Kalen DeBoer Provides Center Update

If the 2023-2024 football season has taught Alabama fans anything, it is that a good center is needed for a championship-caliber team to reach its full potential. The numerous snapping issues from a season ago potentially cost Alabama a national championship in what was the final season of Nick Saban's career.

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This realization is what had Crimson Tide fans ecstatic when Parker Brailsford, a freshman from Washington's Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line, announced he would transfer to Alabama and follow head coach Kalen DeBoer from Seattle to Tuscaloosa. Those hopes were dashed a little during spring practice, with Tony Tsoukalas of Alabama Rivals and Tide Illustrated originally reporting that Parker Brailsford was away from the team during the first spring scrimmage. The fears escalated when Brailsford did not return to the practice field during the rest of spring practice.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke about Brailsford after Alabama's A-Day scrimmage and re-iterated that he expects the stand-out center to return to Alabama and the practice field once summer practice begins.

The panic button was about to be hit when James Brockermeyer announced he was transferring from Alabama to TCU. His brother, Tomym Brockermeyer, transferred to TCU before medically retiring from football.

Coach DeBoer eased the fears of a true freshman starter (Joseph Ionata) at center and talked about Brailsford and the center position on Wednesday at the Regions Traditional.

Coach DeBoer was asked about Brockermeyer's decision to transfer. Coach DeBoer said, "We’ll have nothing but respect for him and the efforts he’s put into our program, just like every other player who’s poured everything they have into it. I think we’ll have some guys within our team that will bridge that gap that is left, and I think we’ll be just fine.”

During spring, DeBoer reiterated multiple times that Brailsford had not done anything wrong and would rejoin Alabama in the summer. When asked point blank about it on Wednesday, DeBoer said "absolutely" that Brailsford would be back with the team.

Despite the confidence in Brailsford's return, Alabama is still hunting for offensive linemen in the transfer portal. Michigan State transfer Geno VanDemark has been linked to Alabama, and he has experience with Alabama's offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic.

The 6-foot-5, 325-pound junior started eight games for the Spartans, with six starts at right guard in 2023, and two starts at right guard in 2022. VanDemark also worked at center while at Michigan State, and played offensive tackle in high school.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.