January was not kind to Alabama’s offensive line room, as the Tide lost two players to early NFL departure, three more to graduation, and then five more after that to the transfer portal. Only Michael Carroll returns as a starter, William Sanders returns as someone who rotated into the starting group last year, and then Jackson Lloyd, Casey Poe, and Mal Waldrep are the lone returning depth.
And so the Tide was left with a whole lot of open spots to fill, and that they did. Kalen DeBoer added four
freshmen, a JUCO transfer, and six (!) transfers from other schools. We’re almost guaranteed to have multiple newcomers starting in 2026. That, coupled with a brand new OL coach, means that the Tide offensive line will have had a near total overhaul, for better or for worse.
Due to the sheer amount of linemen to go through, we’re going to break up this Meet the New Guys piece into two installations. Today will be focusing on the traditional freshmen and JUCO transfer, while the next piece will be focused on all of the incoming transfers.
If you missed any of the previous position groups, go check out the main story stream below.
As always, all of the rankings will be from the 247Sports Composite for consistency, though I will mention when Rivals or ESPN differ significantly.
Bear Fretwell
Position: OT
Stars: 3
Hometown: Brooklet, GA
National Rank: 804
Position Rank: 72
Height: 6’7”
Weight: 290
Fretwell is one of the few recruits to have not enrolled early and will be joining the Tide in the summer. He unfortunately tore his ACL during the Military Appreciation Bowl (formerly the Army Bowl All-American game ) practices, so it’s unlikely he will be doing anything other than rehabbing during the 2026 season.
Despite that, he’s a 6’7” guy with a massive frame who grew up on a farm and reportedly ran a 4.77s forty yard dash, which is absurd. He was also heavily recruited by GT coach Brent Key (a former OL coach). There’s definitely some upside there due to his body type, even if his rankings haven’t caught up.
Playstyle
Fretwell is 1) huge and 2) very agile.
It’s nearly impossible to get much of a read on his play, as the level of competition in a 3A school had him pretty much twice as big as nearly everyone he blocked. On top of that, his offense pretty much just never threw forward passes, operating solely as an option-run offense.
What Fretwell did do, though, was fire off the line from his left tackle spot and bulldoze his way through the defensive lineman and right into a linebacker. Hilariously, he once get into open field and wound up chasing a safety out the back of the endzone as the poor guy just ran away from him.
There was very little in the way of refinement in footwork technique, hand placement, or really doing much of anything other than plowing straight ahead. But, again, he’s big, and more importantly, he’s impressively quick, agile, and flexible. He’s going to have a long ways to go to play in college, especially pass blocking, but he’s got some traits that can’t be learned.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Even before his ACL tear, Fretwell would have been a redshirt player as a freshman. I also think it’s unlikely we see him as a sophomore, either. If anything, he’s a long term project who could have a really high upside as a veteran player down the road.
Chris Booker
Position: IOL
Stars: 4
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
National Rank: 220
Position Rank: 10
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 285
Rivals actually had Booker the 103rd overall prospect, while ESPN listed him as a 3-star, making for an interesting spread of opinions on him. He picked Alabama over offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, and Florida. He was also one of the first 8 players to enroll early enough to practice with Alabama during bowl practices, so he has a little bit of a leg up there. Booker also played at a small 2A school near Atlanta, so the level of competition for him wasn’t great.
Playstyle
Booker mostly played left tackle in high school, but he did play a little guard at times, and the recruiting services have all been projecting him to the inside at the college level. Most notable about his game is how composed he seems on the field. He’s a noticeably vocal player pre-snap, seeming to help his team mates out with positioning and identifying defenders on nearly every play.
After the ball is snapped, he’s light on his feet and does a really good job of getting himself into position quickly to make angled blocks and open up zone runs. He’s not a really heavy set guy, but he’s got a broad chest and wingspan that almost makes him look more like a lineman-sized linebacker, and that body type seems to help him with quick movement and balance during the play.
He’s a solid enough pass blocker, too. I didn’t see him really take on any speed rushers, but he did show a nice ability to backpedal and then stonewall a power rush. I also liked that he had experience dropping into pass protection from both a 2-point and a 3-point stance.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Booker reminds me a lot of Parker Brailsford in terms of size and quickness, so you have to think that he’s well suited to Kalen DeBoer’s offensive scheme (though, in all fairness, I don’t think we have a good idea yet of what DeBoer and Grubb actually want an OL to look like). I could very well see Booker winding up as a center, too, as he seems to have some of that communication ability down early in his career.
I think he’s a bit small and will have a pretty big step up in competition going into his freshman year, so he’s not a guy that I expect to be pushing for a day 1 role, but I think a year or so of seasoning and he’ll be in the thick of pushing for an open spot on the interior the next time one opens.
