Alabama Football 'Close' To Naming Starting Five on Offensive Line

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football opened the third week of fall camp and is still looking to determine who the best five offensive linemen are ahead of the 2026 season. The Crimson Tide rotated offensive linemen throughout the year in 2025 and has been bound and determined not to repeat that strategy this season.

11 days ago, Ryan Grubb said the program was "a little ways off" from determining the starting five, but there's been some progress as the program transitions into the second half of camp.

“We're close," Grubb said. "We're close. There's still a couple battles going on, you know, and you still you want to give a guy like Will Sanders. You know, he's had a really good couple days, you know, and he hasn't been able to fully be out here. They had to reevaluate him for a little bit, so he missed a little bit of time. Got back out there, and I really feel like, you know, he had the last couple days where he got back out there and felt comfortable. It's first time I've seen Will doing that in a while, so I think there's guys like him, and then you know Nick and Jayvin, and then you know those guys have really started to, you know, turn that into a real battle.”

Grubb said, despite the current uncertainty, that he's happy with the progress the team's made with installing and executing the run game. He said the program had its two best days running the ball and is encouraged with the progress at this point in camp.

“I thought, again, in the last two days, we’ve really kind of finalized our run game package, got all our gap scheme in, so we’re able to expand some of the things that we didn’t do in the scrimmage and really took advantage of all those. And when they’re able to put everything together with the ones, I thought they gelled really, really well today and ran the ball really well. Probably the best we have all camp, honestly. Especially today. It was hot. A couple long drives, starting on the 20, went all the way down the field. So it was really, really good to see. Super encouraged after today.”

What's left to be determined up front for the Crimson Tide? Left guard and right tackle starting jobs are still being fought for as Mal Waldrep and William Sanders battle for the interior role, while Jayvin James and Nick Brooks battle for the exterior role.

Waldrep, a former 3-star recruit out of Central Phenix City, has come on at left guard in the spring and summer while Sanders has been unavailable due to injury. Sanders is healthy once again but has to prove himself upfront, as Waldrep has taken advantage of his opportunity. Grubb complimented Waldrep's toughness, physicality, and intelligence, setting up a neck-and-neck race between him and Sanders over the final two weeks.

James and Brooks transferred in from Mississippi State and Texas this offseason, with James immediately slotting into the starting right tackle spot. He offers the Crimson Tide more experience, having started nine games in Starkville a year ago, but Brooks's physicality has impressed during his short time in Tuscaloosa.

“Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on the spot, but you know, Mal's strengths are Mal's strengths," Grubb said. "So I think one of the things that you feel good about him at left guard is communication and physicality in the run game. So just making sure they can do those things, number one, because I think they're, you know, all things are pretty equal in pass protection. And then same thing with Nick. Jayvin is an intelligent player. Nick's just got to execute at a little higher level.

Alabama has settled on Jackson Lloyd at left tackle, Racin Delgatty at center and Michael Carroll at right guard. The program brought in new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm and several new faces in the transfer portal as correcting the line is paramount to the program's success. The Crimson Tide is on the right track with its offensive line, but still finds themselves in a early stage of the remodel with two more positions left to be settled.

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