Alabama's (Mostly) Unsung 2009 Football Heroes: Part One

When the 2009 season began, many thought that Alabama would have a successful year, though they were picked to finish by many as low as third in the SEC West behind both Ole Miss and LSU.

Why would last year's champions from the West get no respect to repeat? Time and again you heard the phrase, "they're going to need a few years to rebuild the offensive line."

Only Mike Johnson and Drew Davis were coming back from a line considered to be the strength of the Alabama team last year. There were just too many holes to fill and not enough good experienced people to fill them.

They were left playing with an undersized center that many scoffed at ever becoming a starter in the SEC, a raw junior college left tackle transfer, James Carpenter, that didn't seem to have the footwork necessary for the position and didn't know the system and a freshman right guard, Barrett Jones, with no experience that started out as the sixth best choice for the job.

These may not have been the men that Alabama fans wanted in those roles this year, but it's what they had to work with. Fortunately for Alabama, two things worked in their favor.

Number one was attitude. These men had it and were tired of hearing that they were the weak link on this team, and they intended to prove they could be one of the strengths.

The second was offensive line coach Joe Pendry, a man that doesn't make the headlines too often, who hasn't received the praise and awards that other Alabama coaches have gotten, but who knows how to build a line and how to "Coach Up" young men beyond their own normal athletic gifts.

This line bought into Nick Saban's program, into Pendry's coaching style, and into one another and have continued to improve and learn new techniques as the year has gone on.

"I thought I would spend a lot of time having to look over my shoulder to maybe help out early on, but this line gelled quickly and we believe in one another. I know if I do my job, I don't have to worry about my teammate now," Johnson told me earlier this season.

"No matter how much you think you're ready and how much you know, you find out quickly when you come to Alabama that you didn't know as much as you thought and you aren't ready for the speed in the SEC." James Carpenter informed me.

"Coach Pendry did a lot more than just teach me better blocking skills, he gave me confidence and respect and made me believe I could do this," Carpenter concluded.

"I don't mind if people underestimate me, it just gives me an advantage," William Vlachos said during our meeting. "Conditioning and technique can beat size alone," he added with a smile.

And technique is certainly a part of this as is conditioning. Not just physical conditioning but mental conditioning.

That has led to the Tide's offensive line being one of the least penalized lines in college football. They have not been cited with a flag in their last seven games.

"We're coached to keep our hands inside, always. One of our goals was to be a very sparsely-penalized team. When it happens in practice, we get our hands outside, coach Pendry points it out, and we work on it," Jones said. "I think that's why you've seen none, because we do pay attention to detail."

And as for footwork, Pendry got that fixed quickly with Carpenter, and Carpenter has allowed about the same number of sacks as last year's first round draft choice.

Vlachos not only opens holes and holds his own on pass blocking, but leads the line by barking out the line signals and playing and thinking like an old veteran.

All-American Mike Johnson said, "We knew the offensive line was going to be a question mark, we're not stupid. We see the field the same way you all do, and we knew we were going to have to replace some quality guys. We have a freshman and a junior-college transfer starting for us and to get those guys up to speed and on the same page takes a lot of communication time and a lot of practice time."

But with the right coach, the right attitude, and the discipline to out work their opponents in practice every day, this line became one of the best in their own right.

Though not as big and strong as last year's line, this line is quicker and longer winded. It has allowed Alabama to smash last year's rushing totals and win Mark Ingram a Heisman Trophy.

This line is still running down field making blocks on running plays that last year's team might not have made and their quickness means they can react quicker to pick up blitzes and catch stunts better than last year's line.

This year Alabama has fewer sacks than last year to prove it.

With a toothy grin, Vlachos said, "We aren't the only question marks that did OK. People were just as worried about Glen (Glenn Coffee, the Tide's best running back who left early for the pros) leaving and what would happen without John Parker. (quarterback John Parker Wilson who led the Tide last year) But I think you can see how that worked out also."

Indeed, the offensive line was not the only question mark, but it was the biggest, and though things have gone exceedingly well in that area, they are still the unsung heroes of this Alabama team.

In a well oiled machine, this line was the heart of the machine. It allows long time consuming drives that simply suck the fight out of the opponent and provides the grease for those quick lightning strikes.

And the bad news for opponents is that, though the line loses two more this next year, three will return and last year's top lineman recruit, freshman D.J. Fluker, may be one of the replacements with a whole year of learning and conditioning under his belt.

Great lines could become a staple at Alabama for quite a while as long as Joe Pendry is there, and maybe now you understand why he's the highest paid assistant.