Jared Doughty
Position: OT
Stars: 4
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
National Rank: 177
Position Rank: 18
Height: 6’5.5”
Weight: 300
Doughty was ranked as the #64 overall player as a high 4-star prospect by Rivals, but, like with Booker, was ranked much lower by ESPN, with 247 coming in the middle. He was one of those guys that had only been recruited by G5 schools up until the start of his senior season when he transferred to a bigger program, got some attention, and offers fr0m Alabama, Ohio State, UGA, Auburn, and others all started rolling in.
Like Fretwell, Doughty is not enrolling until summer, so we won’t see him in spring practices.
Playstyle
Doughty played at both left tackle and center in high school, so it’ll be interesting to see where he lands at Alabama. He’s built more like a tackle at nearly 6’6” with long arms, but it’s rare to find prior snapping experience from recruits coming from high school.
Either way, Doughty continues the trend from the prior two players of the coaching staff emphasizing movement skills with their OL. Doughty’s frame is more filled out than Booker or Fretwell, but he’s still an excellent mover and I thought was fairly impressive with his ability to roll and hop back to his feet any time he landed on the ground. It’s not something that really matters on a given play, but it is something that I think belies a general athleticism and body control.
He’s an excellent pass blocker that can handle the speed rush or the inside counter with ease, and often winds up not just blocking a rusher, but throwing them to the ground.
As a run blocker, I thought he generally did a good job getting in space and lead blocking, but didn’t do too much inline zone blocking, so that’s something that may have to develop at the college level.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
I think the positional versatility for Doughty is going to help him earn a backup role pretty early in his career. It’s always hard to predict a freshman to make much impact on the OL, and Doughty is the same, especially since he’s not enrolling until the summer. Still, I think he’s a bit more college ready than many, and there are only so many centers on the roster. Don’t be surprised if he’s solidly in the two-deep by year 2.
Bryson Cooley
Position: OT
Stars: 4
Hometown: Laurel, MS
National Rank: 200
Position Rank: 21
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 325
Cooley was a surprise commit for Bama fans that got buried in the headlines because the Tide was playing Georgia for the SEC Championship the very next day (thanks, Early Signing Day!). The Tide pursued him heavily throughout the year, but Cooley mostly kept things quiet and stayed committed to LSU even after coach Brian Kelly was fired, but he wound up flipping to Bama on Signing Day and announced it the next day. At 6’6” 325, he’s already got an SEC build for playing tackle.
Playstyle
Cooley is a powerful in line drive blocker who locks up into the defensive lineman in front of him and just keeps on pushing forward. He’s not someone that did a whole lot of getting out into space, but he made a killing in high school just clearing out the man right in front of him with pure overwhelming power, drive, and effort. He’s a big guy, and he uses that size well, throwing his weight into defenders to force them off balance.
To this point, he’s not had to do too much pass blocking, so that will remain to be seen. He’s not the fastest and I could see him struggle some with speed rushes, but he also has the arm length, power, and wide base to be really tough for an edge rusher to get around if he uses it right.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Cooley seems like a classic right tackle who can really be a force as a guy who can open holes in zone rushes. I could also see him moving inside to guard at some point, though the height suggests he’s most likely going to start out at tackle.
I don’t suspect we’ll see him much early in his career, especially as Alabama’s RT spot seems locked up by Michael Carroll the next two seasons.
Tyrell Miller
Position: IOL
Stars: 4
Hometown: Union City, CA
JUCO: College of San Mateo
National Rank: 16 (JUCO)
Position Rank: 2 (JUCO)
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 322
Miller is a guy that was a basketball player all the way through high school and only started playing football as a senior, and then played one season in Junior College. So he’s still extremely new to football, and despite that, he quickly shot up the JUCO ranks due to his upside and film in year 1. 247 lists him as an interior lineman, but Rivals has him at tackle, so he’s still something of an unknown there.
Playstyle
Miller’s footwork and ability to transfer that foot movement into upper body power sets him apart, and his basketball background really shows up in how he moves. Unlike the rest of the OL Alabama signed, Miller’s done quite a bit of pass blocking, and he excels at mirroring rushers while he drops.
As a run blocker, he tends to do a lot of down blocking on the backside of the play or getting out in front if he’s on the play side. He does a great job of targeting a 2nd level defender and launching into them to get those downfield blocks.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
You really don’t see too many linemen with that kind of size and footwork, and that’s why he was ranked highly coming from JUCO despite only having a couple of football seasons under his belt in his life. I think he can be fit in well at either tackle or guard at the next level, as his pass blocking chops should give him that chance to play on the edge.
While there’s always a shot, I think his lack of experience will keep him from pushing for a starting job in 2026. But I think he’ll work his way into being a key multi-position backup by 2027.
