It felt like a Christmas present a month later, getting the notifications that Kalen DeBoer had fired offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic. Now that the easy part of the process has been done, DeBoer's next hire to replace Kapilovic may be the most important one he has made. There are quite a few great candidates out there, so it will be very interesting to see what direction Alabama goes with this hire.
It is no secret that the offensive line play at Alabama has been down for a while, even towards the end of Nick Saban's tenure. It is important that whoever is hired to coach the offensive linemen is a motivator and is able to push his players to be great. The offensive line is the most important key to a successful offense no matter who is at quarterback, running back, or who is catching passes. The time is now that we get back to the days of the Crimson Tide having a dominant offensive line.
We have seen many great individual offensive line performances in the last couple of seasons. We have seen instances of great offensive line play, but no consistency. There is no reason why, at the end of the season, there are still questions of who is going to start on the right side of the offensive line. Everybody has been fed up with how poorly Alabama has run the ball in DeBoer's first two years in Tuscaloosa, and despite having a plethora of talented backs without the big uglies up front carving holes for them, it doesn't matter who is running the rock.
Alabama football is built on great offensive line play, so it is time for this to return to the field. No matter what the scheme is, there has to be far more physicality along the line of scrimmage, and the line has to win on every down. When it is fourth and one, there should be no doubt that the hole is going to be opened and that first down is going to be achieved. We can't have what we saw in the Rose Bowl or the SEC Championship Game again. There has to be a certain pride that these guys have in protecting their quarterback and opening holes for the chosen running back, and it will be important that the next offensive line coach makes this happen. The right offensive line coach allows this offense to reach its full potential and be the strength we expect under DeBoer and Grubb.