ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

How Alabama's starting offensive line will shake out in the fall is still anybody's guess.

Senior Mike Johnson's a lock somewhere, probably at left guard, and so is senior Drew Davis, probably at right tackle. Junior William Vlachos is also a good bet to be the starting center when the Crimson Tide open the season against Virginia Tech on Sept. 5 in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff in Atlanta.

But as the final pieces are put into place when preseason practice starts in August, there's bound to be a few surprises.

The unknown of it all is also bound to make for a few sleepless nights in Tide Land.

There's no debating that the offensive line was Alabama's rock last season. Those five guys were the reason the Crimson Tide were able to control games, control the clock and jump out front against just about everybody they played.

As Vlachos noted this spring, "We put a lot of stock in our O-line."

Yes, they do. But it remains to be seen if they will be able to lean on the offensive line as much as they did a year ago with Andre Smith, Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis all gone.

"We obviously have high expectations," said Johnson, one of the better returning offensive linemen in the league. "Just because you lose a few guys here and there, we still gotta plug those guys in and focus on having a good team next year and playing to the best of our ability.

"We lost some great guys. I look back to my true freshman year. We lost three NFL guys on the offensive line and came back and won 10 games. It's just something you've got to piece together and come together as a team, and every school goes through it every spring or so. It's something we've got to work with."

But it's not as simple as putting your five most dominant or five most talented guys out there. Solid offensive line play is all about chemistry, cohesiveness and know-how.

"It's not the five best guys. It's the five who make the best team," Johnson said.

Joe Pendry, Alabama's veteran offensive line coach, knows that as well as anyone. This is not his first rodeo. A former NFL offensive coordinator, he's put together a few offensive lines in his time after losing great players.

And, really, talent shouldn't be an issue.

The Crimson Tide have stocked up on highly rated offensive line prospects.

Junior college newcomer James Carpenter exited spring as the likely starter at left tackle, but heralded incoming freshman D.J. Fluker might also have something to say about who protects Greg McElroy's blind side. The 6-7, 350-pound Fluker is massive. He's bigger than Smith was when Smith arrived on campus. But Smith was mentally sharp enough to handle that position as a true freshman and was a quick learner. We don't know that yet about Fluker.

Fluker is also coming off arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder in April, which could possibly stunt his development.

The right guard spot would appear to be wide open. Junior Brian Motley started there in the spring game, but sophomore John Michael Boswell will be one to watch once preseason practice starts. True freshman Chance Warmack (6-3, 325) also looked good in the spring after enrolling early.

Junior David Ross and sophomore Barrett Jones are guys who could factor in at both guard and center.

"There's a standard that we have as an offensive line, and that standard was met last year," Ross said. "We're going to have to meet it again. I mean, we're going to run the ball between the tackles. There's no question. That's our offense. So we're going to do whatever we have to do to be successful at that."