Alabama attacks 2026 from a very strange spot, because that little Playoff berth this past season isn’t going to stop big questions from being asked about Kalen DeBoer‘s ability to get this program back to the Nick Saban Standard.
That’s what happens when you get thumped in Week 1 by a Florida State team that didn’t turn out to be very good. And when you kick the ball around in a slop fest of a home loss to Oklahoma in November. And when you’re good enough to get to the SEC title game but flawed enough to get thoroughly outclassed by hated Georgia.
And when Playoff payback at Oklahoma is followed by a Rose Bowl beatdown at the hands of eventual national champion Indiana in the quarterfinals. The way the 2025 season ended on the first day of 2026 was a brutal wakeup call of the highest order, because it slammed home the notion that Alabama couldn’t win a national championship as currently constructed.
Another overhaul was clearly needed, and how about a semblance of a running game after the absence of one last fall made Bama stunningly one-dimensional. Bringing in another highly rated recruiting class is always a start, but true freshmen can’t be counted on to make an immediate impact, even at Alabama, because 2024 Ryan Williams types are like lunar eclipses.
That reality really puts a premium on the transfer portal, college football’s new-age version of free agency. The portal can be fruitful or unforgiving, but for most programs it’s both. It’s also a guessing game. But as Bama aims to do a lot better than a very brief Playoff run and as DeBoer aims to keep his critics relatively quiet in Year 3, these 5 portal additions just might hold the key:
1. Josh Ford, tight end
Josh Cuevas, who manned the tight end position quite well for Alabama in 2025, has declared for the NFL Draft, so the search for a starter in 2026 is on. And just as quickly, that search might have already turned up a quality replacement for Cuevas, with Bama officially getting its first commitment of this portal cycle when Ford opted to head east from Oklahoma State.
The 6-6, 265-pounder is a Stillwater guy, so this one really hurt as Oklahoma State tries to pick up the pieces from a lost season in 2025. Ford had already entered the portal way back in October after Mike Gundy was fired as Cowboys head coach.
Ford’s numbers don’t reflect any kind of massive potential in the SEC, but remember how big of a mess it’s been at Oklahoma State in recent years, and now Ford will be escaping the nightmare in Stillwater and walking into what should feel like heaven in Tuscaloosa. This past season, Ford appeared in 4 games, catching 3 passes for 45 yards and 1 touchdown. The year before, as a true freshman, Ford did appear in 12 games for the Cowboys, catching 10 passes for 92 yards and a TD.
His numbers don’t jump off the screen, but there has to be a good reason why 247Sports ranked Ford as the No. 5 overall tight end in the transfer portal. The former 3-star recruit in the 2024 cycle will have multiple years of eligibility left, and multiple SEC schools were clawing for his services in 2026, including Oklahoma, which tried to keep him in state. Auburn and Arkansas also were in the mix, but Bama won out and now there is a real shot for Ford to finally blossom within a winning culture.
2. Noah Rogers, wide receiver
With Germie Bernard gone to graduation and Isaiah Horton gone to SEC rival Texas A&M, Alabama needs to rebuild its wide receiver room on the fly. Enter the 6-2, 200-pound Rogers, who transferred from NC State and has a big-time shot to make an immediate impact this fall. Rogers, who still has 2 years of eligibility left, appeared in 26 games over the past 2 seasons with the Wolfpack.
He hauled in 68 passes for 919 yards and 3 touchdowns during those 2 seasons at NC State, so he’s already proven he can be productive in the ACC. Now, it’s time for Rogers to do the same thing in the SEC, and just maybe his presence in Tuscaloosa can light a fire under Ryan Williams, who slammed back to earth last fall after his memorable freshman season.
Lotzeir Brooks is also back in 2026, but while the cupboard isn’t totally bare at Bama when it comes to wideouts, there is massive room for an upgrade. Rogers can be a big part of that answer. He’ll arrive at Alabama as a redshirt junior with heavy expectations, but Rogers should be used to that after being one of the top wideout recruits in the 2023 cycle.
Rogers is already super athletic and should now be super motivated to prove himself all over again. NC State is a nice program. Alabama is a whole different ballgame, but it needs difference-makers on the outside, and Rogers can be just that this fall.
