Former player Mike Johnson overview on Kalen DeBoer and Bama after two years

[teamplayer]

We looked a lot like playground football at times this season, where nobody runs the ball and everybody goes out for a pass, except in a playground game the quarterback has more time to throw than our QB did, and I agree this staff needs to change course or they will be running off a cliff.

I said our offense often looked like all 11 guys were running different plays, but I like your description, too. I wish the other teams would have had to count to 5 Mississippi before rushing, though. Hahaha

 

[Oregon Tide]

I have only seen 4-5 players that seem to have the Bama pride.

And half of them came from Washington.

 

[NorCalTide]

Some of the best coaching advice I ever got came in my first year coaching. I had all these ideas about what we could do and the HC said, "It doesn't matter what we do, we can do all of these things and they can all work. What matters is that we coach it well, have the players to execute the system, and that the players buy in. Whatever we decide to do will work if those things happen."

We can't run the ball because we didn't have the running back room we have consistently had since the time of Shawn Alexander, we had an offensive line that was not coached particularly well, and the players certainly didn't buy into what it took to win running the ball. That is perhaps the greatest thing Cignetti did at Indiana, is he got players that matched the DNA of what his programs system and culture needed to be successful. That was also a tremendous strength of CNS. A player might be a great player, but we don't want him if he doesn't match our DNA.

I am beyond intrigued of what CKD's Bama team's DNA will be this year. This is it. Year Three, most players on the roster are now "his" guys. The transition excuses go out the window and it is put up or shut up. You want to run the ball downhill, then he better have the players to do it, coach them up and make sure they have the intangibles and buy in he wants. If he doesn't care about downhill power game, then fine you better have the guys that can run circles around other teams. Either way, this is now his program and whatever direction they choose, it better be 100% in that direction and not rudderless or this will be it for the staff.

The last thing we want is for this job to be reopen next year, because that will mean we will have a roster without direction that will be emptied into the portal and a new staff coming into a full rebuild. So I am absolutely hoping he figures this out this year because the alternative isn't good at all.

 

[editder]

In 2008 the SEC was not nearly the bear, in terms of parity and the number of good teams, that it has been since 2023. There were maybe 3 or 4 teams that could compete for an SEC title; today there are 8 or 9. In 08 four teams finished ranked, with an additional team receiving votes, in 25 seven teams finished ranked, with 2 more receiving votes. Since 2008 OU, Texas, Texas A&M and Missouri have been added. All 4 are a legitimate threat, with 3 having made the Playoff in 1 of the last 2 years.

Not saying that Saban didn’t do a better job, maybe so, but 2008 was a completely different world both in the SEC and college football in general is unrecognizable. Even Vandy and OM and occasionally USC are threats today. UK and MSU have upgraded it appears.

My post was about the advantages of having a physical rather than a soft team and of developing and making the most of the players you have, not about how strong or weak the SEC is now compared to back then or how much college football has changed.

But if anything, despite how much college football has been ruined in other ways, it’s much easier now to remake a team from one year to the next than it was back then, when you had to live with what you had and the freshmen you brought in.

 

[BamaInBham]

Some of the best coaching advice I ever got came in my first year coaching. I had all these ideas about what we could do and the HC said, "It doesn't matter what we do, we can do all of these things and they can all work. What matters is that we coach it well, have the players to execute the system, and that the players buy in. Whatever we decide to do will work if those things happen."

We can't run the ball because we didn't have the running back room we have consistently had since the time of Shawn Alexander, we had an offensive line that was not coached particularly well, and the players certainly didn't buy into what it took to win running the ball. That is perhaps the greatest thing Cignetti did at Indiana, is he got players that matched the DNA of what his programs system and culture needed to be successful. That was also a tremendous strength of CNS. A player might be a great player, but we don't want him if he doesn't match our DNA.

I am beyond intrigued of what CKD's Bama team's DNA will be this year. This is it. Year Three, most players on the roster are now "his" guys. The transition excuses go out the window and it is put up or shut up. You want to run the ball downhill, then he better have the players to do it, coach them up and make sure they have the intangibles and buy in he wants. If he doesn't care about downhill power game, then fine you better have the guys that can run circles around other teams. Either way, this is now his program and whatever direction they choose, it better be 100% in that direction and not rudderless or this will be it for the staff.

