Bruce Feldman released his annual college football "freaks list" on Monday, and Alabama was, as usual, well-represented with four players making the list of 101 players.
RB Daniel Hill, OT Jackson Lloyd, WR Ryan Coleman-Williams, and S Bray Hubbard were the quartet representing the Crimson Tide.
It's the top two - Hill and Lloyd - who may hold the keys to Alabama's offensive revitalization.
It's no secret that the most pressing need for the Tide's offense is resurrecting the run game. Ryan Grubb vowed that Alabama was going to do it this year. That starts with a new - and hopefully improved - offensive line, and more production from a RB room that simply wasn't good enough last season.
Jackson Lloyd and Daniel Hill's freakish athleticism will be critical for Alabama in 2026
Lloyd is the top name from Alabama on Feldman's list. He ranks No. 13 overall. Lloyd is set to replace a freakish athletic left tackle for the Crimson Tide, Kadyn Proctor, who was the No. 12 overall pick by the Miami Dolphins in April's NFL Draft.
Lloyd has been penciled in as Proctor's replacement since early in the spring. He's a former Top 50 recruit, and the staff has been high on him since he arrived on campus. That probably has a lot to do with his impressive weight room numbers. Feldman notes that Lloyd benches over 500 pounds, squats 760, and has power cleaned 365. That goes along with some eye-popping athletic testing numbers, including a 33-inch vertical and a 9'6" broad jump.
Lloyd will represent a major shift for Alabama at LT. He's not nearly as massive as Proctor, but he should be able to move a little bit better and be part of the transition toward the types of offensive lines that Kalen DeBoer has had success with at previous stops.
Hill has had a strong offseason, dropping a little bit of weight in hopes that it will allow him to add some explosiveness to his game. The offensive line will have to open up the initial hole for Hill to pop through, but he's hoping the work this offseason will help him rip off some explosive plays.
If Hill has taken a leap, in conjunction with the potential for 5-star freshman EJ Crowell being instantly impactful, then there's a good chance the Alabama running game is going to be demonstrably better than it was last year.
It would be hard for it to be worse, of course, but a big improvement would go a long way in bringing the type of balance the Crimson Tide needs on offense in order to be one of the best teams in the country.
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