Alex Leatherwood, all 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds of him, is the latest in a long line of All-American offensive tackles to cycle through Alabama. Meanwhile, his Twitter profile picture is that of the 10 pounds-and-fluffy variety. Confused? Us too. Taking Leatherwood’s place on Twitter is a small cat peering at a salad in disgust. Most can identify. Leatherwood found it so humorous he picked the picture to represent himself.

In between planting defensive linemen and opening up rush lanes as the Crimson Tide’s left tackle, Leatherwood is a meme connoisseur. His mom, Delois James, receives them almost daily from her son. With over 1,000 options loaded on his phone, there’s no group chat or DM Leatherwood is afraid to slide into.

“I just have a lot for any situation, to respond to any situation,” Leatherwood told 247Sports.

Leatherwood likes pulling in his bag for the perfect meme, much like he’ll utilize different strategies to stonewall pass rushers. The preseason All-American has allowed just five pressures in 268 pass protection snaps this year, according to PFF College.

Battling on the edge is Leatherwood’s football oxygen. The mental tussle between pass rusher and tackle is what drew Leatherwood to the spot, and the position holds far more creativity than one might expect. Think of Leatherwood as more forceful tour guide than hulking bouncer. He’s scheming to position the defender where he wants him to go.

“It’s a chess match every play,” Leatherwood said. “It’s more than just the physical side. You have to play the game within the game. You have to get into the mind of the defensive end and how he thinks and what he’s trying to do and how to counter it.”

People have attempted to foil Leatherwood in his first year as Alabama’s starting left tackle with little success. A Game of the Century matchup with LSU on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) will hardly be the first time Leatherwood’s played the position in a high-leverage situation.

To understand Leatherwood’s Alabama path, you need to revisit Jan. 8, 2018.

***

Most observers saw Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith barrel through Alabama’s line of scrimmage and sack true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to end the Crimson’s Tide’s opening drive of the third quarter of the national championship. Leatherwood’s eyes were glued to another player: Jonah Williams. Smith’s momentum whipped him into the legs of Alabama’s All-American left tackle, and Williams couldn’t get up without aid.

Leatherwood had an elite recruiting pedigree, ranking third overall in the Top247 for 2017. Williams had the pedigree and experience. Williams, a former five-star prospect himself, had protected Alabama’s blindside that season, leaving only a smattering of reps for Leatherwood during his true freshman season. That lack of playing time led Leatherwood to stew. Williams’ injury represented the tipping point of his career.

“I was like, ‘Oh shoot, it’s time. I’ve got to put up or shut up.’”

The heroics of Alabama’s 2017 recruiting class are well told. Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts and led an all-time comeback. Najee Harris led Alabama in rushing that game. Henry Ruggs caught the Tide’s first touchdown. Jerry Jeudy made a massively important 20-yard catch on the tying drive. Devonta Smith went long on second-and-26 and caught Tua’s walk-off.

Leatherwood’s efforts were far less flashy. But he held up. Leatherwood, who turned 19 three days prior to the national championship game, played 44 snaps and allowed only a single sack against an elite Georgia defense. On the ever-so-famous Tagovailoa to Smith toss, you can see Leatherwood to Tagovailoa’s left, subtly pushing Georgia defensive end Davin Bellamy out of Tagovailoa’s throwing window.

“Everybody was watching,” Leatherwood said. “Just 10 million eyes watching me when the true freshman was in and the All-American was hurt. I feel like it shaped my career.”

For more than a few moments during his freshman season, Leatherwood didn’t think he’d ever have that chance. The highest-rated signee in an Alabama class that included eight five-star prospects – combining the 247Sports Composite and Top247 – Leatherwood had to wait. An immediate contributor dating back to ninth grade, he’d never done that before.

Tagovailoa waited. Harris waited. The trio that has created what might be the best receiver corps in college history — Jeudy, Ruggs and Smith — waited, mostly, combining for 26 regular-season catches as Calvin Ridley got his. Alabama forces elite talents to compete for reps and grow before seeing the field. Even those future NFL stars felt that pressure.

Harris and Tagovailoa have said in the past they pondered transferring. Leatherwood admits much the same.

“I feel like the whole 2017 class was about to throw a coup out here,” Leatherwood said. “It was crazy. We were all mad about it. We weren’t playing as much as we were supposed to. Pretty pissed off about it. But as the season went on, I guess we got over it.”

