Alabama could be facing a big problem this weekend against Tennessee.

There’s a chance that Alabama could be without starting center Racin Delgatty against the Volunteers on Saturday in Knoxville.

Delgatty suffered a lower leg injury at the end of the Crimson Tide’s loss to Georgia last weekend.

“Just with lower leg injury, we’ll just continue to evaluate him and kind of see where he’s at in the days ahead,” said Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer on Monday. “So obviously, he’ll be pretty sore and kind of working through things and limited for sure early in the week. We’ll certainly get some reps with other guys, and in particular probably Mal Waldrep, Casey Poe, guys like that.”

If Delgatty is out, it will likely be Waldrep who starts at center.

Waldrep, a sophomore, has played 150 snaps this season, but all of those snaps have come at guard.

“You’re going up against (Vols DL) Xavier Gilliam this week,” said ESPN’s Cole Cubelic on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Tuesday. “And that for any center in college football is a very difficult matchup, and to have a backup come in and have to manage that — that’s going to be tough.

“Then you start dealing with the other things around it, and the other parts of it. We know situationally what that can be and what that’s all about playing in Knoxville. This game, in general, has a lot of distractions and a lot of extras. You start talking about snap counts. You start talking about cadence. You start talking about those different things in that place. It’s going to be loud, and it’s going to be tough to manage. If you’re a three-year starter, it’s difficult. So that is a massive point of emphasis for Alabama this weekend against Tennessee for multiple reasons.”

“I think it’s huge,” added Greg McElroy, who will call the game for ESPN, of Alabama’s center situation. “It’s absolutely enormous. And then in addition to not just the physical matchup — because let’s be real, you can put an all-conference center out there, and you’re still going to have your hands full with Gilliam. … He’s a really, really good player…Gilliam’s going to get his. He’s going to get his on 10 snaps in the game on Saturday. With Racin Delgatty in there, he might get his on (only) eight snaps. So is it a big difference in the game? Sure, because those two extra snaps where he gets them could be really impactful.

“You’ve just got to make sure that you play with an internal clock at quarterback. I’m more concerned about directing protections than anything else, and not to say that Casey Poe can’t or that Mal Waldrep can’t, but directing protections on the road in a hostile environment is a tricky thing to do. And we’ve seen a couple times already this year where (Alabama QB) Keelon Russell, for as good as he is, there are times when he does lose the unblocked defender and takes an unnecessary sack with overloads. And you know you’re going to get that from (Vols defensive coordinator) Jim Knowles.”

If Delgatty is out, it could be a huge factor in this game. Gilliam has been an absolute game-wrecker through the first half of the season. And I imagine he’s licking his chops at the idea of going up against an inexperienced center who will be dealing with an extremely loud Neyland Stadium.

We’ve seen in the past how one play can determine the outcome of this game. And if Alabama has an inexperienced center in this game, it increases the possibility of Gilliam making a game-changing play in the trenches.