TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After two games where the offensive line was labeled as "inconsistent" and "not physical enough," Nick Saban decided to make some changes to his first-team unit.

On the third series of the game, Tyler Booker checked in at left guard which Javion Cohen manned to start the afternoon. It was the first time this season that a player not named Kendall Randolph lined up to the right of Tyler Steen as the redshirt senior switched from No. 60 to No. 85 signifying that he would be used as a tight end on Saturday.

With Alabama playing a proverbial game of musical chairs to find the best five-man unit to protect Bryce Young, Saban defended bringing Booker in during his post-game press conference.

"I've got lots of confidence in him," Saban said. "He's a young player that has played extremely well. He started out at tackle and then we moved him to guard. I view him as a guy that's competing for a starting position with the other two guys. He's physical, and we need to be more physical on the offensive line, so we're going to play him."

The former four-star offensive lineman was regarded as one of the top five guards in the nation and was the No. 109 player on the Rivals250, hailing from IMG Academy.

Through the first two contests, Booker played a combined 21 snaps, recording a pass block grade of 80.5 against the Aggies and Longhorns, according to Pro Football Focus.

While Alabama's passing attack wasn't too affected by Texas' defense, the run game suffered as it struggled to have any consistency, especially on the left side of the line. Last week, Alabama running backs averaged less than four yards per carry on that side, while tallying more than 10 yards per carry on the right side.

With Booker's size and physicality, the Crimson Tide's running game improved with him on the field as all six running backs that touched the ball averaged more than six yards per carry. As a result, Alabama tallied a new season-high in rushing yards recording 273 in the win.

"He's been a great add-on," Roydell Williams said. "He's very physical. He plays with passion and he can go actually. He's a great add-on to the offensive line and they all do a fantastic job."

Just like in prior seasons in Alabama's offense, a dominant run game opened up the pass as the Crimson Tide tallied more than 500 yards of total offense in the win. More importantly, Alabama allowed just two quarterback hurries, both of which came in the second half, and one sack.

It was a complete turnaround for last week as Texas sacked Bryce Young twice and tallied five quarterback hurries with seven pressures. Booker will look to continue his recent stretch of play as Alabama continues to tinker with the offensive line.

"I feel like we were more efficient as a group like in receiving, offensive line and rushing," Traeshon Holden said. "We were just more efficient in what we were doing and just the week of preparation we had in practice made everything better."