Alabama football‘s offensive line had its fair share of snapping issues in 2023.
Most notably, the snapping issues reared their ugly head in Rose Bowl, resulting in the end of the Crimson Tide‘s 2023 season and its College Football Playoff run. However, this season under a new offensive system and new offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, Alabama looks to limit those issues.
One way the Crimson Tide looks to do that is to get more guys snapping the ball. Kapilovic, while speaking to the media after Alabama’s third practice of fall camp on Saturday, said he hopes to have as many as 8-10 guys snapping the ball year round.
“In a typical year, like when we get into next spring, we will probably have 8-10 kids snapping year round,” Kapilovic said. “… I learned my lesson, you can’t have enough of them. I lost three in a week at North Carolina and I thought I was really good with four, and I wasn’t, so I said that’s it, from now on I am training 8-10 guys. Plus for them and their futures, it’s huge.”
Right now, a few Crimson Tide players that are getting reps snapping the ball are Roq Montgomery, Joseph Ionata, William Sanders. Right guard Tyler Booker is another, telling the media on Saturday that he was snapping all summer.
Parker Brailsford is another, having transferred to Alabama from Washington over the offseason. At Washington, Brailsford was named to the All-Pac-12 second team in 2023 and was a member of the Huskies offensive line which was awarded the Joe Moore Award last season, which is awarded to the top offensive line unit within the nation.
Brailsford is the projected starter for Alabama at center following Seth McLaughlin’s transfer to Ohio State. Despite his newness to campus, Brailsford and quarterback Jalen Milroe have already began working on their communication in hopes to keep snapping issues to a minimum this season.
“As a whole, the foundation starts with the offensive line, but the offense goes between the quarterback and center exchange,” Milroe said on Saturday. “It’s been very important to get the run checks down, get the passing game down as a whole, because all we want to do is keep building and improving. Number one it starts with communication, so between me and him it’s very important … It’s been good to have him.”
Three days into camp, Kapilovic said he has seen some things that stand out that are good, but as a whole, the offensive line is lacking consistency. However, at this time of the year, Kapilovic said that is common feat for teams to face.
“I think every O-Line coach if you ask them, that’s the thing they’re trying to build,” Kapilovic said. “The chemistry with each other but you’re also rotating guys so they got to get used to working with each other.”
The Crimson Tide completed their third of 20 preseason practices on Saturday, in preparation for its season opening game on Aug. 31 vs. Western Kentucky at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football will have more players snapping the ball in 2024
The Tuscaloosa News
