How Kalen DeBoer Views Spring Performance of Alabama's Revamped Offensive Line

Alabama's offensive line has a big chip on its shoulder ahead of the 2026 season.

The Crimson Tide's front five had expectations to be a Joe Moore Award-caliber unit last year, but run blocking struggles spread like wildfire, as Alabama's 104.13 rushing yards per game last year was the second-worst in the SEC, holding an extremely slim lead over last-place LSU (104.00).

Head coach Kalen DeBoer and company fired offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic on Jan. 23. The Tide turned in another direction when it hired USC defensive analyst Adrian Klemm to take Kapilovic's place. A typical practice for the offensive line looks different under Klemm, and as spring ball concludes, how does DeBoer feel about this pivotal position group?

"I'm pleased with the direction, and I'm pleased with what they're doing each and every day to make progress," DeBoer told Tide 100.9's Ryan Fowler on Monday. "You know, we would not be happy with where we're at right now if we had to play a game this weekend or next weekend. But that's not the case."

In addition to the season opener against East Carolina being 144 days away, another reasonable reason why DeBoer isn't 100 percent satisfied with the offensive line is that the starting five is nowhere near established. Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said on March 12 that redshirt freshman Jackson Lloyd will start at left tackle, but that's the only player set at one position.

Sophomore Michael Carroll, the lone remaining starter from last season, will either start at right guard or right tackle. That said, he's mostly practiced at guard this spring despite lining up at tackle in 2025.

Mississippi State transfer Jayvin James had a good chunk of what were likely first-team right tackle reps during A-Day on Saturday, and the same could be said for Cal Poly transfer Racin Delgatty at center. Redshirt sophomore William Sanders might have the best shot to be the starting left guard due to his past experience, but he missed the entire spring due to an unspecified injury.

As Alabama continues to create its starting five up front, DeBoer is pleased with what he's seeing from his new offensive line coach.

"I really like what coach Klemm is trying to instill, and working hard to instill from a mindset, just bringing that group together," DeBoer said. "They're trying to play with the lower pad level, trying to get off the ball together, execute, do their job, finish the things that people say, but you've got to do it. He holds them accountable to that, and these guys want to be held accountable. And so there's certainly a want-to factor.

"We're going to have a good balance in concepts and schemes. I think there's some things that we do well, but to really be able to keep a defense from being able to attack you, you've got to have a mix of some zone and some gap schemes."

While Alabama's offensive line will look much different than last season, the same is said for the defensive line, which lost four starters. As previously stated, the Tide's run game was brutal in 2025, and on A-Day, UA's five running backs combined for 64 yards on 31 carries. The defensive line outplayed the offensive line in this area on Saturday, and this must be fixed by September.

"You've got to be able to run not just to the strong side, you've got to run to the weak side and be able to have things that work against the defense and how you want to attack them too," DeBoer said. "They just can't set the tone. I think there's a lot of good, positive things that we're building on. But, we are far from there.

"I thought the defense did a nice job of getting a little more pressure. It's hard to evaluate it when you have a quarterback that's not contact. A lot of times, more so probably than the first scrimmage, the last two scrimmages, I think our defense got around the quarterback a little bit more. I guess that goes both ways. It's good from a defensive perspective, and it's just something we've got to continue to work on from an offensive line end of things."

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