Previewing Alabama’s preseason position battles: Offense
Alabama will hold its first preseason football practice later this week on Thursday, Aug. 3, which will be the first of 20 workouts, either practices or scrimmages, before the first game week of the 2023 season. Before the Crimson Tide returns to the practice field, let’s take a look at some of the team’s top preseason position battles. First up, we break down Alabama’s offense.
QUARTERBACK
The most-discussed position battle for the Tide ahead of the 2023 season is at quarterback. UA will have a new starter behind center for the first time since Bryce Young took over the job at the start of the 2021 campaign, as the former Heisman Trophy winner has already been named the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. Alabama entered the offseason with two players at the top of the pecking order to replace Young in Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson, who were the second and third quarterbacks last season, respectively. Milroe led the first offense in the A-Day Game, while Simpson worked with the twos, and while both players made progress, Nick Saban felt it necessary to add another quarterback to the mix after spring practice ended.
Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner joined the team this summer, and what was a two-man race is now a three-player competition, adding even more intrigue – and questions – to one of the top position battles not only on Alabama’s team but in all of college football. At SEC Media Days a couple of weeks ago, Saban said all three quarterbacks are getting better, which was important for each guy as they have all struggled with consistency at times. Before the first practice of fall camp, no quarterback has separated himself from the pack, making the next 20 practices critical for Milroe, Simpson and Buchner. The Crimson Tide isn’t in a rush to name a starter, something that might not happen until the Week 2 of the season, viewing the battle like a cake.
“Grandma Saban used to bake the best cakes in the world,” Saban said in Nashville, “and I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say, ‘When is this cake going to be done? When is this cake going to be done?’ She said, “If I don’t let it go through and take it out of the oven too soon, it will turn to mush and it won’t be a really good cake.’
“So I think we have to sort of let this develop and make sure we let the cake bake until somebody separates themselves. And all the players are working hard. They all have a good attitude. They are all competing well.”
OFFENSIVE LINE
Quarterback will garner a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but what happens on the offensive line will be equally interesting. Alabama welcomes back right tackle JC Latham, who started all 13 games in 2022, both of its starting centers from the last two years in Darrian Dalcourt and Seth McLaughlin and a second-year player in Tyler Booker, who received first-team reps at both guard positions for a large chunk of the season and made his first start in the bowl game. Going into Year 2, Booker will continue to fill a starting role, and it looks like that will be at right guard to the left of Booker, forming one of the best offensive line tandems in the conference.
Dalcourt and McLaughlin both have starting experience at center, and in an effort to get both of them on the field this spring, Alabama moved Dalcourt to left guard. That is likely to continue in the preseason, although the Tide has other guard options – like Terrence Ferguson – if it wants to move things around, and leaves the left tackle position as the biggest question mark. In the spring, Elijah Pritchett worked with the first unit but didn’t close out the semester in a way that solidified his spot. The door is open for someone like true freshman Kadyn Proctor to push for a first-team role as a newcomer whenever preseason camp opens up later this week.
“I’m just gonna tell you based on what I’ve heard and the little bitty, bitty, bitty, bitty bit that I’ve seen – I don’t know how it’s not Kadyn Proctor at some point,” said SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic earlier this summer. “When that is, is it Week 2 against Texas? I don’t know. Is it Week 5? I’m not sure. But I do believe at some point in time, it’s gonna be his. The little bit that I’ve seen of him, how he operates, does not look like a freshman.
“He has a massive frame and moves extremely well, and technically, I feel like fundamentally, he’s way ahead of the curve as far as a lot of freshmen offensive linemen. … The fact that there’s any question mark right there right now tells me it’s gonna be his to take, and all he’s gotta do is get out there and be consistent and it’ll be his.”
WIDE RECEIVER
The Tide returns its top two wide receivers with Ja’Corey Brooks and Jermaine Burton coming back for their junior and senior years, respectively. Those two are once again set to play pivotal roles within this receiving corps and could very well be in the starting lineup for Game 1 against Middle Tennessee. But with wideouts like Traeshon Holden and JoJo Earle moving on to other schools, there are opportunities for some of the younger guys to thrive in this group.
We saw three freshmen do just that in 2022 with Isaiah Bond, Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice all seeing first-team reps. With starting spots to fill, one or more of these three could claim it, but all three are expected to be significant contributors. Prentice was a starter to open the regular season, while Bond was the third wideout to cap the year in the bowl game. Returning players like Emmanuel Henderson and Shazz Preston could also push for more playing time in their second seasons at UA, but Bond, Law and Prentice are once again the top options.
Alabama also added four players to its receiving corps via the 2023 cycle with three freshmen and junior college transfer Malik Benson joining the team. Benson was turning heads as early as bowl prep when he joined the team before its postseason matchup in New Orleans, and that carried over to the spring, where he was on the field for the first snap on A-Day. Benson will be a factor, especially if he can be a downfield threat. The big question with this group of receivers is who starts and then rounds out the rotation, both questions that are up for debate.
RUNNING BACK
Jahmyr Gibbs, the team’s leader in rushing and all-purpose yards in his lone season with the program, was the second running back off the board in the NFL draft, while another back in Trey Sanders entered the transfer portal and ended up at TCU. Even with the couple of departures, though, Alabama’s running back room doesn’t have a lot of questions ahead of the 2023 season other than how the carries will be divided up. There is still plenty of talent there.
Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams are both entering their senior seasons, and the former is coming off a 100-plus carry campaign in 2022. McClellan, now a year and a half removed from an ACL injury, is likely to step into the No. 1 running back spot, but Williams will push for it, too. So will Jam Miller, who showed some promise as a true freshman this past year. Speaking of promising, the Crimson Tide signed two elite backs, with Justice Haynes on campus for spring practice and Richard Young enrolling this summer. If Haynes continues to do what he did back in March and April, the true freshman will be difficult to keep off the field this season.
“Justice is a really good player,” Saban said. “He had a great spring. He’s got great maturity about him. You wouldn’t know he was a freshman if you didn’t know better. Nothing is too big for him in terms of learning, going out and executing. He’s not intimidated by anything. The guy’s got toughness. He can run behind his pads. He’s got good speed. He’s a good receiver. He can make you miss. So I think he’s got a really bright future, and I think he will contribute to the team this year.”
TIGHT END
Alabama’s top tight end the last two seasons, Cameron Latu, turned pro after the Sugar Bowl, and Kendall Randolph, a pseudo-tight end the last few years, exhausted his eligibility. So the Tide needed players in the tight end room to step up as blockers and receivers. Returning from the 2022 team are Robbie Ouzts, Miles Kitselman, Amari Niblack and Danny Lewis, and Ouzts, Kitselman and Niblack all caught passes a season ago, albeit seven total for the trio. Ouzts and Niblack could see increased roles, but the player on the field first for April’s spring game was Lewis, who seems poised to make a significant jump between Years 1 and 2 at UA.
While there is promise at the position, there was little experience after the departures, which is why Alabama made tight end a priority in the transfer portal and lured CJ Dippre from Maryland to Tuscaloosa. He is someone that could be a Day 1 starter – what UA typically looks for when it searches the portal – after a productive sophomore year for the Terrapins. The Tide also signed Ty Lockwood as part of its 2023 class, bolstering its depth here. But Dippre is the big addition, with others like Lewis, Ouzts and Niblack also making a case for larger roles this fall.
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