# Alabama's rebuilt O-line passes its first real test > Four new starters, a new position coach, and a 150-yard rushing second half in Lexington that nobody in the room found surprising. - Title: Alabama's rebuilt O-line passes its first real test | Shortify - Summary: Four new starters, a new position coach, and a 150-yard rushing second half in Lexington that nobody in the room found surprising. Alabama's offensive line… - Keywords: alabama football, offensive line, college football, sec, jackson lloyd, sports, Alabama's, rebuilt, O-line, passes, first, real - Source: Alabama Crimson Tide On SI — https://si.com/college/alabama/football/we-on-right-track-alabama-offensive-continuing-gain-confidence - Published: 2026-09-15T19:03:33+00:00 - Read time: 2 min - Topics: alabama football, offensive line, college football, sec, jackson lloyd, sports ## First real test in Lexington Alabama's offensive line opened SEC play against a talented Kentucky defensive front, and it had to do it without its best player, Michael Carroll. ## Messy, but it worked There were pressures and pre-snap penalties. There were also 150 rushing yards in the second half, which is the number that actually settles the argument. ## Nobody in the room was surprised Left tackle Jackson Lloyd framed the ground game as the standard, not the highlight. The group has stopped treating a big rushing half as an event. > That's kind of just what we expect now. We kind of expect ourselves to do that. ## The 2025 hangover This unit spent the whole offseason under a microscope after an underwhelming 2025 season. Every snap this fall is being read against that. ## Klemm gutted the room Alabama hired offensive line coach Adrian Klemm to transform the position group. He did it by installing four new starters. ## Cohesion was the whole plan The bet was that building chemistry through the offseason would show up as consistency once games started. Kentucky was the first evidence either way. ## Building, not arrived Lloyd said the line has kept climbing since fall camp but is honest about how far it still has to go. > We're not where we need to be yet, but we're getting there. ## Carroll's absence hit the guards Losing Carroll pushed the pressure onto starting guards William Sanders and Mal Waldrep, who had spent fall camp competing against each other at left guard. ## Left guard is still open Sanders and Waldrep split reps at the spot against East Carolina, and the full-time job appears to still be up for grabs. Both helped their case at Kentucky. ## Grubb's read on Waldrep Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb called Waldrep a plug-and-play lineman who communicates well, plays physical, and does not shrink in big moments. > He's tough. He's physical. He showed up in the run game, and he is a confident kid. ## Two pieces moved, not one Sanders slid to the right side, so the line had to re-sort communication with both tackles at once. Grubb said they did not miss a beat. > Now all of a sudden, you've got to make a big decision about two pieces moving, not just one. ## The real exams are coming Lloyd draws South Carolina's Dylan Stewart in two weeks, then comes a midseason run of Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M and LSU. Nobody is calling this fixed yet. > No one's getting complacent around here. No one's thinking we're good enough yet. ## Key takeaway Alabama's offensive line rebuild is working so far, but the group is treating a good night at Kentucky as the baseline rather than the win.