Jumbo Package: Alabama likely a fringe top-ten team going into 2025

First up, check out the podcast here with Alabama TE/FB, Robbie Ouzts. We didn’t get many press conferences from Robbie during his time at Alabama, so seeing his new pro team going a little geeky with excitement about him (seriously, they are PUMPED about getting a fullback after the Ryan Grubb offense debacle last year) has been fun to watch.

By virtue of supply and demand, Ouzts is the most likely Alabama rookie to make the Pro Bowl this year – there are like 6 total fullbacks in the league.

We also got a few quotes from Coach DeBoer about Jalen Milroe:

“He’s a guy of humility and knows he doesn’t have it all figured out yet,” DeBoer said. “That’s what’s going to allow him to continue to grow, continue to get better. But he’s got the tools.

“He does some crazy special things, things that no one else can really do, especially when it comes to running the football. So I know he’ll keep working, and he’ll make everyone up there proud and us, as well.”

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If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited that my favorite pro team drafted a couple of players from my college team.

We are TRULY in the offseason now, so we’re out here hanging on to quick interview snippets from Kalen DeBoer as he’s out at a charity golf tournament.

“You really start getting into who your team is,” DeBoer said. “And I just think that these guys are doing a great job of continuing to build relationships. I think the coaching staff is doing a great job of developing these guys, where they feel like, ‘Man, there’s value I can bring to the team’ (by staying).

“And so this spring was really good in a lot of ways. There’s areas we’ve got to continue to improve in a big way on, but I really like the direction. A lot of it is just that chemistry, that makeup of who we are. And that allows us to (in) those critical times when we came up short a year ago, find ways to win those football games, because that’s really what’s going to come down to in the SEC.”

I do really like that the team managed to keep the whole team out of the transfer portal this spring. It’s a testament to building the program so that all of those players feel like they have a path forward and a chance to grow. It’s a small thing, but it’s a good sign of good things going on in the background.

Next, Tide 100.9 FM is working through an article series talking about each position group and gathering up quotes from DeBoer over the last few months.

In Kane Womack’s 4-2-5 “swarm” defense, the Tide use a Wolf as a strong side linebacker and more of a hybrid who can come to the line and rush off the edge but also drop back into coverage. But with the departure of Que Robinson to the NFL Draft, Alabama will be looking for a new Wolf. Redshirt junior linebacker Qua Russaw looks to be the new leader in the room, but he will need more production on edge rushing than he did last year, with the junior only coming away with one sack in the 2024 season. But Russaw did look impressive in coverage, coming away with two interceptions in his sophomore season.

Jah-Marien Latham was recently shifted from Bandit, where he had one sack and 28 tackles in 2024, during bowl practices in December, and it appears that he will remain in this position for the 2025 season. The 6-foot-3, 280-pounder will aim to bring some size to Wolf.

Yhonzae Pierre is entering his redshirt sophomore year, with the four-star pledge from the class of 2022 providing some defensive output for the Tide last season, earning six tackles and two pass breakups. Pierre could have a strong third year with more reps.

I’m particularly interested in how Kane Wommack handles the Wolf and Bandit positions this year, as it seems the Tide has more players than snaps available… And there are a lot of different body types that he could use in different ways. Who winds up getting snaps will go a long ways toward showing what Wommack intends as an ideal scheme.

Russaw is expected to be the starter, but he displayed more ability as a edge setter in the run game than a pure pass rusher. Meanwhile, Jah-Marien Latham has been a defensive lineman his whole career that’s now slimmed down a little.

Pierre, and a trio of young players in Noah Carter, Fatutoa Henry, and Justin Hill round out the group as potentially more “bendy” pass rushers. Where will the snaps go? It’ll be fascinating to watch.

Moving to offense, Joel Klatt recently ranked Alabama #9 overall, with the combination of Ryan Grubb and Ty Simpson being the ultimate decider of a wide range of outcomes for the Tide (shocker)

Grubb will undoubtedly make a difference for the Tide. See, offensive football, especially in terms of coordinating, is very different than any other part of coaching the sport.

Offensive coordinators are rarely, ra-ra, in-your-face kind of coaches. They are abstract. They are creators, even artists if you will. And last year, Kalen DeBoer was a painter who didn’t have all the colors at his disposal.

With Grubb, he will.

It sounds cliche or corny, but there is a reason why, especially in college football, you see coaches constantly stick together or hire former people they worked with in their new role. Its a very, and I mean very tight-knit fraternity and it was clear that DeBoer missed his right-hand man last year.

He’ll have him back in 2025.

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Ryan Grubb has almost been Alabama’s OC the last couple of seasons, so he’s become something of a Great White Buffalo for Alabama fans, and there’s now a lot of optimism that he fixes many of the Tide’s offensive woes the last two years. While he should be a stark improvement over Alabama’s last two OCs just with his years of experience alone, his disaster in the pros last year is a bit worrying.

Still, there’s a lot of room for optimism after looking at his results as DeBoer’s coordinator at multiple other stops.

Meanwhile, Alabama GM Courtney Morgan is going cryptic on us, tweeting out a “mitts off” statement out of the blue.

What might the occasion be? Was Morgan visiting a recruit or two that may have given him some good news? Did he get a massive NIL donation for discretionary spending? The world may never know. But hey, usually when Alabama staffers start tweeting cryptically, good things follow.

Roll Tide!