Alabama Offensive Line Starting to Live Up to Preseason Domination Talk
LEXINGTON, Ky. — There was a lot of talking coming from Alabama's offensive line before the season began.
JC Latham and Tyler Booker time and time again told reporters that the team wanted to be the aggressor, the more physical team. The offensive line wanted to make opponents quit in the trenches.
For the first half of the season, the Crimson Tide was the opposite. Alabama was near the bottom of the country in sacks allowed just a few weeks ago. The Crimson Tide struggled to run the football with any consistency.
Like everything else about this Alabama team, the offensive line has grown exponentially over the last few games. Last weekend, the Crimson Tide racked up 507 total yards and allowed just two sacks against LSU.
On Saturday, Alabama put together 444 more yards, and for the first time all season, Jalen Milroe didn't get sacked a single time.
There are a lot of reasons for the gradual improvement. The Crimson Tide was trying a lot of different combinations throughout the year. It seems like now, Alabama is pretty set on it's group of Booker, Latham, Kadyn Proctor, Seth McLaughlin and Jaeden Roberts. Roberts has been a huge addition to the unit.
"We definitely dominated the line of scrimmage," Booker said. "It's an emphasis every week. [Latham] and I, whenever we spoke to the media at the beginning of the season, that was our thing. We're gonna dominate the line of scrimmage, we're gonna make people quit — it took us a little while, but it's happening now."
"We're just glad to finally reach what we've been talking about all offseason."
The offensive line is also being helped a ton by Milroe's legs, and his desire to use them now at this point in the season. Milroe has rushed for nearly 200 yards and seven touchdowns in the last two games.
"It's kind of like that Bryce [Young] effect," Booker said. "You've got to keep holding your blocks, because you never know what [Milroe] can do. I'm very glad to have him on our team, and just very proud of the way he's been playing as of late. We've just got to keep protecting and giving him time so he can continue to be who he is."
The Crimson Tide is beginning to find ways to impose its will down the stretch, too. Emptying road stadiums was another point of emphasis in the preseason — Alabama did that inside Kroger Field in Lexington on Saturday.
"I always talk to them about when we play on the road, if you empty the stadium, that means you really beat the other team," Saban said. "So, a couple guys ... [said], 'Hey Coach, look around.'"
"It's very satisfying, because earlier it was rocking," Booker said. "Just to silence the stadium, it's a great feeling. You know, I like playing the villain role. What's that 30-for-30 on the Duke basketball player? I Hate Christian Laettner? That's my favorite 30-for-30. That's just who I try to be and I watch that every so often. I love being that villain role, so whenever we can come to a stadium and empty it, I just think back to that, think back to [Laettner] and how he carried himself. [...] Clearing the stadium is a sign of domination."
With the win, the Crimson Tide will return to Atlanta, Ga. for the SEC championship after missing out last year. Alabama is still focused on accomplishing all its goals.
"Of course we wanted to win the West, but we want to win the whole SEC, and then win games beyond that," Booker said. "We still haven't accomplished our goal. Yeah, we won a few games, a few big games, but all of our wins have to come down the road as well."
