Tyler Booker Addresses Left Tackle Concerns, Leading Younger Players with JC Latham

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Offensive line play has been an issue for No. 11 Alabama this season.

Specifically, sacks.

The Crimson Tide (6-1, 4-0 SEC) has allowed 31 sacks this season. That is good enough — or bad enough — for 126th in the country. Alabama is ahead of only South Florida, Old Dominion and Colorado.

That's it. That's the list.

To make things worse, the Crimson Tide's offensive front was projected to be one of the best in the conference and the country. It has been far from that.

Offensive guard Tyler Booker says that the struggles, specifically on the left side, aren't a talent issue, but rather a technique issue.

"I’m telling these guys to be a lot more consistent," Booker said. "The thing that gets them in trouble is not focusing on their technique. The guys — they have all the talent in the world, it’s just consistency and focusing on technique, so that’s what I’m going to be reiterating to them all week long."

"Experience is the best teacher, so the more those guys play, the better that they’ll get. But at the same time, you have to play with technique in order to earn that playing time that will in turn get you better in the future. So those guys just have to pay more attention to their technique and what they do off the field to prepare. But that’s everybody on the offensive line. They’re not the only guys that have made mistakes, we can all be better as a unit. [...] So I’m really proud of both those guys for the way they’re weathering the storm right now. Brighter days are definitely ahead, I like how they improve each week."

Booker is still plenty confident in Alabama's offense, despite the many struggles seven games into the season. He and right tackle JC Latham are trying to grow the younger players on the offensive line.

"Me and JC, we’ve been on teams before to where we fell short and we don’t want to do that again," Booker said. "Back when we were at IMG, we lost to Chris Braswell at St. Francis and me and him spoke and we were like, we don’t want to feel this feeling again. And we had that same kind of talk this past offseason. So we just have to continue to step up as leaders, pull those young guys to the side a bit more and give them a little bit more time to think."

The Crimson Tide hosts No. 17 Tennessee on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

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