Wilkin Formby has 'come a long, long ways' ahead of pivotal Year 3 at Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama entered spring camp with two offensive line openings – one at left guard and one at right tackle. With left tackle Kadyn Proctor out, the Crimson Tide was low on offensive tackles, which led to some interior linemen getting reps on the edge.

That might have helped Wilkin Formby almost exclusively play right tackle with the first offense this spring. But according to his coaches, the redshirt sophomore has made nice progress.

“He’s really come a long, long ways,” said Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer of Formby. “We just met this morning, a group of us with him. I think the thing that you lose sight of sometimes is, if you flipped on the film a year ago, what would it look like? 

“We’re in it every single day with him, and he’s just focused on the now. But you peel back a little bit, and I think sometimes you forget just how far a guy has come, and that’s the case with him. 

“It’s a physical piece, it’s a discipline piece – for every guy. But I think as an offensive lineman, especially at tackle, there’s so many little details now that he’s picking up on that he wouldn’t have picked up on even late in the season last year.”

As a redshirt freshman in 2024, Formby started the first two games of Alabama’s season at right tackle. But the Tuscaloosa native struggled in a Week 2 win against South Florida, giving up five pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He was replaced by Elijah Pritchett, who started the final 11 games, but as the season progressed, Formby began to earn more reps. He only played nine games a year ago and allowed five combined pressures in the other eight.

With Pritchett transferring, the right tackle position was up for grabs, and Formby seems to have a firm grip on the first-team role exiting spring practice. Although he has taken noticeable steps in the right direction, there’s still room for growth as Formby enters his third season.

“He’s gotten stronger,” DeBoer said. “He’s more confident. He’s still, every day, gotta get better. He’s a tackle for us that we need to rely on to get it done, not just at an OK level, at an elite level to accomplish our goals.”

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb echoed DeBoer’s comments on the physical strides Formby has made between his redshirt freshman and redshirt sophomore season, shouting out Crimson Tide director of sports performance David Ballou for his offseason regimen.

“Where Wilkin’s at now compared to where he was at physically last year, there’s a big body of work that’s been done,” Grubb said. “And I thought even just, if you just take run blocking, Wilkin had to work a ton at pad level, hand placement, just being able to engage people when he is obviously a longer player. And I thought you could see the physical development with him. 

“He just looked like a different player out there very early on, because my early impression of Wilkin was just the film that I had seen from last year. And guys like that, you come into a situation like this, and you hope that they’ve made some big strides, and I certainly think Wilkin had done that and was really happy with where he ended up the spring. 

“He’s got a long ways to go. Still got a ton of work to do. He knows that, and he’s ready to get to work.”

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