Alabama's Evan Neal 'how a franchise left tackle should be'

By Laken Litman
FOX Sports College Football Writer

By now, everyone has seen it. The three-second video of former Alabama All-American left tackle Evan Neal doing the wildest, most impressive box jump perhaps ever has nearly one million views.

Neal is a 6-foot-7, 337-pound offensive lineman who could go No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft on Thursday night. His rare combination of massive size and elite athleticism has NFL organizations drooling. Last summer, before his junior year at Alabama, he positioned himself between two 48-inch foam plyo boxes, and rather than landing on just one box — the way normal people might approach a much lower box jump — Neal effortlessly nailed a split box jump.

Neal jumped 36 inches as a sophomore, and then Dr. Matt Rhea and Dave Ballou, the Crimson Tide’s Director of Sports Science and Director of Sports Performance, respectively, challenged him to go higher.  

"He’s big, he’s physical, he’s consistent, and you can’t teach that, man," said Duke Manyweather, a private offensive line coach who has known Neal since he was in high school and has been working with him ahead of the draft as part of the "Big Boys Club," an X’s and O’s and film study workshop for draft hopefuls that will air at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday and 9 p.m. ET Wednesday on FS1 and the FOX Sports app. "Those intangibles alone — he’s played a lot of football at Alabama, a lot of positions against a lot of great talent. He checks every box."

That type of stunt, performance, whatever you want to call it, is not something Alabama normally does with its players. 

"Most human beings cannot do what he did on that," said Jeff Allen, the Tide’s head athletic trainer. "It was something just to see what he was capable of, and it was incredibly impressive." 

Neal couldn’t recall anybody else in the gym attempting that exercise other than his former teammate, Heisman Trophy winner and current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith. 

And even if other Tide players had tried it, the video might not have gone quite as viral. The kind of jaw-dropping power and freakish strength that Neal has coupled with his size is nothing short of legendary.

Neal never had a growth spurt. He was born 11 pounds, 22¾ inches and was 6-foot-6, 380 pounds by the eighth grade.

"I was always the biggest kid," he said. "It was cool, though. It was awesome. I definitely got mistaken for an adult quite a few times. I was just so massive."

What Neal has been able to do with that massive size is remarkable. He arrived at Alabama at 390 pounds, played close to 360 his freshman year and hovered around 337 ahead of the NFL Scouting Combine in early March. Neal holds his weight well and looks lean. He has never appeared out of shape — not even when he was heavier — and is fast off the line. It's a testament to his work ethic, nutrition and genetics.

"It’s hard to find players that big who move that well," former NFL lineman and FOX Sports analyst Geoff Schwartz said. "Part of that is when you watch him play, you’re like, ‘There’s a reach block, there’s a down block, there’s pass protection from a three-point stance.’ His film looks familiar because Alabama has an NFL-style offense. 

"Most college offenses don’t contain things you’d see in the NFL. For Evan, he’ll translate on Day 1. What you see is what you get."

Neal comes from a long line of football players. His father, Eddie, played linebacker at Tulane, and two uncles — Cleveland Gary and Jimmie Jones — played in the NFL. His younger sister, McKenzie, plays high school basketball and is being recruited to play in college.

With that kind of lineage, competitiveness came naturally. And as the seventh of eight kids, Neal was forced to develop a lot of grit.

"Evan always wanted to win," said his mother, Shelia. "He absolutely hated to lose. Even when he was 7 or 8 years old, he just couldn’t take it."

Shelia tells a story from when Evan was 7 and playing on a basketball team with 10-year-olds. His team was behind, and when he looked at the scoreboard, he started crying. Neal then helped his team come back to win the game and eventually matured to understand that he can’t always win everything in life. 

Even though, on the field, he basically has.

As a freshman, Neal went to Okeechobee High School in Florida, where both of his parents attended, before transferring to IMG Academy his sophomore year. His team went 27-1 in three seasons, and he became a five-star recruit, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the country and the nation’s No. 7 overall player, according to 247Sports. Nearly every Division I program wanted him, but he was naturally drawn to Nick Saban.

At Alabama, Neal started as a true freshman, which is highly unusual. He played left guard in 2019, moved to right tackle in 2020 for the Tide’s national championship season and then switched to left tackle in 2021. He started 40 games over three seasons in three different positions and allowed just four sacks.

