What Kane Wommack Thinks Kept Alabama from Being Great Last Season

Alabama went 9-4 in Kalen DeBoer's first season with multiple ranked wins but multiple unranked losses.

Oklahoma Sooners running back Gavin Sawchuk (27) is brought down by Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Jihaad Campbell (11) and defensive back Domani Jackson (1) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Oklahoma won 24-3. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  Alabama truly experienced the highs and lows of what a college football season can bring in Year 1 under Kalen DeBoer last season.

The Crimson Tide rose to No. 1 in the polls after knocking off Georgia at home, but then lost to Vanderbilt on the road the next week. Alabama scored a huge road win at LSU, blowing out the Tigers to set up a path to the 2-seed in the College Football Playoff if it could win out. However, Alabama lost to a .500 Oklahoma team two weeks later, which ended up being what kept the Tide out of the CFP.

"I think the biggest experience we can all gain from last season is there has to be a sense of urgency to do the same high-level job every single day," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said after Friday's spring practice. "I don’t think it was malicious by anybody from a standpoint of maybe you have a good day here, or you’re focused here, or walking into this game versus that game. But when you have success, it should breed a sense of urgency to create more success for you. And I don’t think we handled success well as a team collectively, and I think that hurt us on the field. It obviously hurt us on the field.

"Those are the type of things that you want to build in these young players is an understanding that, take the experiences you’ve had and apply them to have a sense of urgency— not a panic, but a sense of urgency to attack every single rep over and over and over again. That, to me, is what has kept us from being great a year ago.”

Alabama showed flashes of greatness, particularly in the wins against Georgia and LSU, proving that it could not only compete with, but beat some of the best teams in the country. But that consistency didn't carry over from game to game.

The inconsistency and lack of urgency led to a 9-4 record and Alabama's highest loss total since Nick Saban's first season in 2007.

"We’ve got to be more consistent at the end of the day," Alabama safety Bray Hubbard said. "You could say not handling success or whatever, but it’s really just being consistent in our game, and that’s something we definitely have to work on. You have to play each game and attack each week consistently, or you’re going to have falloffs. We’re getting everything right.  Being more consistent, that’s one of the things that we gotta work on for sure."