Ahead of a rematch with Oklahoma, Alabama football is emphasizing a key thing for the offense to do in order to help with the pre-snap functions.
Last Friday, wideout Ryan Williams mentioned that the offense can help quarterback Ty Simpson by “just allowing him to survey the defense, so getting lined up faster.”
Oklahoma’s defense threw a plethora of looks at Simpson and the Alabama offense the last time these two teams played, and the Sooners came away with four sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception returned for a touchdown. It looked like Alabama had no counters for the stunts the Sooners called, so this is perhaps the reason that the Crimson Tide are preaching the message of lining up faster and possibly fluctuating how early or late the ball is snapped.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was asked on Tuesday if the offense lining up quick enough has an issue or a concern lately.
“It’s always a concern if I’m being honest,” Grubb said. “It wouldn’t matter if they went Mach 4 to the line of scrimmage, it wouldn’t be fast enough. I just think if you’re early to the test, you’re helping yourself. Get up there, paint the picture for the center and the quarterback, have the threat of snapping the football at any second when we get up there. That’s really what it should look like on early play, and certainly we have not been perfect at that.”
Grubb highlighted that most of Alabama’s big plays against Oklahoma this year came from getting up to the line quickly and getting set, and he believes the offense is doing a better job of getting back to doing that in practice this week.
“Today, I thought the guys did a better job of that, but there always has to be the threat of snapping the football,” Grubb said. “Those were some of the big plays that we had against Oklahoma last time, you know, snapping the football early, waiting to snap the ball, and going back and forth. So, our guys being able to execute that and put some pressure on the defense is a big part of what we do. So yeah, I think that just shows the ownership that Ryan [Williams] has in the offense and that he wants it to be great.”
Wideout Germie Bernard echoed the same sentiment that his teammate did on Friday as getting lined up faster is a message being preached by everyone.
“It gives Ty a chance to see the whole defense,” Bernard said. “Like I said, if he needs to make a check, he can make a check. Then it also gives us receivers and O-linemen to point out their guys, it gives receivers a chance to see the defense and see the structure of the defense, see if they are going to rotate or if they’re on different levels or what not. So, it gives us all an advantage when we line up fast.”
Pay attention to how fast the Crimson Tide wide receivers get lined up on Friday and pay attention to the offensive linemen too.
Grubb said he wants the offensive line to have the best communication they’ve had all season when they play Oklahoma, and getting to the line quicker could help with that.
“We do have to get up to the line fast, and for us, I would say you have to read out a defense to make our calls and make sure the wide receivers, quarterback and tight ends know that we’re prepared, and we’ve had that preparation all week,” Alabama’s starting left tackle Kadyn Proctor said. “Get to the line, get set so they can make their calls so Ty can make his checks. So, that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”
Alabama and Oklahoma kick off the College Football Playoff on Friday.
