There's a lot of speculation on what is next for the University of Alabama's football program. And after the Rose Bowl defeat to Indiana, many are wondering if the Crimson Tide has lost their fastball.
For as long as Nick Saban ran the Alabama Crimson Tide, it seemed as if the Alabama dynasty was never going to end.
And yes, it’s a new era in Tuscaloosa. Current coach Kalen DeBoer is a polar opposite personality from what we’re used to, but there’s no denying the successes he has had in previous stops.
The difference is, the past two seasons at the Alabama helm, he’s learning all about not just the rigors of an SEC schedule, but how college football itself has turned to more of a smorgasbord rather than a three-course meal.
Parity.
It’s a word we’re learning often in sports, mostly in professional sports, but with the emergence of NIL, parity is venturing into collegiate sports as well.
The overall concern about Alabama’s football program though, is if it has lost its killer instinct?
Michael Casagrande of AL.com wrote a story on how Alabama has become soft in response to the humiliating defeat to Indiana on the national stage at the Rose Bowl.
The program’s fight song includes the words “Remember the Rose Bowl, we’ll win then,” and on Thursday, those lyrics seemed to be more of a contradiction rather than a statement of fact.
So what exactly has been the difference between then and now?
It’s far from the days of Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram dominating the line of scrimmage and taking it to the house.
Instead, the only optimal option the Tide had was to send quarterback Ty Simpson, who may or may not have been dealing with a lingering injury during the second half of the season, and telling him to move mountains.
The run game was lost. According to Casagrande, Alabama averaged 104.1 rushing yards per game this past season, which was the lowest in school history, since the stat was tracked in 1946.
Jam Miller, who dealt with injuries all season, was ineffective.
Richard Young, who was expected to take a massive jump this season, lost trust from the coaching staff, ultimately sending him to the transfer portal.
Kevin Riley, who started hot, fizzled out and then ultimately broke his jaw.
The only real option was Daniel Hill, whose uninspiring 3.8 yards per carry continued to get the bulk of the carries.
Despite being obviously disappointed in the outcome though, DeBoer seems pretty optimistic heading into next season.
"There is a culture that we feel better about now than we did a year ago," DeBoer told Crimson Tide Sports Network. "The guys – I can't wait to get back with them. I can't wait to get back to work. This one is going to linger on us here for a day. I'm confident the sun is going to come up tomorrow. We're gonna go make the most of tomorrow and the next day, and the next day after that."
And there’s reason to believe in his optimism. Alabama’s 2026 recruiting class is ranked fourth in the country, with several high-end five-star recruits and an innate ability to bring in home-grown talent.
Recruits Cederian Morgan, Ezavier Crowell, Zyan Gibson, Xavier Griffin, Kamhariyan Johnson, Nick Sherman and Zay Hall all hail from the area.
However, as we’ve seen with other programs, it’s not about the talent, it's about the culture.
So, is Alabama soft?
Soft may be a harsh word. We’ve seen what this program can do when it’s at its best. Not only that, the work of the defense has shown that Alabama is anything but soft.
Having homegrown talent though, can help push the culture forward. They know the importance that this program holds to the state.
This offseason may be a major indicator of what the Kalen DeBoer era will be like.
The 2026 season will be the first season we see five-star running back Crowell, who has blown the doors off high school football in the state of Alabama.
We’ll also have another season of Hill and Riley. It allows Hill to learn the importance of physicality as a running back, and using his 240-pound frame to his advantage.
It allows Riley to use his shiftiness and agility to slither through defensive line traffic.
Not only that, we’ve seen how DeBoer and his staff were able to motivate his players after the Week 1 Florida State loss this past season. But you can only harp on one loss for so long.
There will be a plethora of newer players coming into the facilities.
We won’t have Saban guys like Deontae Lawson, Tim Keenan and Miller anymore. Germie Bernard has been a fantastic ambassador to the program, but he’s NFL-bound.
Will Simpson be back? Will Ryan Williams take the next step? Does the run game find its groove? To that point, will there be offensive line help? What about a new offensive coordinator?
We could go on. There are a lot of questions heading into the offseason, but by the end of the next season, we’ll know the answers to a lot of them.