While Kalen DeBoer listed off an extensive injury list after Alabama football’s first spring practice of 2025, none of them are new.
“Pretty much most of those injuries are all from last season still and expected,” DeBoer said. “So nothing new there from our standpoint.”
But while an injury on the Alabama offensive line is nothing new, it’s something the Crimson Tide will be pressed to address.
DeBoer said Alabama left tackle Kadyn Proctor will be “limited” and non-contact in the spring, along with linebacker Justin Jefferson and defensive lineman James Smith.
Alabama doesn’t have many answers behind Proctor on the offensive line, something DeBoer admitted Monday.
“We got to have some guys that can move out,” DeBoer said. “We’re think at that position, especially when you look at the experience at that position. So there’s a couple of guys we can move out. Olaus (Alinen) played a little bit of tackle, a couple snaps, but we want to make sure he can focus on guard too. As we go through the spring, we just didn’t want to throw a bunch of freshmen out there with the ones, or some younger guys.”
Olaus Alinen, who committed to Alabama as a tackle, played 92 snaps at left guard in 2024 per Pro Football Focus, and 29 snaps split between both guard spots in 2023.
DeBoer said Michael Carroll, the 2025 five-star guard who is with the program as an early-enrollee, “took some reps” at tackle Monday.
“You don’t want to, especially for a young guy, I mean, there’s a lot of bullets flying, right? And so you don’t want to make it harder than it needs to be for him. So you try and keep him int he same position for multiple practices. But also that flexibility for a guy like Michael does exist, and he does have that frame where he could play some tackle… Down the road, end game, more of a guard.”
Alabama also added former Ball State tackle Arkel Anugwom via the transfer portal along with tackles Jackson Lloyd, Mal Waldrep Jr. and Micah DeBose in the 2025 recruiting class.
Versatility is what DeBoer loves about his offensive line, he said: their ability to be athletic, their ability to play both on the left and right sides.
And Alabama will need its versatility as spring continues.
Alabama will hold its annual A Day spring game at noon April 12 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What’s next for Alabama football OL after Kadyn Proctor injury?
