The bruises and battle scars are slowing wearing off from an exhausting season that started with a brutal loss to Florida State in late August and ended with another brutal loss to Indiana on New Year’s Day.
In between brought a riveting 8-game winning streak that helped Kalen DeBoer sneak Alabama into the College Football Playoff in Year 2. That quieted DeBoer’s critics for about 5 minutes, especially with how it all collapsed at the Rose Bowl.
For a loyal but impatient Crimson Tide fan base still waiting on that first national title since way back in 2020, the page has already been flipped to the 2026 season, with a fresh set of concerns to go with it. Everything at Alabama is magnified, especially the negatives, which means that list of concerns going into the offseason is already building by the day.
We’ll discuss 5 really big early concerns, with a long offseason journey ahead:
1. That giant void Ty Simpson left at quarterback
Simpson wasn’t perfect in his first and now only season as Alabama’s starting QB, but no quarterback is, not even the guy at Indiana who got his hands on the Heisman and may raise the national title trophy, too. The fact is, Simpson gave the Crimson Tide almost all of what they needed in 2025 to win double-digit games, get into the Playoff and even win a road Playoff game against Oklahoma.
He threw for over 3,500 yards. He tossed 28 touchdown passes and didn’t hurt his team too often, throwing only 5 interceptions. He completed 65% of his passes, too, and Simpson was getting a lot of Heisman Trophy heat until the offense struggled down the stretch.
But the cold reality is that he’s long gone, announcing he was declaring for the NFL Draft, turning down multi-million-dollar transfer offers from SEC rivals Tennessee and Ole Miss — and even a $6.5 million offer from Miami, according to an On3 report — before doubling down earlier this week and signing his draft papers just before Wednesday’s deadline for underclassmen.
And while Simpson at least remained loyal to Bama in the end by not transferring to another college powerhouse, which would’ve been the ultimate dagger, he isn’t choosing to play his football in Tuscaloosa in 2026, either. That hurts, too, and now Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb must try to take that next step while also starting over in a sense at the quarterback position. At this very moment, the solutions for 2026 would seem to be 1 of 2 young men — Austin Mack or Keelon Russell, the 2 signal callers who competed with Simpson for the starting job in 2025 before losing out.
Mack was Simpson’s backup, ahead of Russell on the depth chart, but that distinction likely won’t mean anything come springtime. And Mack does have history with DeBoer, following the head coach from Washington to Alabama after the 2023 season. But the redshirt junior-to-be is still going to have to earn the starting job and beat out Russell, who’ll be a redshirt freshman this fall.
The expected Mack-Russell 2026 tug of war, with true freshmen Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa also in the mix, will be front and center all offseason, as the shooting star that was Simpson fades.
2. Hollywood Smothers flips, RB nightmare continues
Alabama’s running game struggles were well-documented in 2025. It was a problem that festered all fall and never faded, and it ultimately was part of Bama’s undoing in the Playoff quarterfinal beatdown against Indiana. The Tide were a one-dimensional offense and, frankly, it was a miracle they were 1 of the final 8 teams standing with a shot at a national title. Eventually though, Bama got bit.
And what about the 2026 edition? Jam Miller, the guy who was supposed to be the engine of that running game in 2025, just couldn’t stay healthy. He honorably still churned out 504 yards and is now off to the NFL Draft. Those 504 yards led Alabama in rushing, but it’s really hard to win a national title when your leading rusher barely cracks 500 yards. It was a glaring, red-alert issue that held Bama back in 2025 and one Ryan Grubb needs to fix for 2026 to be special.
Special is what Hollywood Smothers could’ve been for Alabama this fall, and it looked like he was the answer, committing to the Tide out of the portal before the NC State stud transfer became one big tease. He reversed course, just like Smothers does to overmatched tacklers, and flipped his commitment to SEC rival Texas. Smothers ran for 939 yards and 6 TDs in 2025, and his 5.9 yards per carry was 2 full yards more than Miller’s 3.9 average.
Smothers would’ve been exactly the massive upgrade Alabama needed at the position, and his mere presence all offseason, from spring football through fall camp, would’ve provided a sorely needed jolt in the aftermath of the Playoff loss. Now it’s back to square one for the Tide in their seemingly recurring running back nightmare, with names like Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley and AK Dear all in the mix right now after showing glimpses of potential this past season.
