Injuries and building a big lead early led to many younger players getting some meaningful snaps on Saturday. One young player might have even played his way into a starting position competition.
True freshman offensive lineman Michael Carroll saw his snap count rise to 31 on Saturday, just 10 snaps fewer than starting right tackle Wilken Formby. During his Monday press conference, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb acknowledged that there is officially a competition for the starting right tackle position.
“One hundred percent I see that as a competition,” Grubb said. “All these guys are competing for spots. I thought Michael did a great job. There are some things he certainly needs to clean up. The thing I like about Michael is he does compete. What you saw on the field in the game is how Michael practices, too. Super competitive, physical kid that did a really nice job for the first time.”
Formby started both games this season, but his inability to protect the quarterback has opened the door for Carroll to take his starting position. Carroll took over the right tackle duties on the fifth possession of the game and stayed out there with the first team offense for most of the first half.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer reinforced Grubb’s point about the importance of competition, adding that it’s taking place at multiple spots, including other positions along the offensive line.
“I love the way [Carroll] plays. He plays hard, he plays really hard,” DeBoer said. “He along with, talk about Lotzier [Brooks], we play a lot of freshmen, a lot of young guys in a lot of different areas, special teams, offense, defense. I think he was one of those guys that, again, has taken those steps. He did a nice job, got his first real action at the college level.”
“Like we talked about with the quarterback, the competition helps everyone. It helps Michael and his motivation to continue to get better every single day and be his best. It helps Wilkin. At guard we had guys rotating in as well between Jaeden [Roberts] and Geno [VanDeMark]. Across the board it sends a message that we’re gonna keep trying to find the guys that give us the best chance to win," he added.
The quarterback position also saw a slight change to help get the most out of Ty Simpson. In the second quarter, DeBoer inserted Austin Mack into the game for Simpson in what was a scheduled substitution. This type of substitution is something that DeBoer has done in the past as a way to motivate the starting quarterback, as well as to get some real game experience for the backup in case his number is called.
"It's something I've done a number of times over the years, going way back, but that's one of the more recent ones,” DeBoer said. “Jake [Haener] bowed up, he bowed up, and I thought Ty responded pretty well, too. It's one of those that they kind of question, probably, at first — why? But I think competition is just going to bring out the best in everyone, and I think that did that for Ty in his week of preparation. Obviously, it helps Austin. It gives him some energy to really go out there, and we're looking at him, got some quality snaps in the game. And across the board, we did that. We do that at other positions and don't really think twice about it. We got a rotation, rotating in at defensive positions. We do that at the offensive line, receiver personnel groupings. We're doing a lot of that. So, again, competition, helping bring out the best, and that's what Jake [Haener] did, and I think that's what Ty did here this last week."
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