Alabama Football: Age, experience and battles in the trenches

Alabama Football is a young team. The Alabama Crimson Tide is an experienced team. Both statements cannot be true – right? Actually, they can both be correct because every team roster is a mixture of both.

There are two main reasons why the Alabama football roster is young every season. One of the reasons is a relatively new major factor. That is the exit of Crimson Tide players through the Transfer Portal. It is now common for Alabama to lose many good players to transfer every season. Nick Saban recruits outstanding classes every year. Many recruits cannot break through to key roles because the competition among Tide players is so tough. Of course, looking for more game action, many guys choose to find another team.

The other reason for annual, early attrition for the Crimson Tide is players opting for the NFL after three seasons in Tuscaloosa.

The new reality in Tuscaloosa is the Crimson Tide will be young every season. Enough, returning players or new additions (recruits and transfers) are able to contribute quickly, that a young roster is no longer the warning sign it once was in college football.

There are exceptions. Mostly those exceptions are the guys in the trenches. For players on the offensive and defensive lines, seasons in weight rooms doing strength-building are almost as important as game snaps. It is not always true, but on average, older, more physically mature bodies, with two or more years in Alabama’s strength, conditioning and nutrition programs, develop more quickness and power. In addition, there are other development advantages in skills training performed in multiple seasons

Alabama Football Offensive Trench

• Left Tackle – Tyler Steen; 6’5″ and 315 lbs.; four seasons of college football at Vanderbilt playing in 38 games with 33 starts
• Left Guard – Kendall Randolph; 6’4″ and 298 lbs.; entering his sixth season in Tuscaloosa having played in 41 Crimson Tide games
• Center – Darrian Dalcourt; 6’3″ and 305 lbs.; entering his fourth season in Tuscaloosa having played in 26 games with 11 starts
• Right Guard – Emil Ekiyor Jr.; 6’3″ and 307 lbs.; entering his fifth season at Alabama having played in 38 games with 28 starts
• Right Tackle – J.C. Latham; 6’6″ and 326 lbs; entering his second season with the Crimson Tide having played in 14 games

Alabama Football Defensive Trench

• Defensive End – Tim Smith; 6’4″ and 304 lbs.; entering his third season in Tuscaloosa having played in 25 games with two starts
• Nose Guard – D.J. Dale; 6’3″ and 300 lbs.; entering his fourth season for Alabama having played in 36 games with 34 starts
• Defensive End – Byron Young; 6’3″ and 292 lbs.; entering his fourth season for the Tide having played in 41 games with 13 starts

The eight players provide considerable physical and mental strengths in the trenches.

In many programs, with less proficient development of players, added years don’t as much matter. On those teams, a poor player as a junior is unlikely to blossom into a good one as a senior. That situation does not apply to the Crimson Tide.

Note: Player stats in this post came from two University of Alabama sources; rolltide.com and the Alabama Game Notes for the Utah State game.

Before closing, the CFB game has sped up so, and is often played on the edges, making the traditional term ‘trenches’ less appropriate. But that does not change the fact that vital components of football remain, such as blocking and not allowing yourself to be blocked. Just as college football has always done – in the trenches.