lets not get ahead of ourselves with Kalen DeBoer and his new-old offensive coordinator.
People are already talking about Alabama being back in the mix for a national title. Really? After everything we’ve seen?
Ryan Grubb is that good?
Then why did he get fired so quickly from the Seattle Seahawks?
With DeBoer, I’m not going to make the mistake of setting the bar too high at Alabama for a second year in a row. Turns out, his shining record in the Pac-12 meant little to nothing in the SEC. There is positive momentum once again in Tuscaloosa, but let’s start small. I just want to know if Grubb gives DeBoer the inside track on beating Vanderbilt.
Alabama intimidated the Vanderbilts of the college football world during the Saban Era. Vandy’s win against Alabama last season wasn’t some miracle caused by a fluke or a bad call. The Dores physically dominated DeBoer’s Alabama.
In one night, Alabama lost its mystique. This spring, job No.1 for DeBoer and Grubb will be to rekindle that flame.
DeBoer lost four games in his first season at Alabama with a returning starter at quarterback who led Alabama to the 2023 College Football Playoff. Before DeBoer, a lot of people considered Jalen Milroe to be one of the preseason favorites for the Heisman Trophy. After the Senior Bowl, Milroe looks like a second-day draft pick.
Maybe DeBoer had a Milroe problem all along, but it seems like the best coaches always figure out a way to make the most of their personnel. With DeBoer, Alabama underperformed time and again in 2024.
It’s only his second year but DeBoer is already out of excuses. In 2025, the bottom line is this. DeBoer can’t afford to lose games he’s supposed to win.
Fired by the Seahawks after one season, Grubb is on his way to Alabama to save the day.
Grubb is the former University of Washington offensive coordinator who Nick Saban wanted to hire in 2023, and DeBoer wanted to bring along last year. It took unemployment to finally coax Grubb down South. If Alabama loses to Vandy for the second straight year, then it might be a short visit.
DeBoer goes into Year Two in Tuscaloosa with the highest rated freshman quarterback in the country and now old buddy Grubb calling plays. But how is Grubb suddenly going to make this offense tougher? A freshman quarterback doesn’t seem like the answer to Alabama’s biggest problem.
There is a trend in college football towards the power run, but Grubb was fired from Seattle because he couldn’t adjust.
The Seahawks started the 2024 season with one of the flashiest offenses in the league. But when teams began adjusting to Grubb’s schemes, and he didn’t have an answer. As one Seattle blogger pointed out, Seattle’s offensive production bottomed out when teams began daring Grubb to run the ball.
Will Grubb run the ball at Alabama? No doubt DeBoer and Grubb will have an answer this spring, but running back Jam Miller averaging 51.4 yards per game in 2024. Milroe led the team in rushing (55.85) but, let’s be real. For all of Milroe’s talent, he was a liability with the ball in his hands.
DeBoer and Saban are polar opposites in many ways, but with the addition of Grubb a common thread is emerging — hiring friends who need jobs. Saban could win with anyone, though. Even the combination of offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and Milroe. Even Lane Kiffin and Derrick Henry.
DeBoer and Grubb have worked to do, but all we’ve really seen from Alabama is the troubling emergence of a diva culture driven by the chase for NIL riches.