Flush it and move on.
That's been Tyler Booker 's message to Wilkin Formby and the remainder of his offensive line teammates after Alabama football 's 42-16 victory Saturday over South Florida , in which the Crimson Tide offensive line drew eight penalties for 70 yards, with two of those calling back touchdowns.
In total, Alabama committed 13 penalties for 120 yards in its win over USF.
"There's nothing he can do about Saturday today," Booker said Tuesday. "What he can work on, what he can control is how he performs on this coming Saturday."
The Crimson Tide offensive line found a rhythm across the final 10 or so minutes of the fourth quarter, helping Alabama go on a 28-3 run to close out the game. Jam Miller and Justice Haynes each rushed for touchdowns late in the fourth quarter — Miller's a 56-yard scamper and Haynes' a 22-yard tote — running for more yards than Alabama had rushed for the entire first half (34).
"We just learned some things that they were doing schematically," Booker said. "We made some adjustments on the sideline, that's what allowed for those holes to open up. We also just make the decision, like look we are letting this team down as a unit and we need to fix it. I feel like we can together great as a group and said we are going to fix it and we are going to right our wrongs right now."
Alabama's offensive line has faced its fair share of adversity two games into the season. Prior to its season-opening contest vs. Western Kentucky, left tackle Kadyn Proctor was ruled out with a shoulder injury after pregame warmups. In his place at left tackle was Elijah Pritchett , who had taken reps at the position in spring practice during Proctor's temporary transfer to Iowa .
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In Saturday's game against the Bulls , the Crimson Tide offensive line saw even more shake-up. Booker moved to left tackle from his usual spot of left guard, while Geno VanDeMark manned the left guard position. Parker Brailsford and Jaeden Roberts remained in their usual spots of center and right guard, while Elijah Pritchett checked in for a struggling Wilkin Formby at right tackle with about six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Booker said he always knew it was a possibility he would be playing left tackle against the Bulls, but he officially found out Saturday morning.
"I was ready for it," Booker said. "I played left tackle in high school. Obviously a lot different playing in front of 100 to 100,000 (fans), but I am a ball player. You can put me guard, tackle, receiver, wherever you need me. I'm going to play ball, and I'm going to do it to the best of my availability."
Booker said the team's word of the week is "elevate" and added that offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic has been focused on correcting the Crimson Tide's mistakes from last week rather than harping on them.
"He's gonna be like 'hey this is why we have to practice harder, this is why we have to do better in practice,'" Booker said. "That's the great thing about coach Kap is it's easy to learn from him.
"I'm glad we went through this adversity so we can learn from it in the future."
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: Tyler Booker's message to teammates following USF game
