Deonte 'Diesel' Brown could help fuel Alabama's ground game

Before he was affectionately named “Cornbread” at Alabama, Deonte Brown’s high school coaches and teammates referred to him as “Diesel.”

“He’s a large human being,” said Jeremy Perkins, Brown’s former coach at Austin High School in Decatur, Ala. “He’s like a diesel truck coming through when he was out there. He was knocking people down left and right.”

That’s the type of push the Crimson Tide's offensive line has been longing for this season as it has struggled to maintain consistency in the running game. It’s what make’s Brown’s return this week so appealing.

The redshirt junior started five games at left guard last season before being suspended by the NCAA prior to the Crimson Tide’s run in the College Football Playoff. The six-game suspension saw Brown miss the Orange Bowl and national championship game as well as the first four games of this season.

Now fully eligible, Alabama hopes the powerful offensive lineman can inject some life into a rushing attack that currently ranks No. 57 in the nation, averaging 178.5 yards per game on the ground.

First, he’ll have to earn back his spot.

“The plan for every player on our team is the guy’s got to beat someone out if he wants to play,” head coach Nick Saban said Monday. “I mean, nobody’s entitled to play. If he gets in shape, he does what he’s supposed to do, he shows he’s better than somebody else who’s playing, that’s the plan. Just like it’s the plan for every other guy on the team. That’s really kind of up to him. It’s not up to me.”

Brown is listed at 6-foot-4, 338 pounds on Alabama’s official roster. Although, he appears to be carrying a bit more weight than that at the moment. Weight has long been an issue for Brown, who arrived at Alabama three years ago weighing close to 400 pounds.

During his weekly radio show Thursday night, Saban announced Brown had picked up an injury earlier this season that had limited him during the first few weeks of practice. While the redshirt junior is "fine now," there are still some questions over his current overall fitness and whether or not he'll be able to sustain the required level of performance needed as the team heads into SEC play.

“The biggest thing for Deonte Brown right now is whether or not he can hit the ground running,” former Alabama lineman Mike Johnson told BamaInsider. “He hasn’t played the past four games and maybe hasn’t gotten those snaps at practice. What kind of shape is he in? You can say mentally he can help them out, but if he can’t sustain a 10-play drive then he’s going to be off the field. I have no doubt that they have been testing his limits in terms of what he’s willing to endure in order to get out of that doghouse.”

Johnson, a team captain on Saban’s first national championship team at Alabama in 2009, was fortunate enough to avoid his head coach’s doghouse during his time with the Crimson Tide. However, the former offensive lineman did spend a couple of brief stints in the team’s infamous “breakfast club.”

“Those morning runs and punishments are called the breakfast club,” Johnson explained. “Say you miss a class or you miss a practice, you get breakfast clubbed.”

Johnson said it’s a safe bet to assume Brown has had his fair share of early-morning meetings on the practice field due to his suspension. The faster he can escape the doghouse, the sooner he can get to work at reclaiming his starting spot.

Brown earned a 70.3 grade from Pro Football Focus last season, making him Alabama’s second-highest graded starter on the offensive line behind first-round pick Jonah Williams (89.2). The Decatur native is one of the strongest players on the team and has bench-pressed 500 pounds and squatted 675 pounds during his time with the Crimson Tide.

“Very talented guy because he’s a very good athlete, he’s got great balance and body control and he’s probably the most powerful, explosive guy that we have on the whole offensive line," Saban said Thursday. "But he’s a guard body type, and when he played for us last year, he played very well at times. There’s some inconsistency because he was sort of an inexperienced player, and I think he’s a lot more mature right now."

Brown's added experience might be the biggest attribute he brings to the line. That's something Alabama has lacked with true freshman Evan Neal starting at left guard the past four games.

“There’s been an above-average amount of mental errors in my book from Evan Neal,” Johnson said. “Obviously, that comes with the territory when you have a true freshman, especially with the moving pieces he’s had at center the past few weeks. But I think there’s been some blown assignments. I think anybody who has watched has been able to see he had a few blown assignments. A guy like Deonte Brown, he’s probably the closest thing to Evan Neal size-wise. And he’s also played a bit more football. You would think that he could remedy that situation.”

While Brown could eventually serve as a like-for-like replacement for Neal at left guard, he spent this week working as the backup right guard behind starter Landon Dickerson. If Alabama elects to keep Brown on the right side, it could shift Dickerson to center and bump Chris Owens from the starting lineup. Saban said the plan this week will be to get a better evaluation of Brown by playing him at both guard positions.

“Right now, I think it’s a comfort level of who they’re around,” Johnson said. “Maybe you have a guy like Evan Neal who needs some help and needs a guy who has been in the system more next to him on both sides. A guy like Owens has been in the system longer than Landon Dickerson and can help with making some of these calls, so maybe it makes sense to put him next to Evan Neal. I wouldn’t read too much into it right now. I guarantee there is a heated battle going on right now for those spots.”

Fortunately for Alabama, it’s reached a spot in its schedule where those battles can play out. Following this week’s game against Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide will have an open week before facing a challenging trip to Texas A&M on Oct. 12. That should provide ample time for Alabama to get its diesel truck firing back on all cylinders.

“I’m excited to see what (Brown) can bring to the table,” Johnson said. “I’m rooting for the guy because he’s a guy who’s been around. He has an opportunity to get into the good graces of the coaching staff, but it will be interesting to see where he fits in.”

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