The University of Alabama is starting a new chapter in 2024 under Kalen DeBoer. The fans are holding their breath to see if the end will bring tears of joy… or just tears.
Who knows if the college football GOAT head coach Nick Saban, quarterback Jalen Milroe, and the Alabama Crimson Tide would have defeated Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies, coached by now head coach DeBoer, in the College Football Championship game, but many Bama fans probably relive what could have been. The way Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines manhandled the Huskies 34-13, it’s not hard to imagine that the Tide were an overtime win away from sending Saban off into the sunset with one more championship trophy for his unrivaled mantlepiece. (Also don’t forget, Michigan only sent it to overtime after a game-tying touchdown with less than two minutes.)
Now one of the most storied college football programs is turning a new page under DeBoer. Saban is gone. A host of players, including team receptions leader, wide receiver Isaiah Bond, who went to the rival Texas Longhorns, and highly effective running back Roydell Williams, who chose the Florida State Seminoles, transferred out in the wake of their legendary coach’s retirement. And history has not been kind to programs trying to replace all-time greats. Just ask Florida, Florida State, USC, and Nebraska.
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But all is not doom and gloom for the Tide. Incoming wunderkind head coach Kalen Deboer hasn’t just been successful in his previous postings at Washington and Fresno State. He’s been successful at every level. A 104-12 record as a college head coach doesn’t happen by accident. And the Tide have more than dual-threat QB Jalen Milroe returning, who was asked not to lose for much of last season. Do-it-all linebacker and Butkus Award semifinalist Deontae Lawson and incoming All-American and Joe Moore Award co-winner offensive lineman Parker Brailsford will bring leadership and experience to a talented team that is still a pre-season top 10. With the right strategy, the Tide should make the playoffs. And they could win it all.
Improved play from the offensive line
In 2024, Alabama gave up 48 sacks, the most for the Tide since sacks became an official statistic in 1980. On top of that, this year they’re only returning three experienced linemen in Brailsford, left guard Tyler Booker, and offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor, who reversed course and returned to Alabama after the “worst decision” transferring to his home-state Iowa Hawkeyes for a couple of months. Before the Proctor about-face, eight of the 13 scholarship players were true or redshirt freshmen.
It will be essential for this young unit to gel and improve on a lackluster 2023 performance in order to give Jalen Milroe more opportunities to use his legs and arm to score points. Fortunately for the Tide, they only play one projected top-eight defensive unit during the regular season (Georgia), but you can bet stout defensive units like Ohio State and Oregon will be waiting in the playoffs.
A return to defensive dominance
The old adage that defense wins championships isn’t just a myth. The last three CFP Champions have all had the No. 1 overall ranked defense at year’s end. When Alabama won championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015, they had the No. 1 ranked defense. They were No. 2 in 2017 when they won it again. In fact, the lowest ranked defensive team to win the championship in the last decade was Alabama in 2020, when they were ranked 16th. And that was a significant outlier. In 2023 the Tide ranked 18th in yards per game and 17th in points per game. If history and data hold true, a repeat of those numbers won’t be nearly good enough to hoist the trophy at the end of the 2024 season.
Beat Georgia… then pull for them
Every schedule in the SEC is tough, but Alabama caught two breaks in 2024 that could help them not only book a spot in the college football playoff, but secure one of the coveted first-round byes. They don’t play Texas and they get Georgia in Tuscaloosa.
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Current best-in-class SEC coach Kirby Smart, top NFL draft prospect Carson Beck, and the Georgia Bulldogs will have revenge on their minds after a defeat to Alabama in the SEC championship game kept them out of the CFP at the end of the 2023 season. But with this game at home, Alabama might just have the edge they need to pull off the upset. Then they can hold their noses and cheer on their hated rivals when the Bulldogs take on the Longhorns in October. With hypothetically one loss apiece, Alabama could earn an extra week of rest during the first round of the playoffs and boost their chances at lifting the trophy yet again if they win the SEC Championship.
One way or another, the story of the Kalen Deboer era is about to begin at Alabama. There wouldn’t be a better way to start a new chapter than with another championship. This time on DeBoer’s mantlepiece.
