Olaus Alinen’s football path has never followed the usual script, and Kentucky is now seeing exactly why.
The Wildcats’ offensive line transfer from Alabama arrived in Lexington with a background that starts far from the SEC and even farther from the typical football hotbed. Alinen grew up in Finland, where the sport is a niche pursuit, and he had to stay up into the night to follow the biggest college and NFL games because of the seven-hour time difference between Helsinki and Lexington.
“Football in Finland is a really small community,” he said. “It’s a niche sport over there, but I’d say people who played are very much interested in football.
They love football. They stay up in the middle of the night to watch NFL games and stuff like that, with the time difference.”
Before football took over, Alinen played ice hockey and basketball. He didn’t start American football until middle school, when his father, Klaus - who played in NFL Europe and spent one season on the practice squad for the Atlanta Falcons - coached him at the youth level.
That family connection helped shape his early fandom. He gravitated toward the Falcons, and he also pulled for the Cleveland Browns during the Nick Chubb era. But once Alinen moved to the United States at 16 and enrolled at the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut, the sport became something much bigger than a late-night viewing habit.
His play there turned him into a consensus four-star recruit and drew scholarship offers from several major programs. He eventually signed with Alabama, where he spent three seasons in Tuscaloosa and appeared in 32 games without making a start.
Alinen said the jump from Finland to American football came with a clear shift in intensity.
“I think the speed of the game is different,” Alinen said of his move to the United States. “I think there’s a difference in people doing it for a hobby or interest, and when people actually do it to try to make a living.
“That’s when you see guys strain, and effort is so much higher over here, which makes the game just that much more physical.”
Even in 2025, when there were season-long concerns about Alabama’s offensive line, Alinen couldn’t crack the starting group. He played in all 15 games, but most of his work came on the field-goal unit.
That changed in January, when he entered the transfer portal with two years of eligibility left. Kentucky, under new coach Will Stein, had no returning starters on the offensive line and quickly made Alinen a priority.
“He’s been a great addition to our team,” Stein said. “He’s a great leader.
He’s vocal. He’s obviously got position flex, which is huge on the offensive line.”
That versatility mattered. Although Alinen barely saw game action at Alabama, he had practiced at every offensive line spot except center, and Kentucky needed that kind of flexibility while rebuilding up front.
He initially expected to settle in at guard with the Wildcats, but spring practice sent him to tackle more often because depth there was a bigger issue. Then right tackle Malachi Wood returned from injury, shifting Alinen back inside for the start of preseason camp. When Wood was held out of the season-opening win over Youngstown State because of a minor injury suffered in practice days earlier, Alinen moved outside again.
At right tackle, he helped Kentucky run for 205 yards without allowing a sack.
“I think to be the best possible O-lineman you can be, you got to know what all five are doing,” Alinen said. “You can’t just know one position. You can’t just know your job, because we all work together.”
Wood is expected back this week, which means Alinen will likely line up at left guard when Kentucky faces his former Alabama teammates. Stein said Tuesday that when the staff recruited Alinen out of the portal, there was never any doubt he was being brought in to start.
For Alinen, the matchup offers a chance to show that confidence was well placed. And if his Kentucky run keeps building, his long-shot dream remains alive: becoming the first person born in Finland to play in an NFL regular season game.
“I think this season is a big opportunity for our whole unit,” Alinen said. “We got to go out there and prove that we’re one of the best O-lines in the country, and I think it starts with all of us up front. It’s very exciting to have that opportunity.”
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