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The Tuscaloosa News
Why Alabama football used unique offensive line lineup in quest to find 'best five'
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Why Alabama football used unique offensive line lineup in quest to find 'best five'
Alabama football continued to rotate on the offensive line in its biggest game of the 2025 season.
In the Crimson Tide's SEC-opening 24-21 win against Georgia , Alabama used nine offensive linemen, seven of which played at least 25 snaps, per PFF.
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The rotation worked. Alabama allowed two total pressures and two hits against Georgia's defense. The Bulldogs' only "sack" was a 6-yard loss on a play when the ball was flipped to wide receiver Germie Bernard who looked to pass downfield.
But to Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb , the Crimson Tide is "still not where we want to be yet" on the offensive line. He's still trying to find the pieces that work best together.
"I know the gel part, but we also have guys that wear down a little bit, so try to keep guys as fresh as possible, and at the same time find the best five," Grubb said.
Alabama football showed unique OL look
And to find "the best five," Grubb was not traditional against Georgia.
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In the second half, Alabama tried different looks, putting in redshirt freshman William Sanders at left guard and Michael Carroll at right tackle, and sliding Wilkin Formby in at right guard.
Formby, who primarily plays right tackle, "has the athleticism to play inside," Grubb said along with a "good base and wide frame." It's something Grubb said Formby will continue to work on and expand.
"As long as he can stay right-handed, playing on the right side, I think the transition for him is easy," Grubb said.
More importantly for Grubb, though, is seeing what players like Sanders and Carroll got.
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"We don't know how good they are or what they can do until they get in the football game," Grubb said.
To Grubb, rotation spurs competition, competition he wants to lead to production.
But it's an offensive line that did execute against Georgia, a unit that "emptied the clip" in looks and pressures.
"The guys responded," Grubb said. "We drug up everything. We were pulling up clips from 2022 Ohio State game and anything that we thought we could possibly see, we put out there at practice, and the guys were ready.
Alabama will face Vanderbilt at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 4 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football used unique OL lineup to try to find 'best five'
