A look at Alabama football’s Walk of Champions at Bryant-Denny Stadium
VIDEO: A brief tour of the Walk of Champions at Alabama football’s Bryant-Denny Stadium: Statues, commemorating championships and more.
15th STREET, TUSCALOOSA — At SEC media days, Kadyn Proctor gave me the excuse to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.
In between questions about his draft stock, the Alabama football offensive line and his cologne collection, Proctor was asked about Taco Casa: the Tuscaloosa chain of Tex-Mex fast food restaurants. It’s a Crimson Tide staple, one started by Rod Wikin, the grandfather of Alabama right tackle Wilkin Formby and former Crimson Tide punter, in 1974.
That question prompted a grin and a sigh of satisfaction from Proctor, a 6-foot-7, 366-pound behemoth of a left tackle.
“Shoutout Taco Casa, to Wilkin Formby, the Formby family,” Proctor said.
Then, Proctor started to give his normal Taco Casa order. And I began to take notes for my first Taco Casa trip.
Three taco burgers, the “best thing on the menu.”
Tacos, of course.
And enchiladas, but with a caveat, what Proctor called the “secret Wilkin taught me:” substituting a corn tortilla for a flour tortilla, and replacing the yellow cheese with “white queso.”
“That’s perfection right there,” Proctor said.
Standing in line at the Taco Casa on 15th Street — the location closest to the Alabama football facility — one day after SEC media days, I quickly remembered I am not Proctor. I am not a 6-foot-7, 366-pound future first-round tackle. I will not be facing either LT Overton or Qua Russaw off the edge in a fall practice less than two weeks away.
I needed to improvise.
My order? One taco burger with extra hot sauce — because I like a challenge — one hardshell beef taco and a beef enchilada with a flour tortilla covered in white queso.
As I officially started my first Taco Casa experience, my mind wandered to something bigger.
I thought about Proctor’s reaction when I asked him about how Formby has grown over the course of the offseason, how he took a beat before unflinchingly calling the Alabama right tackle “my guy.”
“I have so much love for him,” Proctor said. “He’s been doing a really great job at the mental piece and asking for help, and really not worrying about what people say. I’ve had to tell him that I went through this before, and I’m glad he can ask me questions, and I always keep it real with him.
“The physical piece? He’s working his tail off. And he’s got so much focus in meeting rooms. And I can tell that he’ll be ready when he steps on that field.”
Proctor’s relationship with Formby is much bigger than Formby’s family restaurant. They are roommates. They, collectively, have at least 240 bottles of cologne. And they are each a part of an offensive line with something to prove in 2025, one that has Joe Moore Award aspirations.
But Proctor’s relationship with Alabama is much bigger in itself.
It’s one defined by struggle, the lows of a freshman season in which he allowed 12 sacks per Pro Football Focus before transferring home to Iowa. It’s one of redemption, returning to Tuscaloosa, earning the good graces of head coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff, eventually becoming a second-team All-SEC left tackle in 2024.
Now, heading into 2025, it’s one of expectation, as a top 2026 NFL draft prospect many expect to be off the board early in the first round.
For Proctor though, that expectation means nothing right now. He hasn’t proved anything, he said, and he’s eager for that chance.
For now, Proctor is just another Alabama football player who loves Taco Casa.
And because of Proctor, I checked another Tuscaloosa institution off my list.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
