Seth McLaughlin, Alabama OL Growing from Early-Season Mistakes

Bad snaps and sacks plagued Alabama in the early going, but the Crimson Tide has improved both issues in recent weeks.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a funny moment in the postgame media room when Alabama center Seth McLaughlin joked about how Jalen Milroe had paid him $20 to snap the ball low on the Crimson Tide's first touchdown of the season just to make the quarterback look better. 

Milroe Magic 🪄@JalenMilroe

📺: https://t.co/tFsrUF7B8z pic.twitter.com/fofKiX54cS

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) September 2, 2023

There wasn't any laughter involved a few weeks later at Mississippi State when a haywire snap on a third-down play in the first quarter caused a fumble. McLaughlin snapped the ball when Milroe wasn't looking, and although Alabama recovered the fumble and went on to win the game, it was starting to become an even bigger issue. Nick Saban was visibly frustrated on the sideline after the play. 

However, Saban was constant in his support of McLaughlin as the best option at center, and McLaughlin and Milroe worked extra reps together before the next game at Texas A&M to try to minimize some of the snapping issues between the duo. 

Now, as Alabama enters the Chattanooga game on an eight-game winning streak, the snapping issues have almost evaporated from the offense. On Monday, McLaughlin shared that one thing that helped was changing his grip from a traditional spiral grip. 

"I went to the dead-ball snap," he said. "I think the inaccurate snaps have been cleaned up a little bit. That’s still a thing I’m trying to work on, just cleaning up the snaps in practice and in the game — just putting an emphasis on how important it is to get the ball in Milroe’s hands and let him go to work and do what he’s so good at."

Bad snaps weren't the only problem along the offensive line. Through the majority of the season, Alabama was one of the worst teams in the country at protecting the quarterback, giving up at least four sacks in seven straight games. The Crimson Tide is tied for second-worst in the SEC in sacks allowed with 37, but has shown improvement over the last two games.  

Against LSU, Alabama gave up just two sacks. And then this past Saturday at Kentucky, the Crimson Tide offense had its first sack-free performance of the season. 

"Speaking about the offensive line, it’s finally starting to come together and we’re starting to gel as a group and doing everything we wanted to do at the beginning of the season," McLaughlin said Monday. "Through the work on our technique with Coach [Eric] Wolford, and the way we’re playing ball right now, it’s all really helped.”

Not only has the offensive line gotten improved in pass protection, but the Alabama running game has also gotten better over the last few weeks with rushing totals of 288 and 159 yards over the last two games. Saban liked what he saw from the group against the Wildcats. 

"We talked about trying to be the most physical team," Saban said. "I think they did a good job of that. I think we ran the ball in the second half better than we did in the first. And some of that was just how were they playing. But I was really pleased, especially in the second half, with how we controlled the line of scrimmage. I think for the most part the pass protection was a little better, and we want to continue to improve in all those areas."

A big part of the improvement came when Alabama inserted redshirt sophomore Jaeden Roberts into the starting lineup at right guard against Texas A&M. Since the start of the season, Alabama had been trying to find just the right mix of guys along the line, and the staff finally seems to have found what they were looking for with Kadyn Proctor, Tyler Booker, JC Latham, Roberts and McLaughlin. 

Saban often talks about how important it is to win the battles at the line of scrimmage. This week against Chattanooga, Alabama will have such a size advantage on the Mocs coming from the FCS level that the Tide should easily win the battles in the trenches. But with a trip down to the Plains for the Iron Bowl the next week and a looming matchup with No. 2 Georgia in the SEC Championship, Alabama will continue to need the offensive line playing at its best. 

How to Watch: No. 8 Alabama Football vs. Chattanooga