There’s also 5-star incoming freshman EJ Crowell, who Kalen DeBoer believes has big-time potential. Of course, Alabama will need a lot more than potential next fall. The Tide are in desperate need of a running game again in 2026. They simply can’t afford anything close to a repeat of 2025.
3. Can Ryan Williams be fixed in 2026?
Just like that dormant running game, it’s astonishing that Alabama was able to come within 3 wins of a national title despite getting such a minimal return from Williams. The emergence of Germie Bernard and Isaiah Horton as playmakers helped mask Williams’ struggles, but Bernard is heading to the NFL Draft while Horton is transferring to SEC rival Texas A&M.
That stings a whole lot. Meanwhile, Williams proclaimed his loyalty to stick it out and stay at Alabama in 2026, which could potentially be a huge win for the Tide — if they can ever get more of that dynamic 2024 freshman Williams instead of the sophomore who showed up last fall. Williams’s 49 catches for 689 yards were underwhelming numbers, to say the least, with both totals trailing Bernard, and not only was Williams not the Tide’s No. 1 receiving option, there were stretches when he was truly invisible.
Williams wasn’t targeted even once in the Iron Bowl, which you would’ve thought unheard of when the season began. But it happened, and so did all those dropped passes throughout the fall. While Williams actually had 1 more catch than in 2024, it hardly felt that way. His receiving yardage went down from 865 as a super freshman, and he only caught 4 touchdown passes after hauling in 8 as a freshman. Williams didn’t stretch the field nearly as much either, averaging 14.1 yards per catch compared to 18.0 in 2024.
It was all so mystifying and, for Bama fans, disheartening. The big-time freshman was a big-time letdown as a sophomore. There needs to be a serious makeover in 2026, and that microscope will be on Williams throughout the offseason.
4. Offensive staff retooled with 2 key assistants gone
Just because a program returns its 2 coordinators from the previous season hardly means any other assistant shakeup won’t have any effect. So, while OC Ryan Grubb returns for his 2nd season and DC Kane Wommack is back for his 3rd year, there is a big challenge ahead, namely for Grubb, who must deal with the gigantic losses of co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard as well as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan.
Shephard and Sheridan were both intricate minds in the Alabama machine on offense, and while that machine didn’t exactly operate at full throttle in 2025, it doesn’t mean Shephard and Sheridan won’t be missed. They will be, a lot, as Shephard takes the head coaching job at Oregon State while Sheridan leaves to be the OC at Michigan State. Good for them, but bad for Bama, which has already had to reshuffle its coaching deck on offense while it attempts to rebuild its offensive personnel.
Derrick Nix being hired away from Auburn as the Tide’s new wide receivers coach was a good start to the staff retooling process. Meanwhile, Bama stayed in-house in replacing Sheridan with Bryan Ellis, who will be the new quarterbacks coach after coaching the Tide’s tight ends the past 2 seasons. We’ll begin to see how it all fits together come springtime.
5. Celebrate Playoff berth, don’t ignore reality
This last one tugs at both ends of the narrative spectrum on the state of Alabama football as the long climb begins up the offseason ladder. There simply has to be room for a proud program that is trying to find its way back to the mountaintop in the post-Nick Saban world to pound its chest a little after getting back to the Playoff and being in the quarterfinals.
It’s something worth celebrating, specifically for Kalen DeBoer after his underwhelming first season, and it’s surely something to build on for 2026. But there’s also the other side of the Bama narrative — being fortunate to sneak into the Playoff despite 3 losses, being bereft of a running game for basically an entire season and being thoroughly outclassed by an Indiana machine that sort of resembles those Saban-led Tide teams.
Not only can you play both sides of the 2025 narrative — you actually should and the program itself should as it ventures into the offseason. Appreciate the big step taken while acknowledging the serious work still needed to be done. And no pressure, Kalen. That Saban guy won his first national title at Bama in Year 3.
The 5 biggest early concerns for Alabama going into the offseason Saturday Down South.
Hence then, the article about the 5 biggest early concerns for alabama going into the offseason was published today ( ) and is available on SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The 5 biggest early concerns for Alabama going into the offseason )
Also on site :
- UK to list 65-year-olds as reservists amid Russia threat claims – Telegraph
- Gaza plan phase two: US to discuss Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal
- ‘I hope they show humanity’: Greenlanders fear Trump’s desire for minerals