"It’s one thing to start. It’s another to excel, and he did that," Allen said. "I think Evan’s story really speaks to, ‘Hey, do you want to be good, or do you want to be excellent?’ A lot of guys realize the importance of doing the little things after they're done playing here. I see it all the time. Guys finish their college careers, and then all of the sudden, they want to get serious about recovery, sleep and nutrition. I tell players all the time if they had taken that approach as a sophomore or a junior, imagine the dividends. 

"And Evan saw that. It made a heck of a difference for him, and it’s going to pay off for him. That mindset is really, really rare. When you get to this level, every little thing matters."

Neal is the perfect representative of Alabama football. He’s the embodiment of Saban’s famous "Process." He has been described as sharp, astute and "not your typical college student," said Allen, who enjoyed discussing politics and other global issues with Neal in the training room. 

Neal is also a team-first guy, a leader who always does what he says he’s going to do. When he first came to Alabama, Neal told his coaches he didn’t care which position he played. He just wanted to play because he loves football.

He obsesses over little things. He’s intense and locked-in — "how a franchise left tackle should be," Manyweather said. Neal worked tirelessly on his flexibility and durability and was seldom injured — a difficult thing to do as a starting lineman in the SEC.

And despite all he has accomplished — blocking for first-round picks such as Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones and future first-rounder Bryce Young and winning a national title — he still doesn’t think he’s worthy of being the No. 1 overall pick. Don’t get him wrong, though. While he grew up a Miami Dolphins fan, he’d be thrilled to play for Jacksonville, which is a four-hour drive from his hometown. 

"Evan is one of those guys, it’s never good enough," Allen said. "Evan wants to be perfect, and that’s how he is. That’s what drives him. A lot of that comes from Saban, who instills that in a lot of our players and everyone in the organization. Good enough is not good enough. You’re always trying to get better, and I think in Evan’s mind, he feels like there’s so much more he can do."

Going No. 1 would make Neal the first Tide player to do so since Washington selected quarterback/halfback Harry Gilmer in 1948. Alabama has had 39 players taken in the first round in the Saban era, including a record-tying six last year. There have been eight offensive linemen, including Ryan Kelly, Jonah Williams, Jedrick Wills and Alex Leatherwood. 

However, no Alabama player has been drafted higher than third, where Buffalo picked defensive tackle Marcell Dareus in 2011 and Cleveland drafted running back Trent Richardson in 2012.

"It would be extremely special," Neal said. "What football player doesn’t dream about going No. 1 overall? That’s always been a dream of mine."

Of course, there are other players in contention to go first, including defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson from Michigan and Kayvon Thibodeaux from Oregon, as well as fellow offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu from NC State.

"Evan is the big dog," said Schwartz, who got to know Neal during the "Big Boys Club" this year. "He was a high-profile recruit, played three positions [at Alabama], and he’s just an athletic freak, man. He’s a big kid. He’s still young, too, which is pretty impressive for a guy who is already that size to have room to get bigger, stronger and faster. And he’s really bright."

Off the field, Neal is actually pretty laid-back. He loves his Okeechobee community and is viewed like a neighborhood hero; he was recently given a key to the city. His parents own a local grocery store, and he has an entrepreneurial spirit that maybe he’ll take advantage of once he’s finished playing football. Family is important, though these days, it’s rare for all eight siblings to get together. When they do, they play Spades, the only game Neal can lose and not get upset about because he has never been good at it, his mother says.

"He likes to win, but he’s humble, so that makes it easy to lay back and be humble along with him," Sheila said.

When Neal thinks about his NFL career, he’s excited about the prospect of going up against players such as Von Miller and TJ Watt. He likes to watch guys like Tyron Smith and Trent Williams, and his favorite player was longtime Dallas Cowboys guard Larry Allen.

But as the draft nears, Neal says he isn't paying attention to projections. He won’t let himself get carried away with that. 

"At the end of the day, I’m focused on playing football and being the best I can be," he said. "The draft is going to get here, and when it does, whichever team picks me, I’ll be blessed and happy with it. A lot of guys don’t get a chance to continue playing the game we love, and the fact that I have an opportunity to continue doing that is a blessing in itself."

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously covered college football, college basketball, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and the Olympics at Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. Her first book, written in partnership with Rizzoli and Sports Illustrated and titled "Strong Like a Woman," was published in spring 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX.