JessN: Analysis: The Numbers Behind Alabama's 2025 Rushing Attack Woes

[22Musso22]

 

[JDCrimson]

I did some quick research on the OL Coach Chris Kapolovic, you to go all the way back to his stint at Southern Miss 2008-2011 to avg rush yds per game above 160yds. In 2017 at North Carolina, they averaged 103yds per game...

In his coaching stops, he has very rarely coached NFL talent...

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I did some quick research on the OL Coach Chris Kapolovic, you to go all the way back to his stint at Southern Miss 2008-2011 to avg rush yds per game above 160yds. In 2017 at North Carolina, they averaged 103yds per game...

In his coaching stops, he has very rarely coached NFL talent...

I just have a hard time believing the majority of the problem was the talent level of every OL'man we had or that they're just a "bad fit" for the scheme. Good coaching will show improvement along the way even if it isn't perfect improvement. You'll see SOMETHING getting better. That was not the case this season. I also find it interesting that when Ryan Grubb was asked at one point in the season what he thought he could do to get the running game going and his answer was "I've done everything I can do." Now, I don't know if that was a shot at the players, the OL coach or both. But something isn't passing the smell test. But probabilities tell me the odds of all the linemen being a "bad fit" isn't likely. It's bad coaching.

 

[arthurdawg]

I just have a hard time believing the majority of the problem was the talent level of every OL'man we had or that they're just a "bad fit" for the scheme. Good coaching will show improvement along the way even if it isn't perfect improvement. You'll see SOMETHING getting better. That was not the case this season. I also find it interesting that when Ryan Grubb was asked at one point in the season what he thought he could do to get the running game going and his answer was "I've done everything I can do." Now, I don't know if that was a shot at the players, the OL coach or both. But something isn't passing the smell test. But probabilities tell me the odds of all the linemen being a "bad fit" isn't likely. It's bad coaching.

The hardest thing to sort out and improve in terms of medicine are diseases with multiple inputs... The dread "multifactorial" disease. I think the same applies this year. I am heartened that the coaches have acknowledged it and already had a consultant to discuss it with back in the season. That leads me to think they will really work on the problem.

 

[BamaMoon]

It is DeBoer's offense, there is less reliance on the running game and putting a ton of responsibility on the QB.

Yes, he had a 1000 yard rusher the year he made it to the title game with Washington.....but he isn't up against Oregon State, Arizona, Washington State, Cal, Michigan State, Stanford etc......he's up against Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Missouri etc......its a different ball game.

He has to adjust to the level of the defenses he's playing, the level of DL's he's going up against.

Can he do that.....sure, if he wants to and has a plan to do so.

But in 2025 we had no chance to run.....and a hurt QB......but he appeared to stick to what he had always done.

Remember his Washington team.....when they finally ran up against an elite defense with an elite DL, they didn't do much. He's facing that regularly in the SEC now.

I've read that said 100 different ways. So the question is "If we understand it, does CKD?"

I suppose he is seeing a need to adjust his philosphy and if he doesn't and we have another struggle bus year on offense, he may not get another year to fix it.

I just think the guy is smarter than we think. But we'll see.

I don't believe we have had bad running backs. Look a Justice Haynes. He goes to Michigan and is one of the best in the country. It's coaching, technique, or the OL and the OL coach. We've had decent running backs. We can't point at all of them as the reason.

Seriously? JH played for UM not Bama last year. Looking at our RBs, none of them, other than D. Hill, seemed to be able to do much. There were holes and opportunities at times, but they rarely made a play. Sometimes a running back and to make a play and it seemed we didn't have even ONE who could do that on a regular basis.

It seems it was just a matter of bad OL play coupled with bad RB play. Then when our QB got hurt, our offense was toast.

 

[bamajas]

The hardest thing to sort out and improve in terms of medicine are diseases with multiple inputs... The dread "multifactorial" disease. I think the same applies this year. I am heartened that the coaches have acknowledged it and already had a consultant to discuss it with back in the season. That leads me to think they will really work on the problem.

And sometimes, those multifactors end up improving with overly simple treatments like hydration or potassium

I could see a scenario where consistency from game to game and physicality/killer mindset would address most of our issues

 

[JDCrimson]

Again, I will reiterate...

1) None of the coaches were on the same page. Grubb is not a run game aficionado so he doesnt know how to make it a reliable staple of the offense.
2) Kap has coached no one noteworthy in his career that moved to the NFL. He mostly worked for small schools and spread type teams where running game is not integral to the offense.
3) I think Gillespie is a good coach and recruiter but he may be teaching the RBs to hit a certain gap ultimately there being no lane there but there being a lane 2 gaps over but we are a step too slow to adjust.
4) The OL are not being taught to fire off the line and move people and probably cant do it anyway.

Its just an overall mess, but if I'm in charge Im changing 1, 2, and 4.

 

[JDCrimson]

"Same things that always win still do, we just keep inventing new excuses for why we didnt win".

 

[tideindc]

The OL opened up very few holes last year, obviously. And perhaps the coaching schemes made things even worse, But I rarely ever saw a rb make the best of a bad situation. Let’s not pretend Mark Ingram, King Henry, Najee Harris, jahmyr Gibbs, Josh Jacobs
or even Brian Robinson couldn’t have squeezed out a bunch more yards than this RB room did.

 

[KrAzY3]

Jess, thanks. What I gathered from your article is there was no commitment to the run game, but IMO, it seemed there were too many times we took the ball out of Ty's hands (when he was relatively on/hot that game) only to run the ball with little to no impact.

