The cavalry is coming to help Alabama football’s offensive line. Last season’s starting left tackle, Kadyn Proctor, is likely heading back to Tuscaloosa after briefly transferring to Iowa.

Proctor’s presence will help out an offensive line that is slim in numbers. With JC Latham off to the NFL, the Crimson Tide currently has four scholarship tackles.

That’s below the mark new head coach Kalen DeBoer wants to be at. DeBoer isn’t yet allowed to talk about Proctor’s probable return, but after practice on Thursday, he was asked about the Crimson Tide’s current group at tackle.

“Offensive line-wise, even if you just look at our scholarship numbers, we are short there,” DeBoer said. “And so you need so many to get through a season. Those guys are getting a lot of reps, they’re getting a lot of work. They’re all getting better. I’m really proud of the way they’re just grinding and getting after it every day. But scholarship numbers for the offensive line in general are still just below where we’d like to be going into the fall”

Elijah Pritchett brings the most experience of the group as a redshirt sophomore. He battled for the starting job with Proctor, and played some snaps last season.

Nequil Bertrand is new to the group. The redshirt freshman transferred in from Texas A&M, where he entered as a three-star prospect in the 2023 class.

Wilkin Formby joined the Crimson Tide as a four-star prospect out of Northridge. He played in three games last season, preserving his redshirt.

“I understand that there’s a lot of great players that have gone before me and done the exact same thing,” Formby told AL.com before the Rose Bowl about playing sparingly in his first season. “So I’m just following that blueprint that they have in the program about trusting the process and understanding that I have a great opportunity here in the future.”

Miles McVay rounds out the returning group, returning after preserving his redshirt as a freshman in 2023. He was a four-star prospect out of high school.

The group will be boosted by the return of Proctor. He struggled early in 2023, but had shown improvement by the end of the year.

Latham praised the rising sophomore after Alabama’s pro day on Wednesday.

“Amazing amount of improvement,” Latham said. “He was a young pup when he first got in and just from summer, fall camp and moving forward, just the ability to adjust on the fly and keep things going. I mean, you look at the last game and you compare it to the first game and you’ll see the improvement right there.”

Proctor can’t enter the transfer portal until it opens April 15. The Crimson Tide’s annual A-Day game to wrap up spring practice is scheduled for April 13.