Inspired Johnson in the lead to start at right tackle

TUSCALOOSA | It is without a doubt the most unsettled spot on the University of Alabama starting lineup, currently being won by a player who few anticipated being there this soon.

But sophomore Mike Johnson knows better than anyone he hasn’t landed anything yet, and the competition at right tackle, no to mention just about everywhere else, will never end under coach Nick Saban.

“I think obviously it means a lot to all of us,” Johnson said Monday about the possibility of starting. “That’s why we come out here and practice in 105-degree temperature.

“If it wasn’t important to us, we wouldn’t be able to do it because football means everything to us right now.”

Coming into the fall, the position was thought to be up for grabs, primarily between senior Chris Capps and junior B.J. Stabler.

But Capps was held out of contact drills during the spring after having shoulder surgery, and Stabler was limited to just 16 plays over the last five games of last season due to ongoing knee problems.

Combined with freshman Taylor Pharr being moved to right guard to back up junior Marlon Davis, Johnson knew he had a good chance to move up when coaches told him in the spring that he was moving to right tackle.

“I think I found a home,” said Johnson, who has lined up at every position on the offensive line except center since arriving in 2005 — and he’s willing to play there too if necessary.

Meanwhile, Capps has been practicing behind sophomore Andre Smith at left tackle, ahead of sophomore Drew Davis.

Capps started all 13 games at right tackle last season, but in part due to injuries saw the number of snaps go from a season-high 72 against Vanderbilt on Sept. 9, down to just seven against LSU two months later.

Outgoing senior Kyle Tatum, whom he had to beat out last fall, was usually Capps’ replacement, compiling 256 snaps after starting 21 consecutive games as a junior and sophomore (he took 814 snaps as a junior and 739 the previous season).

However, in key moments, the previous coaching staff preferred to slide center Antoine Caldwell over to right tackle and inject then-freshman Evan Cardwell at center – which spoke volumes about the position’s uncertainty.

“I’m a little bit behind, but I’m going to do the best I can to catch up,” Capps said. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work. It’s a new system, but I think I paid pretty good attention in the spring.”

Meanwhile, Stabler made 17 starts at right guard before succumbing to the inevitable due to knee pain, and replaced by Marlon Davis. Although his knee appears to be stronger this fall, he’s recently been working behind Johnson.

“Right now I’m not hurting or anything, well my knee’s not hurting,” Stabler said. “It makes me feel a lot better knowing I can be out here with the guys I came in with”

Additionally, having a new coaching staff and new blocking schemes brought everyone down the same starting point, which may have helped Johnson most of all.

Being 6-foot-6, 298 pounds, and having something to prove didn’t help either. In addition to his size and playing with a mean streak, Johnson moves well and has good footwork, which can only help on a team that prefaces speed as much as anything.

“It seems like we’ve been kind of picked on these last couple of years, kind of blamed for a lot,” Johnson said about the offensive line as a whole. “When the new coaching staff got here, we took it as a chance to start over, kind of come out with a new attitude, a new aggressiveness. Kind of take every play in our own hands and make it easier for everyone else around us.

See? Johnson already talks like a veteran, and not just because he carried a 4.0 GPA and scored a 27 on his ACT at Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Fla.

He’s being guided by the real veteran at Alabama, Joe Pendry, who is entering his 41st year of coaching and as the Tide’s assistant head coach and offensive line coach.

“Coach Pendry could coach any position on that field, and that includes everywhere on defense. He knows more than every player and coach combined. …”

Johnson then quickly caught himself, making himself an instant hit with the media.

“ … except Coach Saban.”

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.