Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama football program is already the SEC’s hottest soap opera, and we’re only heading into Year Two. After the Nick Saban era, expectations in Tuscaloosa are high, and DeBoer’s 2024 debut didn’t exactly have the fanbase singing “Roll Tide” in perfect harmony. Sure, he started with a bang-blowing out Western Kentucky and even snapping Georgia’s 42-game regular-season win streak. But then there was the twist of fate: a loss to Vanderbilt, Alabama’s first in 1984. That’s the sort of thing that lands you a statue in Nashville and a seat warming up in the hot seat at Bryant-Denny. The rest of the year was a rollercoaster, with huge wins, ugly losses (you know who you are, Oklahoma), and a 9–4 finish that ended a 16-year run of double-digit victories.
But hope does spring eternal in Tuscaloosa. DeBoer’s got Ryan Grubb, his reliable Seattle offensive coordinator, and a QB competition that’s more enticing than a Waffle House steak. The 2025 schedule is brutal-seven games against preseason Top 25 opponents-but that’s just another day in the SEC. Alabama’s 2025 season opener is as easy as running the gauntlet blindfolded. Forget coasting into the DeBoer era with a cupcake; no way, the Tide are off to Tallahassee on August 30 to play Florida State in the inaugural contest at the refurbished Doak Campbell Stadium.
Bama DC Wommack had a lot to say about some of the key elements of Alabama at the 2025 Mobile Sports HOF induction banquet. “When you look at our league right now, you’ve got several teams that like to run the ball offensively through the quarterback position, and so that presents another number of challenges,” says Wommack.
Those days of just plopping a big linebacker in the box and calling it a day are gone. Today, half of the league’s quarterbacks are running backs who have more followers on Instagram. “Finding ways to handle things on the back end from a coverage perspective but be structurally sound for the quarterback run game is something that we had to evolve and adapt as the season went on, uh, from a defensive perspective,” Wommack says.
Consider Alabama’s season opener versus Florida State. “Look at our first game of the season against Florida State athletic quarterback…. I know how Gus Malzahn does things from a quarterback run game, Mike Norvell does the same thing,” Wommack says. The ‘Noles just recruited Thomas Castellanos from Boston College, a player who’s as apt to take off for 30 yards as he is to launch a deep ball. Norvell let go off his offensive coordinator after their 2-10 record in the 2024 season. In comes Gus Malzahn with a $6m contract.
Malzahn’s known for calling all sorts of crazy, creative plays, and his teams are always quick, clever, and eager to run the ball a hundred different ways. Wommack’s been pushing the development of depth and experience all spring, but even he’ll admit that playing against a Malzahn offense is an entirely new headache.
Wommack played under Gus Malzahn back in 2006 at Arkansas, working as a fullback in Malzahn’s offense. So, whoever understands what Malzahn enjoys doing, that’s Wommack. He witnessed how Malzahn coaches his quarterbacks to be a legitimate threat in the running game and not stand far away from them and pass only. Malzahn’s playbook is full of option runs, QB counters, and all forms of misdirection that have the quarterback carrying the ball and bothering defenses.
QB battle still brewing
If you thought Alabama’s quarterback situation would calm down after the Saban soap opera, think again. Welcome to the 2025 version of “Who Wants to Be the Tide’s QB1?” featuring Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, and Keelon Russell. Ty Simpson, the redshirt junior and perpetual backup, is finally the favorite, simply because he’s the only man in the room who’s ever actually thrown a pass in an actual game and didn’t run for the portal when things got difficult. And, also, Ryan Grubb has his confidence with him.
Challenging him is Austin Mack. Mack’s got the arm, the stature, and maybe the most NIL cash in the room, but he’s also got a tendency to throw picks in the spring games and has never played one snap against an FBS-level defense. Though Ty’s the man Alabama’s counting on as QB1 for now, DeBoer’s made that pretty well apparent. DeBoer’s not particularly giving him the keys to the kingdom sans Plan B. And Austin Mack and freshman Keelon Russell lie in wait, anticipating the first mistake.
DeBoer and Ryan Grubb are playing the “open competition” card, but everyone knows it’s Ty’s job to lose-at least until he throws his first interception. If they go with the freshman, the veterans might disappear quicker than a plate of ribs at Dreamland. So, buckle up, Tide fans!
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