March 16, 2015
Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It's Ryan Kelly's time. Not to start, the senior center is set to begin his third season with the first team, but now the pressure to lead falls to the senior statesman on the offensive line.
He watched and learned as his good friend, Austin Shepherd, did it last year, and the former right tackle said he expects Kelly to pick up the slack this season.
Ryan Kelly says the job falls to him to lead the rebuilt offensive line.
Kelly is one of two returning starters on the offensive line, a rebuilt unit with plenty of competition in front of it before the five roster spots are nailed down before Sept. 5 in Dallas. Sophomore left tackle Cam Robinson, who more than held his own in starting all 14 games his true freshman season, is the other returning starter.
"I feel a little bit older," Kelly said. "I think with everybody being so new and this being my third year starting, I think it's mandatory that I take a leadership role upon myself to help other guys out, especially because they don't have a lot of game experience.
"To bring them up the standard that we keep ourselves to as an offensive line here, I think that's going to be the biggest role that I play with them this year."
Kelly must adjust to two new guards beside him, and the candidates to replace Arie Kouandjio to his left and Leon Brown to his right are many.
On the first day of spring practice, and a friendly reminder that depth charts don't exist to Nick Saban in March, Alphonse "Shank" Taylor (6-foot-5, 325 pounds) was at left guard and sophomore Bradley Bozeman (6-5, 325 pounds) took reps at right guard.
Bozeman started three games last year at center when Kelly went down with an injury and Taylor started two games at right guard and played in 12 during 2014.
At tackle, Dominick Jackson was at right tackle. The athletic 6-7, 320-pound senior is still adjusting to pass blocking after mainly run blocking during his junior college career.
"That kid's a great run blocker. We knew that," Kelly said. Coach (Mario) Cristobal's done a great job with him because pass blocking can be one of the harder things to do. If you're big you can run block, but money where's the pass blocking is."
Grant Hill was a back-up tackle last season, but the junior remains on medical leave, Saban said during his introductory spring press conference. Brandon Greene spent last season as a blocking tight end, but moved back to offensive line for the spring. Greene helped author one of the most memorable and creative plays in 2014, hauling in a 24-yard catch in overtime to help beat LSU.
Freshman Ross Pierschbacher redshirted last season, but the 6-4, 295-pounder has the coaching staff excited about his potential.
"He did a good job playing with the 2s last year, especially moving from tackle to guard - a really versatile guy," Kelly said. "He's a big, strong guy, too. He just needs to learn a little bit more about the offense, just like any young guy. It's always evolving and kind of hard to keep up, so I'm sure he's going to bring his playbook home, like a lot of other guys are."
The competition for each open spot will be ongoing through fall camp.
"We're giving everybody an opportunity to show what they can do," Saban said. "This is where we are. We know where we want to go, what we have to do to get there..."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1747172#sthash.fJpVbW54.dpuf
Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It's Ryan Kelly's time. Not to start, the senior center is set to begin his third season with the first team, but now the pressure to lead falls to the senior statesman on the offensive line.
He watched and learned as his good friend, Austin Shepherd, did it last year, and the former right tackle said he expects Kelly to pick up the slack this season.
Ryan Kelly says the job falls to him to lead the rebuilt offensive line.
Kelly is one of two returning starters on the offensive line, a rebuilt unit with plenty of competition in front of it before the five roster spots are nailed down before Sept. 5 in Dallas. Sophomore left tackle Cam Robinson, who more than held his own in starting all 14 games his true freshman season, is the other returning starter.
"I feel a little bit older," Kelly said. "I think with everybody being so new and this being my third year starting, I think it's mandatory that I take a leadership role upon myself to help other guys out, especially because they don't have a lot of game experience.
"To bring them up the standard that we keep ourselves to as an offensive line here, I think that's going to be the biggest role that I play with them this year."
Kelly must adjust to two new guards beside him, and the candidates to replace Arie Kouandjio to his left and Leon Brown to his right are many.
On the first day of spring practice, and a friendly reminder that depth charts don't exist to Nick Saban in March, Alphonse "Shank" Taylor (6-foot-5, 325 pounds) was at left guard and sophomore Bradley Bozeman (6-5, 325 pounds) took reps at right guard.
Bozeman started three games last year at center when Kelly went down with an injury and Taylor started two games at right guard and played in 12 during 2014.
At tackle, Dominick Jackson was at right tackle. The athletic 6-7, 320-pound senior is still adjusting to pass blocking after mainly run blocking during his junior college career.
"That kid's a great run blocker. We knew that," Kelly said. Coach (Mario) Cristobal's done a great job with him because pass blocking can be one of the harder things to do. If you're big you can run block, but money where's the pass blocking is."
Grant Hill was a back-up tackle last season, but the junior remains on medical leave, Saban said during his introductory spring press conference. Brandon Greene spent last season as a blocking tight end, but moved back to offensive line for the spring. Greene helped author one of the most memorable and creative plays in 2014, hauling in a 24-yard catch in overtime to help beat LSU.
Freshman Ross Pierschbacher redshirted last season, but the 6-4, 295-pounder has the coaching staff excited about his potential.
"He did a good job playing with the 2s last year, especially moving from tackle to guard - a really versatile guy," Kelly said. "He's a big, strong guy, too. He just needs to learn a little bit more about the offense, just like any young guy. It's always evolving and kind of hard to keep up, so I'm sure he's going to bring his playbook home, like a lot of other guys are."
The competition for each open spot will be ongoing through fall camp.
"We're giving everybody an opportunity to show what they can do," Saban said. "This is where we are. We know where we want to go, what we have to do to get there..."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1747172#sthash.fJpVbW54.dpuf
