Why this Alabama football offensive lineman isn't buying into own hype

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was definitive: Jackson Lloyd is Alabama football's left tackle. Yes, the 6-foot-7, 317-pound Lloyd, the former three-sport star out of Carmel, California, the offensive lineman who saw work in five games and played sparingly as a true freshman. But Grubb saw enough.

And the battle wasn't even close. But Grubb didn't make it a ceremony or anything. Lloyd said he wasn't sat down and told he was Alabama's next left tackle, replacing Kadyn Proctor , who could be a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

To Lloyd, it's just noise, even if it's noise Grubb started. PRACTICE NOTES: Does Alabama football have 'green dot' leader on defense? Spring practice notes ALABAMA DEPTH CHART: Predicting Alabama football depth chart after second spring scrimmage "If you start paying attention to all of that, it gets in your head," Lloyd said.

"I just been blocking all that out, coming in and working every single day. " Lloyd has had a "great" spring, he said. It's one of competition, one where he's drilling and working "with all my best friends," each of whom has the same mindset.