3. Racin Delgatty, center
Parker Brailsford declared for the NFL Draft after starting at center for the Tide the past 2 years, and that makes Delgatty’s arrival from far away Cal Poly really important. It can be a unique storyline, too, if the FCS product from the West Coast comes to the SEC and secures his spot in the middle of Bama’s offensive line. Again, there are massive shoes to fill with Brailsford going pro, but the 6-4, 300-pound Delgatty has the potential to fill those shoes in 2026.
He was a second-team All-Big Sky selection this past season, starting all 12 games while allowing only 11 pressures and 0 sacks on 460 pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Delgatty was a 3-star recruit out of La Canada Flintridge, California, which is a heck of a long way away from Tuscaloosa. This all makes the Delgatty thing that much more intriguing, because if he can break through that SEC talent barrier, then Bama might have something pretty special this fall.
Delgatty still has 2 years of college eligibility left, so he has value beyond the usual portal prize who swoops in for 1 season. Yes, it was at the FCS level, but Delgatty showed at Cal Poly that he could make an immediate impact, appearing in 9 games and starting 8 of them during his redshirt freshman season in 2024. With the Tide replacing most of their offensive line room from last season as well as hiring a new OL coach, Delgatty will be ultra-motivated to prove he can make that same immediate impact at college football’s highest level.
If Delgatty does take over at center in 2026, he’ll also be snapping to a first-year starting quarterback. The challenges will be immense for Delgatty, for so many reasons, but his impact potential is also immense this fall.
4. Terrance Green, defensive lineman
Just like at the center position, there is a massive opening to fill along the defensive line in 2026 with Tim Keenan out of eligibility. Alabama needs a new starting nose guard and, just maybe, that can be Green, who was a rotational defensive lineman at Oregon this past season. Green had 23 tackles, including 3 tackles-for-loss, with 1 sack and 3 pass breakups in 25 games during his time at Oregon.
Green is a 6-5, 330-pound mammoth of a young man who was once the 30th-ranked defensive lineman in the 2023 recruiting cycle. This means that not only is Green used to high expectations individually, he’s also used to playing for a program with those high expectations. Oregon might never have won a national title, but the Ducks are always in the mix, including this past season when they were 2 victories from winning it all.
He was a top-10 defensive lineman in this transfer portal cycle and Bama managed to get its hands on Green. The product of Cypress, Texas, hails from SEC country and now he’s leaving the Pacific Northwest for a shot in the SEC. Green will be a redshirt junior this fall, and he can help stabilize the Tide’s interior defensive line, not to mention taking over for Keenan.
5. Lorcan Quinn, kicker
Conor Talty being shaky wasn’t what ultimately did in Alabama in 2025. But it certainly didn’t help matters either. Talty only made 16 of his 23 field-goal attempts, missing twice from less than 30 yards. After his 28-yard miss against Eastern Illinois late in the regular season, Talty got the unroyal treatment at Bryant-Denny Stadium, being mercilessly booed by fans who expect more.
Even though Talty didn’t miss another field goal for the rest of the season, the position was enough of a glaring need for Alabama this offseason that it went out and found another kicker through the portal. Quinn comes to Alabama from an unlikely program (Marshall) and originally comes from an unlikely place, as he was born in Northern Ireland. If Bama ultimately finds its kicking answer in 2026 from across the pond, then it will have been well worth it.
Quinn will only be a sophomore during the 2026 season, so if he sticks this fall, it could be the start of a long journey in Tuscaloosa. He’s already journeyed from far away to come to America and try his hand — or foot — at college football. After making 21 of his 26 field-goal attempts as a freshman at Marshall, including a 55-yarder, it’s time for the Northern Irishman to prove himself in the SEC.
His potential was already noticed last year, when Quinn was the top-ranked 2025 kicking prospect, as rated by Kohl’s Kicking Academy. Quinn played 5 years of Gaelic football — which consists of 2 teams of 15 players — before launching his college football career in America at Marshall. His story is already quite unique, and there just might be a lot more to it starting this fall for a program that’s seeking some consistency at the position.
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