Success Starting to Come for Alabama Offensive Line Under Eric Wolford

Alabama second-year offensive line coach has Crimson Tide primed for breakout performance late in the season.

The Alabama offensive line was billed as one of the best of the past decade coming into the 2023 season.

Eric Wolford was entering his second season with the Crimson Tide as offensive line coach, and there was an abundance of raw talent ready to take the next step.

That hype didn’t come from pundits or analysts. It came from the horse's mouth.

“The way we’re playing, that’s how Alabama played when I was growing up,” Alabama lineman Tyler Booker said in the spring. “To bring that mentality back to what it was means a lot.”

Then there’s this from veteran Darrian Dalcourt:

“The main message from Coach Wolford is getting back to that intensity and that nastiness that we’ve always had on the offensive line,” Dalcourt said in April.

Those words were a bit premature. Through the first eight games, Alabama allowed a whopping 29 sacks, among the worst in the country. The Crimson Tide running game, normally a staple of the offense, was nowhere near the top of the rankings (No. 6 in the SEC, No. 58 nationally).

Something changed last week, though.

Alabama’s offensive line helped the offense rack up nearly 300 rushing yards in a 42-28 win against LSU. Jalen Milroe was sacked twice, but he had several clean pockets to pass for 156 yards, while also running for 155.

Booker’s and Dalcourt’s preseason comments, although a bit brash, may be starting to make sense now.

The unit has made significant progress and maybe something has finally clicked.

It could also be the strong relationship with Wolford and the line has started to flourish.

“In his second year he’s gotten more comfortable, and we’ve gotten more comfortable with him,” Dalcourt said.

Wolford was a head coach at Youngstown State for five years (2010-14) but every other stop he’s had in his career since 1996 was as an offensive line coach. That includes a one-year stint with Kentucky in 2021 before he was poached by Nick Saban.

Eric Wolford was Kentucky's offensive line coach for one season, 2021 / Kentucky Athletics

Even with the offensive line issues, Wolford has the endorsement of Saban, who praised the veteran coach a few weeks ago on his weekly TV show, “The Nick Saban Show.”

“He’s a really good guy, a good recruiter, has a great family,” Saban said. “He's done a really good job with our offensive line. I know they get a lot of criticism. We got some young guys playing. He's doing a good job of developing those guys.”

He was at Kentucky for just one season, but what a heck of a season it was. The offense, led by Will Levis at quarterback, totaled nearly 3,000 passing yards and nearly 2,600 rushing yards. The offensive line was instrumental in that success, helping generate nearly 200 rushing yards and 225 passing yards per game in a 10-3 season.

Before that, Wolford’s units at South Carolina averaged 147 yards over a four-year span.

Wolford’s had success everywhere he’s gone, and what happened against LSU might be the start of something bigger for Alabama. He’s got the players on his side, for sure.

“He is pretty out there, but I love Coach Wolford,” Booker said. “He’s what I call a good kind of crazy. He knows how to motivate you and he knows how to back off. He knows how to coach everybody and he’s fair. When you have a great relationship with an offensive line coach you don’t have to worry about, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to bring this up to him because he’s going to chew me out.’ No, Coach Wolford understands who we are as football players, but more importantly, as people.”

Sources: Deontae Lawson, Jaylen Key, Ja'Corey Brooks Out for Road Clash at Kentucky