There’s a truism of football that the only time an offensive lineman is noticed is when he makes a mistake. One offensive lineman has more chances than others to be noticed. The center handles the ball on every play. He has other assignments, of course, such as blocking. And the one that no one can be aware of is making the right call for his cohorts on the offensive front so that they’ll make the correct blocks.

It’s a lot to ask.

The man who did it last year, Ross Pierschbacher, has moved on.

When Alabama performs for the public in the A-Day Game beginning at 1 p.m. CDT Saturday, the center for the Crimson team – the first team offense – will be Chris Owens, a 6-3, 310-pound fourth-year junior. Owens played in almost every game last year as a backup both at center and also at left tackle, and also played on special teams.

Following Alabama’s final practice on Thursday before Saturday’s Bryant-Denny Stadium exhibition Coach Nick Saban said, “Chris Owens has done a really good job there. He has done a really good job when he’s had to play there. Chris Owens has really shown a lot of leadership and really worked hard this spring.”

Saban also threw in another name for the center competition. He said true freshman Darrian Dalcort “looks like he’s a young guy that could be a good center somewhere down the road, at some point in time. We’ve got a lot of guys that can play the position, and I’m pleased with the progress they’ve made.”

Chris Owens has No. 1 center position going into A-Day Game

The Tide coach said that he thinks Owens’s “teammates have a lot of confidence in him but we’re going to keep on trying to get those guys to play better and better and better as we go. I think we have enough good players in the offensive line. We’re just going to have to figure out what the best combination of guys will be for us next year.”

As has been pointed out, it’s not the easy answer of finding the best five offensive linemen. It’s finding the five who play best together.

The look of that “best five” to this point won’t be on display Saturday. Last year’s starter at every game at right tackle, Jedrick Wills, has been ruled out of the A-Day Game after having suffered a severe ankle sprain in last Saturday’s scrimmage. Saban pointed out that Wills did not have to have surgery, “just has a pretty good ankle sprain, so we’ll probably hold him out.”

That Crimson team – the first offense and second defense, going against the White grouping of first defense and second offense, will likely have an offensive line that has Matt Womack at right tackle. Womack, who started throughout the 2017 season, but missed much of last year rehabilitating from injury, has been at right guard through most of the spring.

In explaining the division of the team for the A-Day Game, Saban said, “We want these guys to have the experience of being able to play as much of a game-like situation as we possibly can.

“We have a couple of guys out on the offensive line, so we have to make shifts.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that’s how the line is going to end up.”