Despite the noise, DeBoer's steady hand is building Alabama's future. Witness his unique process in college football's evolving landscape.
There’s a lot of noise around Alabama football right now.
Opinions flying everywhere.
Frustrations boiling over.
Comparisons being made every single day.
And I get it... when you’re Alabama, the standard isn’t just high, it’s elite.
Championships aren’t hoped for, they’re expected.
Dominance isn’t appreciated, it’s assumed.
But let me say this clearly and without hesitation: I’m not ready to give up on Kalen DeBoer. Not even close. I still believe in him. I still believe in his process. And I still believe Alabama football under his leadership is going exactly where it needs to go.
Replacing Nick Saban was never going to be simple.
It was never going to be smooth.
It was never going to feel comfortable.
Following a legend, quite possibly the greatest to ever do it, comes with weight that most people can’t comprehend. And doing it in today’s college football landscape? With NIL, with the transfer portal, with roster movement that feels constant, with social media dissecting every snap? That’s not just difficult. That’s pressure at a different level.
But here’s what I see when I look at DeBoer.
I don’t see a coach flinching.
I don’t see panic.
I don’t see someone trying to imitate the past or cosplay as something he’s not.
He isn’t trying to be Saban. He isn’t forcing personality or pretending this is 2015. He’s trying to win his way in 2026 college football. And that matters. Because the game has changed. You don’t just recruit high school players anymore, you recruit your own roster every offseason. You evaluate the portal. You manage NIL relationships. You balance veterans, transfers, and freshmen who expect to compete immediately. That’s a juggling act that didn’t exist a decade ago.
And through all of it, Alabama hasn’t collapsed.
Recruiting hasn’t cratered.
The locker room hasn’t fractured.
The culture hasn’t disappeared.
If anything, I see young players competing. I see leaders stepping up. I see accountability when things go wrong. That tells me something important, the foundation is still there. The process is still intact.
Has it been perfect? No. There have been games where execution wasn’t good enough. There have been moments where the offensive line struggled. There have been stretches where fans questioned play-calling, tempo, or discipline. That’s fair.
Alabama’s standard demands excellence. But growth doesn’t happen without adversity. Development doesn’t happen without correction. You don’t recalibrate a roster, install systems, adjust staff, and evolve strength and conditioning overnight.
This isn’t a teardown.
It’s a transition.
And transitions require patience.
We’ve gotten so used to instant gratification that we forget what real program building looks like. You stack recruiting classes. You develop depth. You let leaders mature. You let the system fully take root. That doesn’t happen in one offseason. It doesn’t happen because fans demand it on social media. It happens because leadership stays steady when everything around it is loud.
What I respect most about DeBoer is how he handles that noise.
He doesn’t lash out.
He doesn’t throw players under the bus.
He owns mistakes. He stays measured. That matters in Tuscaloosa.
Because leadership isn’t tested when things are easy, it’s tested when expectations feel heavy. And this job is heavy. It’s the most scrutinized job in America. Every call dissected. Every quote analyzed. Every loss magnified. Yet I see a coach who embraces that responsibility rather than shrinking from it.
Believing in DeBoer doesn’t mean lowering the standard.
It doesn’t mean being blind to issues.
It means understanding that sustained excellence requires stability.
You don’t build dominance by cycling through coaches at the first sign of turbulence. You don’t restore championship culture by creating chaos. You trust the process. You demand improvement. You evaluate honestly. But you allow leadership time to actually lead.
Let the roster fully turn over. Let the system mature. Let recruiting classes stack on top of each other. Let the culture continue forming under his voice instead of someone else’s shadow. This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about trajectory. And from where I sit, the trajectory is upward.
Alabama football isn’t searching for its identity. It’s reinforcing it.
Toughness.
Discipline.
Accountability.
Physicality.
Execution.
Those don’t vanish because a season doesn’t end with a trophy. They get refined. They get strengthened. They get tested.
So no, I’m not jumping ship.
Not on a coach who has proven he can win.
Not on a leader who hasn’t fractured under pressure.
Not on a program that still has the talent, the buy-in, and the foundation to compete at the highest level.
Alabama football has always been about resilience.
This is just another chapter.
And I still believe in how this one ends.
Roll Tide.