The Position Group That Starts the 'Swagger' for Alabama Football

Kalen DeBoer outlines the players and positions that set the tone on the Crimson Tide's first day of fall practice.

8/5/26 MFB First fall Practice Alabama Linebacker Caleb Woodson (7) Alabama Defensive Back Bray Hubbard (18) | UA Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Leadership builds, but as Alabama football took the practice fields for the first day of fall camp Wednesday morning, there are some players who stepped up to set the tone right away.

According to head coach Kalen DeBoer, it's some of the players you would expect, but the swagger also starts with one specific position group.

"Bray [Hubbard] definitely," DeBoer said after practice. "Z[abien] B[rown] does it. He's not as vocal, but man, he's got this presence about him and this way. It’s just a great one-two punch there. I think those guys on defense have really brought along others. Dijon. The experience in the secondary is kind of where it starts. That swagger, that’s where it starts."

Alabama brought in multiple players on the defensive line from the portal in USC transfer Devan Thompkins, Oregon transfer Terrance Green and Mississppi State transfer Kedrick Bingley-Jones.

"And then with the new guys joining in with the returners in the front seven, you can see more of that building," DeBoer said. "Guys who have played a lot of snaps fro us in the past and some of the transfers who we expect to also be key performers for us that again, I think, have done a great job of meshing. You know, probably this one of the one of words I’ve used is just meshing with the rest of the group."

On offense, DeBoer said junior wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams and the quarterbacks have been "great" as leaders, but that it's been a slow build on the offensive side of the ball.

"A lot of it’s through the work, and that’s what we’ve asked," DeBoer said. "Jackson Lloyd, I think we expect him and Michael Carroll in the room offensive line-wise, and I think Will [Sanders] will get there too as he gets back in the full go.

"I think there’s other guys that have just stuck to taking care of business. You see Kaleb [Edwards] working, Marshall [Pritchett.] Josh [Ford] has a presence when he’s on the field. Still, kind of like I said, with the defensive line transfers, fitting into his role and does it with his play, maybe more so than with his talk. Running back is probably the same way. Daniel Hill’s had a great offseason I think. Some of those guys right there are just going about their business, going about their work. Being leaders doesn’t always have to mean being vocal, but we’re going to ask that out of them. There’s a progression to it from taking care of their job and then bringing them into it.”

Alabama will hold 18 practices during fall camp throughout August before game-week preparations begin for the season opener against East Carolina. Each of the last two seasons under DeBoer, the team has named its captains (as voted on by the players) before the season starts.

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