Everything Ryan Grubb Said Recapping Alabama's Win over Georgia

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb spoke to the media Monday morning ahead of the Crimson Tide's (3-1, 1-0 SEC) matchup with Vanderbilt (5-0, 1-0 SEC) this weekend.

Grubb talked about Alabama's performance in the victory over Georgia including offensive line play, running the ball, Lotzeir Brooks and more. you can read everything he said below.

Full Transcript

On cross-training Wilkin Formby at guard and tackle...

"Yeah, Wilkin obviously has the athleticism to to play inside, and the size. So I think there’s a couple things that happen for Wilkin in there, his natural pad-level because he’s got his hand in the dirt, and he’s got a good base and wide frame, so he’d one ra really nice job in there. So we keep working on that and expand. As long as he can stay right-handed, playing on the right side, I think the transition for him is easy."

On the play against Georgia where Alabama threw the ball to Kadyn Proctor...

"First of all, any play like that, the only way I do stuff like that is if it’s guys that I trust. And obviously Germie Bernard, KP are guys that are trustworthy and they know that if they trick off the rep in practice, or they’re not good with the football or just not secure, then we just won’t do it. So KP took it very seriously. We knew he had the ball on the outside arm, he knew how to protect it. He’s a super athletic guy. Yeah, it was just fun. I wish he could have scored, but the guys were excited to block for him. I knew he had a chance to run over, you know, one or two or three people. Down there tight in the red zone, those are tough yards to get. Honestly, it was a huge play. It was, I think we’re on the 13, so you’re 1st-and-10 from the 13-yard line, you get a first down right there and now you’re first-and-goal on the two. Those are tough yards down there. So I thought it was a good opportunity. Not necessarily something they probably thought was coming.

On the offensive line rotation...

"Yeah, we’re just still not where we want to be yet. It’s really that simple. And so 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. And for us I think, there’s a little bit too, you don’t know what you got until you get some of those young guys in the game. Michael Carroll’s gotta play Will’s (Sanders), gotta play. And we don’t know how good they are or what they can do until they get in the football game. So we’ve been kind of falling back on that a little bit and seeing–that challenge, that competition, seeing if that can spur a little bit more production."

On Ty Simpson's ball protection...

"That’s a great question. There’s a really, really tiny sliver in great quarterback play, and understanding when to be aggressive with the football and when to take care of the ball. That’s the whole thing and that’s what Ty is still working on. I think he’s doing a really good job. You’d rather work a guy back from that and have him make the aggressive throws and teach him those reads, versus a guy that turns the ball over. I know Ty has that aggression in him and has the ability to make those throws. I just think he’s operating at a really high level. He had one play, I thought the boot, early on on the first drive, back to his right, Ty would tell you the same thing, it was the worst play he had all night. And luckily it didn’t get in their hands. But for him, I thought that that actually dialed him in for the rest of the game. He was like ‘OK, I know what I’ve got to do.’ And he made all those plays, he made all the reads that he needed to and didn’t put the ball in jeopardy.

On Jam Miller’s return and getting more explosive plays from run game…

“First of all with Jam, his presence just at practice and maturity and the work ethic that he brings was a huge part of the preparation part for the week, which is the most important part. And on game day, obviously he’s back there, he had a couple pressure pickups in the backfield where he was so solid and knew exactly what the check was going to be. I thought overall we did a really good job protecting Ty, and Jam’s a huge part of that. Obviously, the clutch play at the end, but then running the ball, I just thought he did a good job didn't run for four or five yards at a time, and there wasn’t huge creases in there. We’ve just got to do a better job finding ways to get him more of those one-on-one matchups where the ball’s on the corner, ball’s on a safety. I think we got four of those in the game. You’re looking to try to get eight to nine of those a game where you’re getting the football on a secondary player so that they can break a tackle and get into the open. And that’s really it. We’ve got to get through and get six-on-six on the inside somehow with our big bodies, and then find a way to get Jam on those DBs.

On the communication along the OL at Georgia…

“Just that. I think that was a big part of it, huge emphasis. They do a good job, very creative scheme at Georgia, so we knew that was going to be a huge challenge up front was being able to communicate, especially not just the pressures, but the twists, as you mentioned, up front. I didn’t feel like, even in the run game, I think we had three negative-yardage runs or zero gain, so we weren’t getting hit in the backfield both throwing the football and running it. It always starts with the communication piece. And I thought—not necessarily the first part of the preparation, the first week— but I thought as the week went this last week, I thought they really dialed it in and did a good job. It all starts with Parker. He does such a phenomenal job with that.”

On using screens to get RBs the ball in space…

“As always, I don’t think it’s anything earth shattering, but you get the defense having to run to the ball, stress them out, get them moving to the sideline a little bit, and then you try to get vertical on them. I thought we did a good job of stretching them and moving them around. To Georgia’s credit, their integrity on the inside remained the same. Some defenses, they’ll compromise, and they held up pretty strong in the second half on that.”

On the offensive line not allowing pressures or sacks giving confidence moving forward…

“You said it well: confidence. When they execute against a defense like Georgia to all the different pressures and stunts and looks that they got— I thought Georgia kinda emptied the clip a little bit as far as looks and pressures and things that they did. The guys responded. 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. I think moving forward, they know they can make the adjustment on the sideline which is probably as important as anything because there’s going to be a look that we haven’t practiced, and they did a really nice job of that.”

On Lotzier Brooks’ play at the end of first half against Georgia…

“Those are the kind of plays you’ve got to have in a big game obviously. You want to get the touches to the right guys, and Lotzeir’s a guy that’s a missed-tackle forced machine. That’s one of the things we look at every week is who are the guys getting touches? Who are the guys breaking tackles? Because when it’s not perfect, which it wasn’t on that play, you need the guys who can make plays for you, and Lotty is, since the day I’ve seen him run around out here, has definitely got a knack to do that. So he’s got good ball security, plays through contact. He does not expect to be tackled. He’s more powerful than people anticipate, and he’s just a really, really sudden guy. He did a good job. Had a great game. Made some really good special teams plays, too.”

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