Elijah Pritchett, an offensive tackle for Alabama football, was dealt a curveball by life on Saturday. Kadyn Proctor, the Crimson Tide’s starting left tackle, was wounded during pregame warmups and had to watch the 63-0 rout of Western Kentucky from the sidelines wearing a sling.

Throughout camp, Pritchett and Wilkin Formby had fought for the right side starting position. He was pushed to the left side on Saturday.

The head coach of Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, stated following the game, “He has taken pretty much all his reps at the right tackle spot.”

The Alabama coaches said during camp that they would probably have a guy who could flip sides if necessary. That appears to be Pritchett.

Well, he had been on the left before. Before Proctor returned from his brief liaison with Iowa, he had been preparing to play there in the spring of 2023, where he and Proctor had battled for the starting slot.

His coach gave him high marks for his performance on Saturday.

“I’ll watch the movie, but clearly, a lot of good things happened, and you don’t win with bad offensive line play,” DeBoer remarked. “I’m thrilled with his response; he was thrown into that situation and essentially just remained composed.”

Against the Hilltoppers, Alabama’s total offensive yardage reached 600. Even Dylan Lonergan, the third-string quarterback, saw some action toward the end of the game.

In addition to his 200 passing yards and three touchdowns, Jalen Milroe also recorded 79 yards and two touchdowns on the run.

After the game, Milroe remarked of Pritchett, “I’m proud of him.” Because of the effort he’s been doing this week and in the offseason, I’m really proud of him. The fact that he prepared so hard this week is evident in the way he performed tonight. Thus, I applaud him for taking the initiative. I’m proud of him for keeping up his efforts to improve and go 1-0.