Happy Thursday, everyone. Over the weekend, GM Courtney Morgan spoke about the culture that he is working with Kalen DeBoer to build. Yesterday, strength coach David Ballou gave some insight into the different dynamic of DeBoer’s first full offseason in Tuscaloosa and how accountability has been raised.
The bridge year between Nick Saban and DeBoer proved challenging in the era of the transfer portal. Alabama players had the ability to transfer out after Saban retired but the Crimson Tide didn’t have
a ripe transfer portal market to fill those spots. So Alabama had to try to keep the roster intact as much as possible.
“You had to almost be in a position of, ‘this is why you need to stay here’ and be in that mode,” Ballou said. “Honestly that mode kind of lasted for a while. It’s the nature of college football nowadays.”
Once 2024 ended, Alabama hit reset.
“We were done with that,” Ballou said. “To be very honest, it was, ‘This is how we’re going to do things. If you don’t want to be here, leave.’”
“I think accountability was the No. 1 emphasis and still is today,” Ballou said Wednesday while joining Hey Coach on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. “It’s going to be important as it is the rest of the season.”
The Crimson Tide used that point of emphasis fresh off a 2024 season in which Alabama finished 9-4 and missed the College Football Playoff. After the way the season ended, Ballou and many others in the building knew they had to get on the right track.
“‘What just happened wasn’t good enough,’” Ballou said to the team. “There were some things that were addressed.”
Ballou said the offseason since has been tough because he and the Alabama staff have strived to challenge the players.
“We’ve tried to put them in uncomfortable situations,” Ballou said. “We’ve tried to give them conflict, and we tried our best to pressure on them on a day-to-day basis. That’s what this is place is. That’s what they’re going to see here when we get started here very soon.”
We’ll see how it looks on Saturdays, but that 30 day special one-way transfer portal certainly creates a difficult situation in any coaching transition. All of the right things are being said right now.
Kane Wommack spoke to media yesterday as well. James Smith is back working, and the DC expects big things from him.
“James is doing a really nice job,” Wommack said. “Was dinged up there for a couple of days and has come back nicely. Has kind of hit all the markers he needed to hit. We got him back out on the field the other day and he looked fresh. Fresh legs.”2/2
James Smith is expected to be a key piece on the defensive line for Alabama this season. The former five-star recruit is getting ready to enter his third season in Tuscaloosa, primed for a breakout year in a potentially expanded role.
In addition to the injury update, Wommack also had a glowing review of Smith’s game overall. He believes the lineman will be a disruptive force in causing chaos for opposing offenses.
“He’s such a havoc-style player,” Wommack said. “He can create and generate a lot of havoc in the backfield, which is something I’m excited about in how we’re gonna utilize him in that role.”
Wommack also talked about DBs, and there has been an interesting development lately.
“When you get guys like Zabien Brown or Dijon Lee, it’s impressive to me the level of discipline and commitment through their upbringing, whenever they started playing sports … to the level of urgency and detail that those guys carry,” Wommack said.
What separates Brown and Lee from the rest, Wommack said, is their ability to fix mistakes and sustain corrections.
Wommack doesn’t lower his expectations for freshmen. Instead, if an Alabama first-year meets the expectations Wommack has, he said, they will see the field, something Lee has apparently done.
“Guys that are consistent, guys that can make plays, they are the the ones that are going to play,” Wommack said. “If they happen to be a freshman, it’s awesome.”
After Alabama’s second fall scrimmage, cornerback Zabien Brown was seen working at the nickel cornerback position during fall camp with true freshman Dijon Lee taking outside corner reps with Domani Jackson.
Wommack said “there’s a time and a place to get your best cover (cornerbacks) on the field,” and that the Crimson Tide is exploring every potential option and be ready to execute.
Utah transfer cornerback Cam Calhoun has also been cross-training at husky along with Jones and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.
“You go back and you look, okay, what’s the best option to get the best two-deep across the board?” Wommack said. “How do we get the best players on the field? Cam’s certainly gonna be a part of that equation, probably in multiple areas.”
It sounds like Lee is proving to be too good to stay on the bench. If that is the case and he’s good enough to slide Zabien inside, this secondary is going to be unreal with quality depth everywhere. Getting some young guys in will pay dividends next year as well when several upperclassmen depart.
Jah-Marien Latham is going to be a versatile piece this season, playing both inside and outside. He even described a pass rush package where he plays nose.
“We have a cheetah package where I go to nose,” Latham said Wednesday.
A cheetah package isn’t a new concept in Tuscaloosa. Nick Saban had one too. The players might be different but the goal remains the same: To get the best pass rushers on the field at the same time.
“To get pressure on the quarterback and get sacks,” Latham said. “We’ve just got a lot of fast skilled guys out there we think can get to the quarterback. Got a lot of guys in the backfield we know who can cover. A way to get off the field on third down.”
Stewart Mandel is bullish on the Tide this season.
Alabama: Kalen DeBoer’s 9-4 debut was a disaster, particularly on offense. But it’s a big deal that he’s reuniting with his former Washington offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb. Bama has a great receiving corps led by Ryan Williams, a huge offensive line and a defense teeming with vets like linebacker Deontae Lawson and defensive tackle Tim Keenan III. I’m all in on a Tide bounce-back.
Last, perhaps we finally got some positive College Football Playoff news.
In the current schedule strength metric, more weight will now be applied to games against strong opponents. A new, added metric of “record strength” will help the committee determine how teams performed against their schedule, rewarding those that beat high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty of losing to one. These changes will also provide minimal reward for beating a lower-quality opponent while imposing a greater penalty for losing to one.
Historically, the selection committee typically has evaluated in this manner, but adding it to a computerized metric should help codify the process publicly. It could also incentivize athletic directors to continue to schedule marquee matchups between blue-blood programs without fear of being penalized for a loss in the committee meeting room. This is something some FBS commissioners have been publicly pushing for and the CFP has been working on over the past six months.
If they are actually going to use data to analyze schedule strength, this is going to be very good for SEC teams. This has been in the works for a few months and explains Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti’s various hissy fits. Last season, opponent adjusted SP+ had 13 SEC teams in the top 29. If they actually implement this, the SEC is going to hog a bunch of at large bids and people will be very angry about it.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
