How Alabama is Embracing Toughness to Regain Its Edge in College Football

TAMPA, Fla. — Kalen DeBoer hadn't taken a single question Wednesday morning when he brought up the word himself, standing at the podium inside the Tampa Marriott for his turn at SEC Media Days.

“I think there is a toughness,” DeBoer said. “There is a culture that exists you don’t win that many games in our conference without, and we want to continue to build.”

He would field several more questions about that same word before the morning was over. Two years removed from Nick Saban's retirement, Alabama is still carrying the weight of "The Standard" everywhere it goes, and still being asked to explain a concept that used to require no explanation at all. For 17 seasons under Saban, toughness showed up on Saturdays, not in a press conference. Two years into the DeBoer era, it's become the first thing reporters want him to defend.

The reason isn't hard to find. Alabama's rushing attack ranked near the bottom of the SEC last season, and the explosive plays that used to define Crimson Tide football all but disappeared. Alabama finished No. 125 in all of FBS in rushing yards per game last season, averaging 104.13.

That concern had been building for two seasons, and it became impossible to explain once Indiana physically dismantled Alabama in the College Football Playoff, a Rose Bowl loss that stands as the most lopsided defeat in program history.

Bray Hubbard, one of the defensive leaders who represented the program in Tampa, called it a tough loss to swallow but said the team spent time afterward with defensive coordinator Kane Wommack breaking down what went wrong.

“I mean, that was definitely a tough loss, which you've still got to learn from it," Hubbard said. "I was talking to coach (defensive coordinator Kane) Wommack after the game and we were just kind of talking about different things that went wrong during the game. It just comes down to execution and guys just focusing on their job, but that's what you need all year.”

DeBoer hasn't tried to talk around any of it. Fixing the run game, he's said throughout the offseason, is his top priority, not just for its own sake but because he believes it would ease the burden on whoever plays quarterback this fall.

Alabama leaned heavily on Ty Simpson's arm a season ago, and that formula got the Tide to the SEC Championship Game and into the Rose Bowl. It wasn't enough to finish either fight.

“We've got to be able to execute better in the run game,” DeBoer said. “I think that is a mindset that’s something where I feel like we got the talent, we got the schemes, the schematics. We've got the people that can pull the trigger on things, whether it’s coaches or players.”

Alabama lost left tackle Kadyn Proctor as a first-round NFL Draft pick and center Parker Brailsford to the league as well, and DeBoer responded by adding new pieces up front and hiring Adrian Klemm to rebuild the offensive line. He pointed to returners like Michael Carroll and William Sanders, who each played meaningful snaps last season, along with newcomer Jackson Lloyd as players who have shown the willingness to be coached that he's looking for.

DeBoer was honest that last year's constant shuffling up front was driven by injuries as much as performance, and that finding a group that communicates at a high level and settles into fixed roles is the goal of fall camp.

“Last year we had a number of guys that were in the mix, in the rotation...and there is a piece to it where we were trying to find the right combinations, but there was also a lot of times where it was out of necessity, injuries and other ways we needed to make those changes,” DeBoer said.

“Hopefully we can find a group here in fall camp that really gels well together, is the best unit as a whole. When communication is made, it’s understood and it’s communicated at a high level to where everyone is on the same page, can go out there and do their jobs.”

Alabama brought three players to Tampa to represent the program this week, and each one landed on nearly the same answer when the toughness question came their way, without any of them leaning on what the others had said.

Junior receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams said his focus this year is simply on being consistent day in and day out, trusting that the results take care of themselves if the work is there. He's also carrying a full-course load toward a December graduation, just two-and-a-half years after enrolling, something DeBoer specifically praised him for from the podium.

"Bringing your work hat," Coleman-Williams said.

Junior defensive back Zabien Brown, who has intercepted passes in some of the program's biggest wins over the past two seasons, said the standard in the SEC never really changes: every game comes down to a handful of plays and whoever executes when it matters most usually wins.

"The work you put in every day," Brown said.

Hubbard, a senior safety who is finishing a master's degree in December, said he has tried to lead by staying even-keeled regardless of whether the team is riding high or facing adversity, something he said his teammates watch for and mirror. He also credited two years of shared reps in the secondary with Brown, safety Keon Sabb and defensive back Red Morgan for the communication that lets the unit play fast.

"Play physical all, all year long," Hubbard said.

DeBoer and his players weren't the only ones circling the subject in Tampa this week. Nick Saban, now an ESPN analyst, offered a measured evaluation of DeBoer's first two seasons, acknowledging how difficult it is to follow what he built while crediting DeBoer for taking on the challenge in the first place.

Whether any of it holds up will be tested quickly. Alabama opens Sept. 5 against East Carolina, then travels to Kentucky for its SEC opener before hosting Florida State and South Carolina.

Whoever wins the quarterback job, Keelon Russell or Austin Mack, will need those early tests decided at the line of scrimmage and not just through the air, if Alabama hopes to avoid leaning on one arm the way it leaned on Simpson's a season ago.

DeBoer isn't selling any false comfort about where things stand. He's acknowledged the doubt surrounding this team is fair, given how high the bar has always been set in Tuscaloosa. What Alabama is chasing is proving its internal expectations haven't changed either, and that chase starts up front, in the same trenches where the standard was built in the first place.

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