When writing about college football, it’s all too easy to focus on the play of the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers. They’re the ones making the highlight packages on television and accounting for most of the easy-to-interpret statistics found in the newspaper.

But Alabama is the best program in the country, and its sustained success offensively under coach Nick Saban is not about quarterbacks, running backs or receivers.

It has little to do with the game’s most important position. While Jake Coker played the two best games of his life in the College Football Playoff, he is even less of a prospect for the NFL Draft than Greg McElroy and A.J. McCarron before him. Those two accounted for three of Saban’s four national championships in Tuscaloosa.

It has little to do with the ball carriers. Correct, Derrick Henry just set all-time SEC records for rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns this past season. Still, he was given a second-round grade at the next level and his yards-per-carry numbers are no better than Glen Coffee, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy or T.J. Yeldon before him.

It has little do with the pass catchers. Calvin Ridley is following in the footsteps of Julio Jones and Amari Cooper, who were both sensational and eventually became top-10 picks. Although tight end O.J. Howard may have been the MVP of the national title game with two touchdown grabs, that was hardly the norm — he hadn’t scored a TD since the 2013 campaign.

You won’t see them much on TV and their names are hardly ever in the paper, but the Tide win most wars before ever fighting them due to their big boys up front.

“The basis of Alabama’s success is rooted in the trenches,” said Brent Sobleski, who not only is an NFL analyst for Bleacher Report, but he played, coached and scouted the offensive line prior to writing about it. “What separates top teams like Alabama — and the SEC in general — is the talent it acquires along both the offensive and defensive lines.”

Building blocks of success

Much was made of Henry capturing the Heisman Trophy, and deservedly so. But hardly a mention was heard of the Tide also taking the Joe Moore Award, which is given annually to the nation’s premier blocking unit.

“This year’s offensive line continually opened massive holes for Derrick Henry on his way to a Heisman Trophy,” Sobleski said.

When it comes to first-round picks, NFL franchises usually have a pretty high batting average with offensive linemen. As opposed to skill-position weapons, which tend to be boom or bust even near the top of the draft, the likes of Tyron Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns are about as can’t-miss as draftees get.

However, that’s not the case for Saban and Co. when offering scholarships, no matter how many stars may be next to a signee’s name during the recruiting process.

“Ironically, it’s quite the opposite,” said Sobleski. “The reason why line play is easier to scout for the NFL level is due to being able to see what they do every single play. Wide receivers, running backs, cornerbacks, etc., aren’t involved each and every down. But the linemen are always blocking someone or trying to make a play on the defensive side of the ball.”

Elite offensive linemen in college have already filled out their massive 300-plus frames and spent legitimate time in the weight room getting Goliath strong, while even the best high schoolers might only be 275 with a relatively weak frame.

“The difference between collegiate talent going to the NFL and high school talent trying to make the leap to the collegiate ranks is physical maturation,” Sobleski said. “It’s far more of a projection trying to figure out how a young man’s body is going to develop, which makes it difficult to project many 16- to 18-year-olds. Recruits like Cam Robinson or Cyrus Kouandjio are very rare with their advanced physical skill set.”

Not to take anything away from Henry, who has a scary combination of size and speed, but he wouldn’t be nearly as effective running behind Mississippi State’s line. Coker can make all those throws and Ridley can make all those catches, but many of their big-play connections were due to Coker having enough time to look downfield and Ridley getting an extra step to create separation.

Catch them … if you can

The rest of the SEC can try to play copycat, as Alabama will be the favorite in the West for the foreseeable future, but that’s easier said than done.

“It’s all dependent on the coaching staff and their dynamism as recruiters,” said Sobleski. “For example, a pipeline school that fell on hard times, like Ohio State during Jim Tressel’s final year and Luke Fickell’s short reign, only needed two classes under an uber-recruiter like Urban Meyer to become national championship-worthy with enough talent to compete with anyone around the country.”

But if you’re, say, Arkansas, is it even realistic to expect to get to where ‘Bama is when it comes to trench warfare?

“For other programs that aren’t as fortunate to be in strong recruiting areas or as well known, it’s nearly impossible to ever achieve that rate of success,” Sobleski said. “Alabama has all of the advantages — location, facilities, a top coaching staff and success that feeds on itself — to recruit at a high level for a very long time. Very few programs across the country can even hope to duplicate this perfect storm.”

The Crimson Tide will have to replace Ryan Kelly, who just won the Rimington Award as the best center in America. He was the No. 6 recruit at his position in 2011 according to Rivals. But second-stringer J.C. Hassenaeur was the No. 3 center in 2014. And if Hassenauer can’t get it done, third-teamer Brandon Kennedy was No. 3 in 2015.

The rich get richer. Or, more accurately, the big and strong get bigger and stronger.