The last thing we want is for this job to be reopen next year, because that will mean we will have a roster without direction that will be emptied into the portal and a new staff coming into a full rebuild. So I am absolutely hoping he figures this out this year because the alternative isn't good at all.

Barring a season collapse, e.g., 6-6, or something like that, IMO, it would be folly to fire him and I think the athletic adm and University higher ups will wisely ignore fan unrest and give him a 4th or 5th year. The cost of changing staffs is so high now, with the likely departure of the vast majority of the meaningful players, that you want to give your current staff every opportunity to succeed. This is especially true at this time of upheaval in the college football.

Alabama had the lowest player payroll of the 10 P4 programs who made the Playoff this year at just above $20M. I think Miami was highest at -$33M. Indiana was 9th at -$22M. IMO, Indiana was a special case not likely to be repeated. In fact, we know that they have ?significantly? increased their spending because they know it.

We saw where Ala had to back off a good, not great, RB they needed, also a good, not great, LT. Both because of money. We knew Texas could back Ala down, So Car was something else. A prominent Texas Tech booster was reported to have said during portal activity, “Alabama can’t compete”. Time will tell.

If Alabama’s resources remain at their current levels and the college football NIL structure remains as is or as many of the big spenders want, becomes even less restrictive, Alabama will become even less attractive to any prospective replacement coach. And their allure has already been greatly reduced because tradition, an invested fan base, etc., has already been largely replaced by money.

Alabama would likely not even have the stumbling, staggering success that Michigan and PSU fell into in their most recent HC’ing searches. She would have to line up with others on their knees hoping for the 3rd or 4th best G6 candidate, according to how much NIL resources she could promise; or bet on the potential of an emerging assistant. But many would be leary of a fan base who wanted to get rid of a coach who had made the playoff the year before - there might be many who would understandably pass. We saw what UF and AU had to settle for. They fell out of the LK sweepstakes being outbid by LSU’s big NIL promise.

Kalen DeBoer, with his shortcomings and different philosophical approaches, is a legitimately good P4 HC. How good no one knows yet. I personally would be stunned if Alabama was able to replace him with someone of equal stature, especially in light of the current world and Alabama’s diminished place in it.

I’m sure the University itself is watching all with bated breath because Alabama may be more dependent on football than any other in the country. Where are they going to put their resources, or more importantly, where is she going to get them, and at what cost?

 

[BamaInBham]

My post was about the advantages of having a physical rather than a soft team and of developing and making the most of the players you have, not about how strong or weak the SEC is now compared to back then or how much college football has changed.

But if anything, despite how much college football has been ruined in other ways, it’s much easier now to remake a team from one year to the next than it was back then, when you had to live with what you had and the freshmen you brought in.

You compared what CNS and CKD did early in their tenures, making their results relative. I was only long-windedly pointing out that their records did not relate well because of the vast difference between the SEC of 2008 vs 2025. There are other points of interest as well but that is a big one.

(Btw, I do agree that Saban did a great job with mediocre to good talent in 2008. I actually thought he did a spectacular job in 2007 until the collapse just before the half vs MSU. They never recovered. Against LSU, the eventual NCs that year, they were within a 4th and 4 stop from winning the SEC West. Ala had at most 3 players who would start for LSU. UGA, who would end up 2 or 3, was taken to OT by an Ala almost devoid of big time talent. Andre Smith was it. I remember saying when Ala took the lead in the 4th qtr (I believe on a Javy PR for a TD.), “it can’t be this easy.”.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

The main issue I have now is we're stuck in this two differing realities and I'm not sure I can recall a point where Alabama football existed in such a state. May be it's social media, I don't know, but I can't recall a point where you could get things like two sets of reporters or insiders or what have you repeatedly claiming two completely contradictory things. It's weird and it leads to a rather unsettling position of how exactly did we get here?

For instance starting with the head coach search I've seen these two things put out there.

