Unit Breakdown: The Offensive Line

With no doubt, the Alabama offensive line has been the most frustrating and derided unit on the team the past two years, and possibly even longer than that. Shula regime struggles aside, even I can't remember when we had a really good line in terms of pass blocking. 2006 was a particularly disastrous year in terms of running the football, particularly in short-yardage situations, and the pass protection wasn't particularly good either, though it wasn't as bad as some made it out to be.

The funny thing though was, when Nick Saban arrived, it was mentioned quite often in a variety of circles that Saban and offensive line coach Joe Pendry were pleasantly surprised at the potential of the offensive line. And perhaps that shouldn't be too surprising. After all, there is no doubt that we have plenty of talent on the offensive. For all of the shortcomings of Mike Shula, he recruited very well on the offensive line, he could just never get it, as a unit, to perform that well.

So how is the line stacking up in 2007?

To begin with, we know we have two very good football players.

Center Antoine Caldwell returns for his junior campaign, and Caldwell is one of the best centers you will find anywhere. He's a very bright individual (always important for the center position), very athletic, and a hard worker. Combined, all of that ability makes him very versatile, and he can truthfully play any position on the offensive line at this level. As a redshirt freshman in 2005, he played guard, then moved to center for the Cotton Bowl and the 2006 season. After the Chris Capps meltdown in the 2006 Iron Bowl, he was moved to right tackle on the fly, and he did quite well. Auburn defensive end Quentin Groves, who will be playing on Sunday this time next year, didn't put another finger on John Parker Wilson once Caldwell was moved to right tackle. There are no two ways about it, Caldwell is a fine player, and we have no concerns at the center position.

Left tackle Andre Smith, too, is a great football player. When he came out of high school, he was the top offensive line recruit in the country, and many (including ESPN.com) dubbed him, with little doubt, as the best left tackle prospect to come out in ages. He didn't disappoint. Despite playing overweight and out of shape, he started all year as a true freshman at the line's most difficult position, and looked very good. He even nearly killed a thief in Fayetteville, and ran for a touchdown in the bowl game. The truth is, the sky is the limit for Smith, particularly now that he has much better coaching and is in much better shape. He legitimately has the raw talent to end up with a bust in Canton. If he can stay healthy, he'll probably make some All-America teams this year.

The other three positions are the question marks.

At left guard, Justin Britt is the likely starter. After spending his first two years on the defensive line, he made the move to left guard last year, and started ten games. All in all, he played pretty well. He's a bit small for a guard, but he is an aggressive player, and that usually pays off pretty well in the running game for an interior lineman. As expected, he was a bit raw last year, especially in terms of pass protection, but seems to be progressing nicely. Britt is not the second coming of John Hannah, but he seems to have the capabilities to turn in a solid campaign.

Right guard will belong to redshirt junior Marlon Davis. In 2006, B.J. Stabler was technically the starter for most the season (Davis started three games late in the year to spell an injured Stabler), but he generally split snaps all season long with Davis. Now that B.J. Stabler has been moved to right tackle, Marlon Davis will be taking over full-time at right guard. The good news is that Davis has really gotten it done in the weight room this off-season, and is in noticeably better shape. All told, Davis has dropped 21 pounds according to RollTide.com, and looks to be in great shape. The coaching staff obviously likes Marlon Davis, and thinks highly of his productive potential. The bright outlook on Davis was the major reason why B.J. Stabler was moved to right tackle, so it's reasonable to expect a solid season out of Davis in 2007.

Right tackle is where it really gets interesting. B.J. Stabler, never a workout warrior, has gotten it together this year, dropping 13 pounds, and he has moved to right tackle, as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, Stabler has been slowed his entire career by leg injuries (three left knee surgeries), but it seems he is finally healthy in that regard. But he's not winning the starting job at the moment. Instead, Mike Johnson, a 6'6, 296 pound redshirt sophomore, seems to be the front-runner for the starting job. Johnson is an extremely bright individual (4.0 GPA in high school, and a 27 on the ACT), and he is a hard worker who has apparently really impressed the coaching staff thus far. Moreover, his natural size (6'6 equals long arms) fits well at tackle, and apparently his footwork is good.

So, that seems to be it at the moment. If you had to say today, the starting offensive line would be:

LT: Andre Smith
LG: Justin Britt
C: Antoine Caldwell
RG: Marlon Davis
RT: Mike Johnson

Moreover, a few other players are certain to enter into the mix as well.

B.J. Stabler, unless he makes a big surge in the coming weeks, is not going to start this year. However, a much leaner, much healthier Stabler will still be a major contributor, if but for nothing more than this versatility (can play both guard and tackle). Moreover, given his history of leg woes, a somewhat limited role could be the ideal situation for him.

Chris Capps won't be starting this year, but he is a very valuable back-up. He is currently splitting time between left tackle and right tackle. Though Capps isn't a particularly good player, with some help (tight end or back helping him out, or shorter drops from the quarterback), he can be relatively effective. He is a senior and he has started for two seasons (24 starts). Few teams have the luxury of someone like that coming off of the bench.

