One of the biggest areas of focus over the bye week for Alabama football is improving at running the football. Through three games, Alabama ranks 83rd in the country in rushing yards per game at 123.7 per contest. That's a number inflated by 212 rushing yards coming against UL Monroe. Against its two Power Four opponents - Florida State and Wisconsin - the Tide failed to eclipse 100 yards.
Alabama's rushing success rate of 33.7% is one of the worst marks in the country, ranking 121st out of 136 FBS teams.
Last week against the Badgers, Alabama mustered just 72 yards on the ground. Ty Simpson's big day through the air hid the fact that the Tide struggled so mightily.
Simpson has been elite the last two weeks, but Kalen DeBoer can't count on his QB throwing for 400 yards per game to find success against the elite SEC defenses awaiting his team. That will start against Georgia, where Alabama will have to find some semblance of balance to move the football against a Kirby Smart defense.
In order to do that, Alabama will have to play better up front. The return of Jam Miller will help, but more is going to be needed to fix the problem.
Left tackle Kadyn Proctor understands that. He said after practice on Thursday that the team is focused on identifying the right five, and then, Proctor hopes, sticking with them.
"We just need to get better. That's point blank period," Proctor said ..."Right now, we’re trying to find the right guys to go out there and have the physicality and intensity to go out there and actually gain some rushing yards and get our running backs free and pop some of those runs."
“I don’t think it’s good to have rotation throughout the whole season because you have to have that camaraderie between all five for them to be at one," Proctor said. ..."I feel like it’s not bad right now, but once we get into the tougher teams, we need those five and we need to stick with them.”
Alabama could make changes to the right side of the OL against Georgia
Alabama has been working to get Jaeden Roberts and Michael Carroll as many reps as they could over the last couple of weeks. Geno VanDeMark and Wilkin Formby have remained the starters at RG and RT respectively, but that could change on the other side of the bye week.
Roberts was a presumed starter in the preseason, but he suffered a concussion during fall camp that has forced DeBoer and the coaching staff to express caution with the redshirt senior. Coming out of the bye, he will perhaps be ready to play a full game, which would be a big boost to Alabama's ability to overpower opponents.
Carroll is a true freshman who is pushing Formby hard at right tackle. Many have noted that it looks like Alabama gets a little nastier when Carroll is in the game. It makes sense considering the former 5-star was compared to former Tide OG Tyler Booker during the recruiting process.
Proctor at LT and Parker Brailsford at C are completely solidified at their spots. But the guards and RT need to be sorted out, quickly. Texas A&M transfer Kam Dewberry has been solid at LG, but VanDeMark got some snaps at LG against Wisconsin, with Roberts rotating in at RG.
Proctor is hopeful that whichever grouping ends up being the best five can get sorted sooner rather than later. He's not wrong in talking about the importance of camaraderie for an offensive line. Alabama has precious little time to develop that before the beginning of a brutal conference slate.
The improvement - or lack thereof - on the offensive line could prove to be the deciding factor in how far this team can go.