With all of the troubles and concerns that came out of Week 1 in Tuscaloosa, there was a silver lining.

The Alabama Crimson Tide received exceptional play out of redshirt freshman running back, Kevin Riley, the Northport, AL native, who grew up just a 10 minute drive from Bryant Denny Stadium.

The former four-star running back was originally committed to Miami before flipping over to Alabama in the summer of 2024 and he only saw the field just twice last season, only registering 30 rushing yards on 10 carries.

In just five carries during Week 1, Riley exceeded that total with 31 total rushing yards.

It’s fair to say that Riley was one of the few bright spots in Alabama’s offense. Outside of him and wide receiver Germie Bernard, there was rarely much to be excited about.

Running back Richard Young started the game strong, but after the first drive of the game, he struggled to find openings on the field. Riley, on the other hand, did. With his shiftiness, and his ability to break tackles, he was the only running back on the roster that made a significant difference.

Back in March of 2025, coach Kalen DeBoer was effusive in his praise for the redshirt freshman:

“Kevin is probably our shiftiest. Kind of the explosive guy on the roster.”

And it’s hard to argue with that sentiment. Apart from Young struggling to find openings, Daniel Hill looked underwhelming and a tad slow, all while Dre Washington couldn’t get past the line of scrimmage.

Alabama will likely need more out of Riley as the season progresses. Veteran running back Jam Miller is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder and is targeting a return for when SEC play returns.

Even when Miller comes back, the expectation should be that Riley gets more reps. While Miller can be a little shifty, he’s built like a bowling ball and has gained a substantial amount of muscle. A picture of him looking noticeably bigger went viral during training camp.

Granted, one game doesn’t tell the whole story. It could very well be that Riley comes back down to Earth and that Young showcases the reason why he was a five-star recruit.

However, what we saw on Saturday was a player who can be a sparkplug when nothing else is working.

With the 31 rushing yards that Riley contributed, a combination of Young, Hill and Washington only put together 36. The rest of it were rushes from quarterback Ty Simpson, and a sole rush from Bernard. Young and Hill also received a decent amount of carries on that first drive, and put up 21 total rushing yards. 

After that, it was nonexistent.

DeBoer said that they stayed away from the run game because they “weren’t generating many explosive plays,” but as Wyatt Fulton posted on X, during the first drive of the game, Alabama was averaging 5.5 yards per carry – and then completely abandoned it.

One thing is certain from Week 1 though – Kevin Riley needs more carries. If anything, he’s proven that he can be a go-to guy if the Crimson Tide needs it, and at this point neither of the options at running back have proven to be that guy.