Through the first week of Alabama’s 2014 spring camp redshirt junior Ryan Kelly is the only player on the Tide’s offense line to be able to concentrate solely on playing one position. Throughout his first three years of high school whenever he dreamed of playing college football, he always pictured himself playing guard or tackle.
Prior to his senior year of high school at Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, Kelly was told by his head coach that center would be his best position in college. Kelly was surprised, “My coach pretty much said I was going to play center in college,” Kelly said. “I hadn’t played center in at least eight years. I didn’t know that much about the position.”
Until then Kelly had only played guard and tackle for Lakota West. He spent most of his senior year learning the position. By then he’d already committed to spend his college career at Alabama choosing the Tide over Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and the Florida State Seminoles.
The four star prospect was considered a nice prize for the Alabama class. 247 Sports had him ranked the ninth best player in the talent rich state of Ohio and considered him the second best center prospect in the country.
He arrived on campus before the 2011 season and began to pick the brain of three year starter William Vlachos. He spent lots of time watching the senior play and studying game film while redshirting that first year and playing center on the scout team.
When he arrived at the Capstone standing at 6-5 and weighing just 281 pounds he knew he’d need to gain weight if he had any hopes of being able to take on the mammoth interior defensive lineman he would have to face in the SEC. What he didn’t realize was just how hard it would be to put that weight on. Setting 300 pounds as his goal, Kelly struggled just getting to 290 because of the intense workout regimen Tide players have to endure. Head trainer Jeff Allen once estimated that the average player would lose as much as 10 pounds from each practice. It wasn’t until the start of the 2013 season before he was finally able to hit his current playing weight of 297 pounds.
Kelly spent the 2012 season backing up All-American Barrett Jones. On making the move to earn that number two spot before his redshirt freshman year Jones said, “Last spring I started with the (No.) 2’s after being on the scout team,” he then added. “I really worked my way into that 2 position all the way through camp. I got my first chance to play against Michigan.” He would later get substantial playing time that season with the second team, . “The reps are the most important thing when you’re young,” Kelly said. “Just getting acclimated to the speed of the game. To be able to play that much as a 2 has been really fun.”
When Jones moved on before last year the Rimington award winner and unanimous All-American left some awfully big shoes to fill. Kelly felt the time he’d spent with both Jones and Vlachos would prove a huge benefit for him. “Learning from those two has been a hell of an experience,” Kelly said. “They just bring so much experience to the game. You can ask them any question you want and they try to give you the best pointer to try to lead you in the right direction for a good career.”
Before the 2o13 opener Kelly was asked how he felt about being the starting center, “When I got here, I was really playing guard, and they moved me to center. I just found it a lot more me. At center, you have help from both guards. It’s really nice. The biggest thing about center is, you’re in control of the offense. Making the calls right, just knowing different looks. It’s been really important.”
The revamped Crimson Tide offensive line struggled mightily to open the year versus Virginia Tech. It took several games before the unit began to gel. Around that time Kelly “stretched” his MCL in a game against Ole Miss and was forced to miss games against Georgia State, Kentucky, and Arkansas. During that time he was replaced by backup Chad Lindsay. Lindsay did such a good job that some Tide fans felt he should keep the starting job. Kelly returned in time to practice the week of the Tennessee game and Saban announced that he would indeed start against the Volunteers.
Kelly felt a bit anxious coming off the knee injury but relaxed once the game got going. “At first it was a little bit different going back out there after being gone for three weeks,” Kelly said. “I felt like after the first couple of drives, the first positive plays, we went three and three and scored every time. After that, it just felt normal again.”
Kelly sprained his other knee the week before the Auburn game and was once again replaced by Lindsay
That won’t be the case this coming season. Lindsay chose to transfer this off season rather than remain a backup. That leaves Kelly as the lone scholarship player at the position headed into spring practices. He also heads into spring as the only returning starter on the offensive line that can feel safe in his role on the team.
This years line lost starters Anthony Steen and Cyrus Kouandjio. Kelly said the adjustment like last years would take time. “It’s a little bit different, yeah, anytime you lose guys like Cyrus and Steen in the fall,” Kelly said. “It’s just different playing with new guys. But obviously here that’s something we’ve been pretty successful in reproducing. This is a big spring. A lot of guys rotating, just kind of getting the camaraderie. They had to adjust to it when I came in there, too. The older guys (have) to be understanding that the young guys are still learning. But also demanding if they run with the 1s, that’s how they have to play.”
He had his eyes on a couple of the young guys. Alphonse Taylor for example surprised him with how well the big guy could move. “If you look at how big he is, he’s actually really athletic – can bend really well and he’s got a lot of power,” Kelly said. “Another young guy, doesn’t have a whole lot of experience, obviously, playing games. But I think this spring’s going to be really big for him. It’s only day three and he’s doing a lot of good things. We’ve just got to keep him rotating with the 1s and getting acclimated to the speed of it.”
Lots of Alabama fans are of the belief that top ranked offensive tackle Cameron Robinson can pull an Andre Smith and step into the starting left tackle job left by Kouandjio. Kelly see’s the potential the big Louisiana native has, “Cam’s got a lot of ability,” Kelly said. “He’s a big guy, can bend really well, long arms.”
Regardless of which newcomers win the starting roles Kelly feels there is one issue that has to be addressed right away. “I think communication is the most important thing,” Kelly said. “All 11 guys have to be on the same page. That’s why those meetings are so important. Especially, it starts with the offensive line.”
He says another goal this spring is to give whoever wins the starting quarterback job more of a chance to read the defensive alignment and get the offense into the right play. “One of the things we’re trying to emphasize is get up to the ball, get down, get set. Last year, look at it, we were running the clock down to five, four seconds every time. The faster that we can get to the line, get set, let the quarterback look at what he’s got to look at, the more time we can have and we’re not rushing to make calls last-minute.”
Considering the limited game experience of whoever that quarterback might be the more time they can give him,the better.
Another big key for the new line will be keeping Kelly healthy. Considering his problems last season, that could be no small feat. So far this spring he’s been backed up by a couple of walk-ons. True freshman JC Hassenauer and Josh Casher, the number one and two centers in the country according to 247 Sports, will report this summer and begin trying to earn a spot on the two deep to back up Kelly.
While developing a suitable backup at center is an important goal,Tide coaches would probably be happiest if Kelly can just stay healthy and his backup is never needed.
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