Alabama Football: Who Could Fill Left Tackle Spot If Needed?

With the arrest of Alabama football left tackle Cam Robinson today, this could be a perfect time to take a look at Alabama’s depth at the position.

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Offensive line was the easy choice for best overall group for the upcoming 2016 Bama team, mainly because of Cam Robinson and his rock solid play at left tackle.

Allegedly committing a felony can put a wrench into the Tide’s plan on the offensive line for at least the beginning of the year (hoping his felony is pled down to a misdemeanor charge). So if Cam isn’t available, who anchors our QB’s blind side?

Korren Kirven (Senior):

Korren was Cam’s replacement all during spring practice and got the starting left tackle job for A-Day. Kirven has had very limited playing time, mainly in for mop-up duties and played for Cam in one game for a chance to get Cam healed up. He has bounced back and forth between defensive line and offensive line (when Alabama first recruited him they wanted him as a defensive tackle) but when depth at tackle got thin, they flipped him over to offensive tackle which he played in high school.

A-Day gave us an insight to the offensive line minus Cam and it was scary. Kirven drew the job of trying to contain Tim Williams and appeared to suffer, but so did every team last year trying to stop Williams. Even when Williams was not in, Kirven appeared to struggle with his first step and getting arms extended onto the defender.

Lester Cotton(Sophomore):

Lester has been penciled in as the probable starter at left guard with the move of Ross Pierschbacher to center, and he performed very well in Spring. His traditional position, however, is tackle and he has the right size to play left tackle. The only question mark is with his speed and how quick he can take that first step.

If Cotton is to move over to tackle , that could leave a guard spot open for Dallas Warmack or maybe even move Alphonse Taylor over from right guard to left guard (if he can get his weight down like Saban wants). Lester has been said to be easily one of top-three lineman on the team, and we might just have to test that theory earlier than anticipated.

Bradley Bozeman (Senior):

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Known as one of the strongest players on the team, Bozeman has always been one play away from getting reps as a starter on Bama’s offensive line. He was the reserve center behind Ryan Kelly two seasons ago and even played in a couple of games in which Kelly was injured. Bozeman has never had a problem holding up a defensive lineman, but it was more of how quickly he could get off the ball. He mainly has stayed as an interior lineman at Alabama, but a move back to tackle wouldn’t be surprising.

Jonah Williams (Freshman):

With the exit of Charles Baldwin, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Jonah had played his way into the starting right tackle position. With a possible suspension looming for Cam Robinson on the left side now, it would not be surprising to see Jonah moved back to his native position of left tackle.

Williams was said to have been one of Alabama’s five best lineman coming out of spring practice and was even described as having some of the quickest feet and hands on the team. He struggled at the beginning of A-Day, but then settled in and showed some of his true talent. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound freshman is pretty much guaranteed to see immediate playing time this season, and the news from this morning just about guarantees his name will be listed on the opening day roster.It’s just a matter of if it will be at left tackle or right.

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One of these could possibly not be needed, as Coach Nick Saban has made no official announcement about any suspension. We do get the feeling one is coming. It’s just a question of how long.

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