might be putting it mildly, too. Tyler Booker expects this year’s offensive line to change that.
On Tuesday, Booker spoke to the media for the first time since arriving at Alabama.
“We want to be dominant,” Booker told reporters. “We want to be the ones on 3rd and 3 and we’re like ‘Oh that’s easy. We’re going to run the ball.’ We want that mentality of ‘Man we have to play Alabama this week. How are we going to stop that run?’ That’s the mentality that we want to have and honestly do this through the spring.
“The way that we’re playing, that’s how Alabama played when I was growing up. This is what I see Alabama football as. To be able to bring that back to what it was, it means the most. That mentality is throughout the room like everybody’s trying to finish blocks, push the pile, things of that nature. That’s just our mindset, that’s the mindset of the room.”
Yeah, I’d say that’s a quote that will fire up the fan base. This statement from Booker isn’t far off from what starting right tackle JC Latham said back at the beginning of spring practice. The 6-6, 335-pound lineman talked about being “ruthless” and having opponents being “scared” of Alabama’s offensive line.
“I want us to be ruthless,” Latham said. “I want guys to every time we line up and get ready to hike the ball, I want them to be scared of us. I want them to understand that we’re going to hit them in the mouth every single play, ready to go four quarters.”
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Booker and Latham are the perfect players to deliver this message.
Don’t get me wrong, other veterans such as Darrian Dalcourt and Seth McLaughlin have been in the program longer. They’re both quality players, too. With that said, Booker and Latham are the two linemen who best exemplify what Alabama is trying to build with its guys upfront. They’re really nice guys off the field, but on the field, they’re big, they’re mean and they’re physical.
They play with a lot of passion, too — especially Booker.
As of right now, Latham and Booker are both projected to start on the right side of Alabama’s offensive line. With the two averaging a whopping 6-5 1/2, 335 pounds, running the football to their side shouldn’t be an issue. The other three spots upfront are a little more uncertain though.
Dalcourt (6-3, 310) is battling it out with McLaughlin (6-4, 301) at center.
He’s also competing with Terrence Ferguson II (6-4, 318) for a starting job at left guard. Then you’ve got redshirt freshman Elijah Pritchett (6-6, 312) as the clear favorite to man the left tackle spot. Granted, there’s also the possibility that one of the freshmen tackles — Kadyn Proctor (6-7, 354) and Wilkin Formby (6-7, 320) — could slide in to seize a job.
We don’t know exactly what Alabama’s offensive line will look like when it takes the field against Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 2. What we do know is that this group expects to be a lot more physical than some of the others we’ve seen over the last couple of years. That should be enough to give fans a little excitement heading into the fall.
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