BamaInsider is unveiling its annual top-40 list for the Alabama football team. Players were rated based on their projected impact for the Crimson Tide this season. Today we move on to No. 4.
4 — Evan Neal, OL
2020 highlights: Made 12 starts at right tackle, missing only the regular-season finale against Arkansas… Served as a key component on Alabama’s Joe Moore Award-winning unit, allowing just one sack over 423 pass-blocking snaps while also finishing as the team’s second-highest graded run-blocker with an 86.4 mark from Pro Football Focus… Recorded just three penalties and six missed assignments over 810 snaps… Selected as one of the Alabama coaching staff’s offensive players of the week for his play against Mississippi State.
Most memorable performance: Generally offensive linemen aren’t the ones featured in highlights. However, some of Evan Neals’ monster blocks last season were impossible to ignore. The 6-foot-7 offensive tackle flashed his athleticism multiple ways, chasing down defenders for blocks on the perimeter and simply knocking them to the ground at the line.
While it’s difficult to single out one block over another, Neal’s highest-graded performance came against LSU when he earned an 87.4 offensive mark from Pro Football Focus, including a season-high run-blocking grade as well as a 66.8 pass-blocking grade. During that game, Neal didn’t allow a sack over 31 pass-blocking snaps while helping Alabama pile up 650 yards of total offense and 55 points, including 45 points before halftime. He also sent LSU defensive lineman Jaquelin Roy to the turf with this beauty of a block.
Why he's here: In case you haven’t noticed, Bryce Young hasn’t appeared on this list as of yet. Spoiler alert: we project the sophomore quarterback to make the most impact among Alabama’s offensive players as he enters his first season as a starter. Naturally, the second most important player on the offense is the one charged with keeping Young on his feet. That’s where Neal comes in.
The mammoth lineman appears set to make the move from right tackle to left tackle where he will protect Young’s blindside. While the switch will mark Neal’s third position change in three years at Alabama, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The former five-star recruit played left tackle in high school, coming to the Tide as the top-rated player in his position and No. 8 overall player in the 2019 class.
Neal’s elite athleticism should continue to be a weapon for Alabama’s offense. Earlier this week, Alabama director of sports science Matt Rhea tweeted that the lineman recently registered 5,808 watts on a split jump.
“We’ve got a lot of guys over 4000 now but 5808 is the highest number I’ve ever seen….by far!” Rhea wrote in the post. “This guy is different.”
Neal joins Emil Ekiyor Jr. as the two lone returning regulars from last year’s award-winning unit. The Tide also brings back sixth-year senior Chris Owens, who filled in for an injured Landon Dickerson at center during the College Football Playoff. Alabama will need all three of those veterans to step up from a leadership standpoint as it breaks in its new line.
Possible achievements: Alabama has produced three of the last five Outland Trophy winners, including Alex Leatherwood, who earned the honor last year. Neal is already viewed as a favorite to take home the hardware this season.
Neal is viewed as the top tackle in next year’s draft class and is currently projected as a top-10 pick by several analysts. If he can expand on last season’s success, the junior has a good chance of becoming the first Alabama player to hear his name called during next year’s NFL Draft.
Key quote: “In high school, I was recruited as a left tackle but at this point in my career I've played so many different positions that really, any position on the line is comfortable for me,” Neal said this spring. “It really doesn’t matter, I guess you could say that because that’s what I was recruited as but I'm a guy who can play anywhere on the offensive line.”
