The offensive line is seen during practice this week. DM Photo | Thomas Graning
The Rebel offensive line will face a huge challenge Saturday when it goes up against Nick Saban and Kirby Smart’s famed 3-4 defense.
“They’re a really good team, and we’re gonna have to play really good to run the ball,” offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke said.
Luke also said Alabama was able to disguise their blitzes and rush the passer well.
The offensive line has had its fair share of struggles the whole year, especially in the run game. Last week against Memphis, however, the offensive line looked like it had made some strides with the Ole Miss offense picking up 178 yards with an average of 4.2 yards per carry. Luke attributed a lot of this to the line’s chemistry improving.
“I think we have improved week to week; last week, we played our best game,” Luke said. “So, I think as we’re moving forward, we’ll just try to keep getting better each week.”
Sophomore Laremy Tunsil and junior Aaron Morris agreed.
“I feel like we are together as a unit, but we just have to work on our run game and pass blocking a little bit more,” Tunsil said.
“I feel like we’re coming together better; none of us have really played beside each other, so it was different,” Morris said.
Another thing that’s been helping the line improve is Morris’s recovery from tearing his ACL last season. Morris said he’s felt rusty physically and mentally so far this season after not playing for most of last season.
“Coming off an ACL surgery, a lot of it is mental,” Morris said. “You don’t want to hurt yourself again, so you back off of stuff, but you really just have to play through it.”
“I think I’ve done OK, but I’ve still got a lot more that I can do,” Morris said of his performance thus far. “I can play a lot better. I think that was just me knocking the rust off. I feel like I’m going to play a lot better for the rest of the season.”
Freeze also saw improvement in Morris but noticed he still needs some recovery time.
“He’s gotten better. He’s not where he needs to be yet; he’s dealing with a little ankle injury this week that’s slowed down his preparation a little bit,” Freeze said. “I know that he’s improving, but I don’t think he’s quite back to where he was yet, but, as the year goes on, I expect him to improve.”
Luke thought that Morris played great last week and looks forward to him and other members of the line continuing to improve.
“Aaron Morris graded out really high this week and played really well along with Laremy. I was pleased that (Robert) Conyers and Fahn (Cooper) played a little bit better,” Luke said. “So, I was pleased with those guys, but now, we’re stepping in to the meat of our season, and I want to see those guys continue to improve and to be better as the season goes on.”
Luke felt that there were a couple of key areas the line needed to work on to improve.
“I just want to continue to see those guys continue to play hard and finish blocks and get better and get comfortable with the scheme, get comfortable playing beside each other,” Luke said.