To me, at times, we seemed overcommitted to trying to run full well knowing we couldn't. The result was usually being behind the sticks come 3rd down!

I'm sure you've seen me say this a few times, but the lack of commitment has thus far been systematic. Once you remove the "noise" of quarterback runs/scrambles you'll see this level of running back use at every stop.

The issue with that is lack this lack of commitment will lead to a degree of atrophy (another trend, year to year the running game tended to get worse, which is understandable as it's importance in the offense grew smaller). This might not matter as much on the west coast, but the SEC defenses are going to probe every weakness. Once they realized Alabama wasn't just choosing not to run, but they couldn't, it made the offense extremely vulnerable.

So now they were trying to run despite having diminished ability because the defenses were taking advantage of the one-dimensional offense and brutalizing Ty (fourth most sacks given up in the SEC, playing hurt, but no running game to fall back on). A bad position to be in to be sure. However, the only way out is a commitment to the running game. That can't begin mid-season though, it has to begin in the off-season.

 

[BamaMoon]

I'm sure you've seen me say this a few times, but the lack of commitment has thus far been systematic. Once you remove the "noise" of quarterback runs/scrambles you'll see this level of running back use at every stop.

The issue with that is lack this lack of commitment will lead to a degree of atrophy (another trend, year to year the running game tended to get worse, which is understandable as it's importance in the offense grew smaller). This might not matter as much on the west coast, but the SEC defenses are going to probe every weakness. Once they realized Alabama wasn't just choosing not to run, but they couldn't, it made the offense extremely vulnerable.

So now they were trying to run despite having diminished ability because the defenses were taking advantage of the one-dimensional offense and brutalizing Ty (fourth most sacks given up in the SEC, playing hurt, but no running game to fall back on). A bad position to be in to be sure. However, the only way out is a commitment to the running game. That can't begin mid-season though, it has to begin in the off-season.

Which is precisely what I hope we see starting THIS offseason.

 

[merino]

If DeBoer elects to give Kapolovic another year to improve the OL, yet he fails and this team loses 5-6 games in 2026, he won’t have the opportunity to fire him---why, because DeBoer will be canned.

When the overwhelming consensus is that OL was the #1 problem, why is he still here? He should have been terminated prior to opening the portal, as any business, consortium, or institution would have done so based on his performance.

 

[UAinAthens]

I don't claim to fully understand the current way offenses seem to focus on running the ball. I'm from the era when you had a FB and the line focused on creating a single hole, and the RB got there as fast as he can. But what I do know is that there are some basic physics that you just can't ask players to do and expect to be successful.
Back in the Fall, I watched a "The Film Guy" episode break down our running game and there was one play that really stood out. In that play, a tackle pulled from left to right and appeared to try to block the NG back to the left. Not pull around and block up field and hook back, literally try to cross his face and then try to pivot and block the other way.
Now what wasn't clear, because you cannot know from film, is if this was by design or if the lineman was supposed to drive the tackle to the right, missed, and then tried to recover. What happened is the RB tried to cut around the block to the right and was caught in the backfield before he could get to the line.
This offers two options. If its by design, then they are asking for something that I don't believe will ever work. A penetrating NG will blow this play up every time. If its execution, then it is correctable, but I'm wondering why its taking so long.
Are they asking big maulers to be quick pulling linemen?
I don't believe its RB talent, while we're not seeing ton's of broken tackles, I'm not seeing air to run in. Often the RB is racing the defense to the hand off, and when the penetration isn't there, someone hits the back as soon as he clears the line. Something in the play design isn't working, whether its because the play doesn't account for it or the players aren't executing it. And if its execution, why, and why hasn't that been corrected?

 

[Bama_N_Va]

I can't see any of JessN's articles due to using, I assuming, Firefox with ad blockers..

 

[bamamc1]

I'm sure you've seen me say this a few times, but the lack of commitment has thus far been systematic. Once you remove the "noise" of quarterback runs/scrambles you'll see this level of running back use at every stop.

The issue with that is lack this lack of commitment will lead to a degree of atrophy (another trend, year to year the running game tended to get worse, which is understandable as it's importance in the offense grew smaller). This might not matter as much on the west coast, but the SEC defenses are going to probe every weakness. Once they realized Alabama wasn't just choosing not to run, but they couldn't, it made the offense extremely vulnerable.

So now they were trying to run despite having diminished ability because the defenses were taking advantage of the one-dimensional offense and brutalizing Ty (fourth most sacks given up in the SEC, playing hurt, but no running game to fall back on). A bad position to be in to be sure. However, the only way out is a commitment to the running game. That can't begin mid-season though, it has to begin in the off-season.

If the run game doesn’t improve, there will have to be decisions made at the conclusion of next year’s season whether anyone likes it or not. YOU CANNOT COMPETE AT THIS LEVEL WITH ZERO THREAT OF A RUNNING GAME. PERIOD.

 

[Bama9001]

I recall a thread earlier about us suffering from battered QB syndrome. Could we possibly have suffered from battered RB syndrome as well? Just hard to believe we recruited these highly ranked guys that couldn't run a lick, especially late in the season. Seems like just about every running play ended with our RB getting crushed and all the OL standing around watching.

If I were making a guess, I'd say both the OL and the RBs had zero faith in the coaching and the plan. I just can't get my head around the idea that we're headed into year three without a clue how any of these problems get fixed. Bringing Grubb in fixed nothing as far as I can tell.

Yet, we made the playoffs so there's some hope. Give me an OL coach with some history of success and I'll feel a little better. Just can't believe we're heading into year three with more questions than we had in year one. I really fear we're starting to adjust our goals and expectations.