While the Crimson Tide doesn’t have the easiest Week 1 matchup in 2025, Kalen DeBoer should be able to lead his team to a 2-0 start before hosting Wisconsin in Week 3. That was the case a season ago, when Alabama went up to Madison and bludgeoned the Badgers 42-10 behind a big game from Jalen Milroe.
Milroe torched Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell’s defense with his arm and his legs, but with Ty Simpson expected to win the starting job for DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, quarterback mobility won’t be such a factor in this matchup.
Milroe’s athleticism didn’t always lead to elite escapability. In his final collegiate season, he was sacked on nearly 20 percent of his pressured dropbacks. Still, Simpson’s limited rushing ability puts more responsibility on his offensive line's shoulders, especially against a coaching staff like Fickell’s, which loves to get after the quarterback.
Wisconsin could be Alabama’s new-look offensive line its first big test
Alabama will inevitably feel the void left by Tyler Booker after last year’s starting left guard became the 12th overall pick of the Dallas Cowboys this spring. However, the Tide will also need to sort out the right tackle situation after Elijah Pritchett transferred to Nebraska this offseason.
Wilkin Formby is the likely starter at right tackle, opposite former five-star and potential 2026 first-rounder Kadyn Proctor. When presented with those two options, Western Michigan transfer and promising Wisconsin edge rusher Corey Walker will almost certainly favor a matchup against Formby in Week 3.
Walker racked up 27 pressures a season ago at Western Michigan and found his rhythm off the edge late in the year with nine pressures across his final three games. MAC football is a far cry from Big Ten or SEC competition, but one of Walker’s five sacks came against Ohio State in Week 2 of 2024 (before the Buckeyes suffered a scourge of O-line injuries), so the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder has proven he can find his way into the backfield against the best tackles in the country.
Walker and the Wisconsin defensive line will give Formby and Simpson a real test in Week 3, and the Tide need to work through any early-season offensive line troubles before a Week 5 contest against Georgia.
Formby only earned two starts last season, in Week 1 and 2, but did get 291 snaps of experience at right tackle as a redshirt freshman. The former four-star recruit from Tuscaloosa allowed 10 pressures and one sack, the fifth most pressures on the team despite playing the seventh most pass blocking snaps.