One of the rocks on Alabama’s football team this season will undoubtedly be senior offensive lineman Mike Johnson.
He and senior Drew Davis are the only holdovers from an offensive line last season that was one of the best in the country.
Whenever the Crimson Tide got in trouble on offense, they turned to their guys up front.
Johnson isn’t ready to say this group is ready for that same kind of responsibility, not after just eight practices and not with Andre Smith and Antoine Caldwell currently in NFL camps, but he’s confident they will get there.
“It’s one of those things where cohesiveness is so big for the offensive line,” said Johnson, who’s back at his left guard spot after playing left tackle in the Sugar Bowl last season when Smith was suspended.
“It’s five guys who all have to be on the same page. When you’ve got three newcomers plugged into the offensive line, it’s not going to just happen overnight. It’s time together that’s going to let us get to that level. Those guys last year, we all spent a lot of time together. I think we definitely have the ability. It’s just going to take some time.
“We’re on our way. One day, it’s going to click, and we’re going to be just like we were.”
It sounds like Alabama is pretty set with four guys. The left side has junior college newcomer James Carpenter at tackle and Johnson at guard. Junior William Vlachos has been a fixture at center, but the right side could include any number of combinations.
Right now, the Crimson Tide have been working true freshman D.J. Fluker at right tackle. If he’s good enough to win that job, then Davis could slide inside to guard. Davis started all 14 games at right tackle last season. Sophomore Alfred McCullough and junior Brian Motley are also possibilities at right guard if the Tide choose to keep Davis at right tackle.
Regardless of how it shakes out, Johnson thinks the Crimson Tide will be more balanced on offense this season.
And he’s not interested in analyzing how far the program has come under Nick Saban in just two short years. He’ll have time to reflect on down the road.
“The main thing we have to realize as a team is not to stop and look at what we’ve done,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those things where if we stop and look, we’re going to slow down. If we keep learning and Coach Saban keeps pushing us the way he is, then we’ll be where we want to be.”
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