What the Alabama Crimson Tide needs most in the 2024 season

Every football team has weaknesses. Even a deeply talented team like the Alabama Crimson Tide is vulnerable to one or more weaknesses. For Alabama, vulnerability is greatest in the offensive line position group.

A short-handed Alabama offensive line was abused by the blitz packages used by USF. Alabama's overall talent surplus allowed the Crimson Tide to beat USF despite poor pass protection and o-line penalties. In four or more remaining regular season games, the Crimson Tide can't regress to what it suffered through against USF.

Against Wisconsin, Alabama's offensive line was excellent. In Kadyn Proctor, Tyler Booker, Parker Brailsford, and Jaeden Roberts the Crimson Tide has a winning foursome. At right tackle, Elijah Pritchett does not match his four position mates yet, but he was solid against the Badgers.

Pritchett can be expected to improve with more reps. But even if he rises to a stellar level, it would still be only five offensive linemen the Tide can count on. Five is not enough. The minimum needed is seven.

Look at what Georgia faced after Tate Ratledge went down against Kentucky. According to Dawn of the Dawg, even though the Wildcats did not sack Carson Beck, they produced nine QB pressures. The pressures were enough for a lesser team to almost upset a national championship contender.

When Ratledge went down, Georgia filled in with a senior who had considerable game experience. The Alabama Crimson Tide does not have such an option.

What Alabama has as its two main offensive line backups are Geno VanDeMark and Wilkin Formby. Formby is a redshirt freshman who started at right tackle against WKU and USF. Formby played just 11 snaps in the 2023 season. VanDeMark is a redshirt junior transfer from Michigan State. He played in 18 games during three seasons with the Spartans, including eight starts.

VanDeMark is versitile. He can play guard, as he did against USF, along with center and tackle. Alabama football insiders believe Formby could also play guard in an emergency. During the offseason, backups Miles McVay and Roq Montgomery generated some positive buzz. McVay is slotted as a backup left tackle. Montgomery can play guard or center.

What Alabama needs it does not yet have. It is a 2024 version of last season's Jaeden Roberts. In Alabama's first five games last season, Roberts played 12 snaps. He gained a start against Texas A&M and quickly locked down the right guard job. Given the chance, Roberts quickly became one of the SEC's most dominating run blockers. Though he injured an ankle against Tennessee last season, he missed only two snaps and was selected as one of Alabama's Players of the Week.

The best case for Alabama going forward is no more offensive line injuries. Next best would be having at least two backups, who when needed are capable of contributing as quickly as Jaeden Roberts did last season. Otherwise, the Crimson Tide has a scary weak link.