A: Alabama offered Dan Lanning, he said no. They then moved on to DeBoer due to some obvious concerns with Kiffin. That I can follow, if that's how it went down I can at least say hey look they saw a high IQ coach and someone that's had some degree of success and as a plan B it wasn't a bad move (the contract was bad, but what ever...). May be I'd have liked a bit more of a deep dive with candidates, this and that, but if that's the process I can follow it and I can get behind it.

B: I've seen a national reporter claim that DeBoer and Norvell were always #1 and #2 on the list. If that's the case the entire search was a train-wreck! You can't just look at who had the best past season and hire those guys! That's horrible, you need to really dig into these guy's resumes and look deep and if you did that Norvell would have always been near the bottom of the list. That's recency bias at it's worst. If I believe that report though, there are people who will call me out because their version differs, even though it's not even been reported as such on the national level. So which is it? I have no idea.

The Smothers thing, I've seen multiple versions of how that went down. All I know for sure if they announced his addition before he was signed.

I've heard multiple version of whether or not there will be coaching changes, etc... You might get called out there as well if you address valid concerns.

This uncertainty is kind of reflected in how this team performs in truth. You never know what you're going to get! They're inconsistent, it's one thing if they were consistently bad, or consistently good, but they're just not consistent!

There are basically two possibilities here though.

A: DeBoer is trying to recreate the Washington team.
This always terrified me. This is why I was hesitant. That was a fatally flawed Washington team. They managed to win 10 games in a row by 10 or less, that's a heck of a run, then they got dismantled by Michigan. Their second leading rusher was a receiver, their third leader in rushing attempts was the QB with 35. This team had a lot of the same flaws, it was just dressed up better. If Alabama hired him to try to do that here, they screwed up. No way around that because I don't see how you win at the consistent level it takes to succeed in the conference and in the playoffs with that kind of football.

B: They do see the problems and they are trying to fix them.
RB room didn't change much, OL did. I guess we'll see if they change coaches and what not. I'm worried though because if they don't make real changes, the indication is they're basically looking at it like they're almost there. A few more tweaks and they can achieve west coast football! That ain't gonna work...

SEC Football is evolving, the National trend is away from the West Coast Offense, throw the ball all over the field, and back to a Tough Guy smash mouth football. I fail to see top rated High School Running Backs showing much interest in a team that passes the whole game. If we expect to control the clock, we need to be able to put the ball in the hands of a runner and run over players going into the endzone.
(I'm reminded of a Pop Song.
'LET'S GET PHYSICAL' by Olivia Newton John)
We Ain't Physical... Not by a long shot!

 

[Tug Tide]

SEC Football is evolving, the National trend is away from the West Coast Offense, throw the ball all over the field, and back to a Tough Guy smash mouth football. I fail to see top rated High School Running Backs showing much interest in a team that passes the whole game. If we expect to control the clock, we need to be able to put the ball in the hands of a runner and run over players going into the endzone.
(I'm reminded of a Pop Song.
'LET'S GET PHYSICAL' by Olivia Newton John)
We Ain't Physical... Not by a long shot!

They did just sign the number 2 RB in the nation?

 

[KrAzY3]

They did just sign the number 2 RB in the nation?

That doesn't make the team physical or dedicated to a balanced offense though. Alabama had Justice Haynes (On3's #2 ranked RB) on the roster and used him sparingly. He transfers out, he averages 7 YPC and was third in the nation in rushing yards when he got injured.

I don't know what this team will look like with all the changes they made, but I'm waiting to see actual physical play and dedication to the running game before I'm truly happy with how things are. They had talent, that wasn't the problem, it was how the talent was used that was the problem.

 

[Tidewater]

- Grubb no running game in Seattle.....now they have a running game.

But I bet Seattle won't go anywhere in the playoffs this year.

 

[Tidewater]

Listening to that interview, lots of question marks in the area of o-line.
They could do well. Or we could have a few misses in the recruiting/transfer portal.
I think the key is going to be scheme and coaching the players we have.
With an o-line with very little continuity together and, by definition, a new starting QB, this could be a painful year.
Or, it could be a great year. A lot depends on coaching.