Evan Cardwell is a fine center, and his only problem is Antoine Caldwell. He played some last year at center, and did quite well. Again, he's not going to start, but he is a fine player, and it is nice to know that if something happened to Caldwell, we have a player the quality of Cardwell to come off of the bench.

All told, believe it or not, things look good for the offensive line in 2007. Andre Smith is likely a legend in the making, and Antoine Caldwell is one of the best centers you will find anywhere. If we can just get solid play out of the other three starters, we'll be in good shape.

There are just a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the offensive line. Everyone returns from a year ago, the players are in noticeably better shape, the coaching will be much improved, and this line has a good bit of depth.

Perhaps this will finally be the year all of the talent up front turns into production.

2006 SEC Football: Offensive Sack Rates

We often hear in traditional media outlets about how certain offensive lines are good because they allowed such a few number of sacks, and others are poor because they allowed so many sacks, but in reality that approach is inherently flawed. Since sacks allowed is a cumulative statistic, people tend to just look at the final number and fail to put that number in any real context. What is almost overlooked is the effect the number of passes thrown have on how many sacks an offensive line will allow.

For an absurd example, say one team gives up 10 sacks in 150 passing attempts while another team gives up 20 sacks in 400 passing attempts. An initial analysis would say the former offensive line is much better, but once you consider passing attempts, the latter was a better pass blocking line.

So how did SEC teams stack up in 2006 in terms of offensive sack rates? Here are the numbers broken-down:



Another important factor to consider is not only the number of sacks allowed, by also how many yards were lost on average per sack. So how did SEC teams stack up in 2006 in terms of average yards lost per sack? Here are the numbers broken-down for that:



We see some pretty interesting things when we go beyond surface-deep. Just a few random notes:

• The Alabama line was generally thought of as absolutely terrible in 2006. And, while it wasn't very good, it was probably a bit better than most expected. If you had told an Alabama fan immediately after the season was over that we had the eighth best line in the conference in terms of pass protection, nearly everyone would have probably said they were being very overrated. In reality, that's exactly what they were.

• The real trouble with the Alabama line was the average yards lost per sack, 7.29, which was 11th in the conference. The good news, however, is that number is probably more indicative of the play-calling on Shula's behalf. All year long, I bemoaned about the lack of three and five step drops; almost everything was a seven-stop drops, which made our already relatively poor offensive line have to pass block even longer. As a result of the long drops, when sacks did occur, they were generally for more yardage. More three and five step drops in 2007 will hopefully ameliorate that problem.
  

• Auburn was dead last in the conference in sack rate, and actually by a very wide margin. I believe most of that could be chalked up to Brandon Cox's lack of mobility following ankle injuries early in the season. However, Auburn was second in the conference in average yards lost per sack, and this is largely the result of so many quick and short passes called by the Auburn offense. Without doubt, a large amount of credit must go to the Auburn coaching staff here. Faced with an immobile quarterback, they shifted their offensive gameplans to include more short drops and quicker throws. Good job by Borges and company.
  

• The Arkansas offensive line was generally regarded as a great run blocking line, but a poor pass blocking line. In reality, though, they pass blocked very well in 2006. They had the second lowest sack rate in the conference, and they allowed the second fewest average yards lost per sack. Certainly, a great deal of credit goes to the strong running game, which yielded a lot of playaction passing, but the fact remains that they consistently got the job done, even though they were protecting for a true freshman quarterback almost all season.
  

• Tennessee was simply great up front, leading the conference in offensive sack rate, even though they had to face a non-divisional opponent in LSU that was first in the conference in defensive sack rate, all with a backup quarterback. David Cutcliffe got almost all of the credit for re-invigorating the hapless Erik Ainge, but the offensive line should get a good deal of credit. Teams knew Tennessee was going to throw it a lot (second most pass attempts of any team in the conference), yet they stood up and passed the test anyway.
  

• Georgia, much like Arkansas, did a very good job of protecting a true freshman quarterback. They finished third in offensive sack rate, despite not having the greatest of rushing attacks. Much of the success in pass protection came from the tackles, Daniel Inman and Ken Shackleford, both of which will not return in 2007. Inman was one of the best linemen in the conference, and he started 48 games in his career for Georgia. If the Georgia line falls off in pass protection in 2007, the loss of Inman and Shackleford will be the likely reason why.
  

• LSU presents an interesting case study. They finished fourth in the conference in offensive sack rate, and that may seem a bit low considering JaMarcus Russell was the quarterback. Russell is often considered almost un-sackable, and that was one reason he went so high in the NFL Draft. So you would expect that to be a bit better. However, on the other hand, while they were fourth, they were very close to first overall, so it's probably best if we don't pay much attention to that. Then, beyond that, they were dead last in the conference in average loss per sack allowed. But maybe that makes sense, too. The 2006 LSU offense was based almost solely on a deep passing threat, and all of the deep passes (which require deep drops and long times to develop) should result in some big sacks for losses. Still, though, for LSU, they remain an interesting case study, particularly in 2007. Most of the offensive line returns, but they will be switching from an offense predicated upon the deep pass to an offense that has a much higher emphasis on short, quick throws, and the mobility of the quarterback should go up a bit. LSU probably has the greatest transition to make in terms of differences in what their line must accomplish in 2007.