Alabama offensive lineman Wilkin Formby battled through a difficult performance in the Crimson Tide’s win over South Florida last season. While a late surge pushed Alabama to a comfortable victory, the offensive line’s struggles and the narrow margin that defined much of the game sparked unpleasant discourse throughout the fanbase. Crimson Tide fans directed some of that frustration directly at Formby, he said in the latest episode of “The Tides that Blind,” a documentary series chronicling the 2024 Alabama football season.
“I went on social media,” Formby said, via AL.com. “The first thing that popped up was like ‘Kill Wilkin Formby.’ It’s a lot of hate that they’re spreading. It didn’t really get to me that bad. I just hate that my family had to see all that stuff. My little sister is going to school and people are asking her about it. That was the part that made me frustrated.”
USF, despite its talent disadvantage as a Group of Five program, racked up six tackles for loss and three sacks in that contest. Those marks were the highest of any non-conference opponent until the bowl game against Michigan, and they indicated poor play in the trenches.
Formby, a former four-star recruit and the No. 15 tackle in the 2023 class, made two starts at right tackle during his redshirt freshman season. He played in nine games total and saw a season-high 71 snaps of action in that win over the Bulls. The native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., recorded seven knockdown blocks against USF, which marked a career high.
Formby made both of his starts in the first two games of the year when standout tackle Kadyn Proctor opened the campaign sidelined by an injury. He returned to the bench following Proctor’s debut in Week 3.
“I don’t know how y’all can say this stuff,” Proctor said. “They don’t understand that we’ve got to go … we might laugh about it right now, but when we’re by ourselves, that really takes a toll. I’ve had countless times where I cried for sure. I bet he probably has too when nobody’s around. They don’t understand how much that affects you. You’re in front of millions of people, not trying to mess up.”
First-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer credited Formby for his improvement early in his redshirt freshman season and complimented him on his “effort and execution” in the season-opener.
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“It’s always about improving, and he’s certainly doing that,” DeBoer said of Formby in Week 1. “He’s raising his level of physicality, he’s raising his level of communication and talking. Being on the same page as Jaeden [Roberts] next to him. I thought there was physicality. I think there was some — I used the word decisiveness with the quarterback — I felt like he was very decisive, and really never looking uncomfortable on, ‘I’m supposed to block this guy,’ or assignment-wise.”
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