Their national championship play had a lot to do with that. Now, Alabama’s 2017 class has the potential to be an all-time group. They’re 35-2 overall with a pair of national championship appearances on their ledger.

Just last week Leatherwood found himself pondering how different life would be had he bolted.

“Damn, imagine if I didn’t stay patient?”

***

Some nine months after the title game, Leatherwood folded his massive frame into a chair across from Nick Saban. The head coach had a pseudo request for his rising sophomore offensive lineman.

“You’re one of the best five that we have,” Saban said. “We need to find you a spot.”

That meant a move to guard. Keep in mind, Leatherwood’s frame and athletic skillset seem engineered to play tackle. His wingspan is massive and his SPARQ rating, which measures a player’s overall athleticism, checked in at 98.07; that number ranks among the 25 most athletic linemen in the country from 2015-18. Guard, a position where things happen faster and you play with less space, somewhat mitigates what makes Leatherwood special.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban called Leatherwood’s move a “sacrifice.” Leatherwood, at least now, chooses not to look at it that way. “I just wanted to be on the field,” he said. Halfway through fall camp of 2018 Leatherwood made the switch, and he played well for an offensive line that paved the way for the nation’s second-most explosive offense on a per-play basis.

Guard helped him understand how the o-line works in sync and made him a more versatile NFL prospect. But tackle — where he’s back at this fall — is the space where his creativity shines.

“You just have more time to recover,” Leatherwood said. “What I do at tackle, depending on the situation, I try to take away as many options as I can. I try to dictate to him to make him do what I want to do. Guard, you don’t have all that much time before the play. It’s going to be exactly what it is.

“You just have the time and space to be more influential at tackle, the ability to influence a defensive end.”

Leatherwood’s father, Alfred, said his son’s always “looked at things a bit different than most people.” His high school head coach, Charlie Ward, he of Florida State Heisman Trophy fame, once texted Leatherwood during a visit to USC, telling his charge in a joking manner about not cruising the city too much that night. Leatherwood would not be out of the town: “He shot a text back, “I’m actually doing some homework right now.” Leatherwood wanted to graduate early. That sort of focused demeanor is why he became the first athlete at Booker T. Washington (Pensacola, Florida) to do so. James called her son last Sunday asking what Leatherwood was doing during his bye week weekend. “Homework.”

Offensive tackle is the place Leatherwood can combine film study, technical skill and a bit of the creative freedom seen in his parade of memes. “The art of that position is just way more interesting to me than guard or center.”

Earlier this season Leatherwood struggled with his hand placement in pass protection. An offensive tackle wants his left hand high and his right hand locked near an opponent’s waist in pass blocking situations, a combination meant to prep for a quick strike. But Leatherwood’s placement five games into the year was off a few inches, making him susceptible to power moves. Through film study during the bye week, Leatherwood saw that Texas A&M’s defensive ends favored those techniques. Knowing this, Leatherwood identified his weakness and addressed it.

Leatherwood did not allow a sack or a pressure after 64 snaps at Kyle Field.

After surrendering 21 pressures last season in 15 games at guard, Leatherwood has allowed less than a fourth of that number through eight games. PFF College projects Leatherwood as the 11th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, a big leap from his offseason projection outside the first round. Part of that is third-year growth. More so, it’s that fact he’s again playing the position he was meant to play.

“I know as a player I still have a lot to work on,” Leatherwood said. “That’s also another thing I like about my position. You’re always trying to close the gap on perfect. Dudes like Joe Thomas and Tyron Smith and guys like that, I mean, they’ve closed the gap a lot. But you’re always trying to be like that.

“I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.”

Maybe that’s because Leatherwood mainly communicates through memes.

The images Leatherwood chooses truly vary. There’s a SpongeBob SquarePants meme in which Squidward walks joyfully toward a lounge chair with the words “start your free trial today.” The next imagine shows Squidward walking away annoyed with the words “enter your card details” above him. Another is a two-diagram image that bemoans the difficulties of balancing every aspect of life.

The images have very little to do with football; Leatherwood isn’t even sure if he owns a football-related meme. Yet they’re a window into the way Leatherwood thinks.

“Off the field he’s a gentle giant,” Ward said. “He’s loyal, a hard-worker, focused and driven. On the field, he likes mashing people.”