Alabama's offensive line rebuild has felt a lot like a long, high-priced construction project.
New pieces have been brought in. Others have been moved around. Now, first-year offensive line coach Adrian Klemm has been handed the blueprint, tasked with taking everything Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb have assembled and turning it into a five-man unit capable of holding up when the real work begins.
But Klemm didn't walk onto an empty construction site. One of the most important pieces was already laid out, waiting to be properly put in place. 6-foot-6, 324 pounds, sophomore right guard Michael Carroll is that piece.
The interesting part is that Carroll didn't necessarily envision himself ending up there. Before Alabama's Rose Bowl matchup, Carroll made his preference clear: He wanted to become the Crimson Tide's future starting right tackle.
Coming off a season where he started six games at the position, it felt like an obvious move. But in hopes of adding some physicality to the run game, Alabama asked him to kick inside to his more natural position.
Eight months later, Carroll is openly embracing the move.
Michael Carroll knows his selflessness is for the betterment of Alabama football's future
"It's for the betterment of our football team," Carroll said. "I'm a football guy, so it doesn't matter to me. I'll play wherever my team needs to win games. So, I'm excited to be playing guard and excited to get this run game going this year."
That selflessness is what allowed the staff to communicate the move early in Klemm's tenure, giving Carroll the opportunity to fully adapt rather than having to figure things out on the fly.
"That's one thing I was probably thankful for, Carroll said. "Like, alright, at least they let me know early in the year so I can adapt and get ready for my sophomore season. So, it was definitely a good thing that they told me before everything got rolling."
Carroll's attitude coming into year two should be appreciated by many. It speaks directly to the caliber of coachable talent that DeBoer has successfully recruited and developed since coming to Tuscaloosa. It also has welcomed an ongoing competition at right tackle, creating positional depth regardless of the result, giving Klemm something every first-year position coach craves: options.
Though this transition may seem like a small domino event lost within the long list of headlines in the program's offseason, Carroll's willingness to embrace that change and put Alabama's needs ahead of his personal desires may end up being one of the main reasons the Crimson Tide's rebuilt foundation is successful under Klemm this season and beyond.
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