Alabama football news: SEC coach highlights ‘concern’ with Kalen DeBoer

Alabama had a respectable season under head coach Kalen DeBoer in 2025. DeBoer finished his second season with the Crimson Tide in 2025. They found themselves in the Rose Bowl against the eventual national champion, the Indiana Hoosiers, on New Year’s Day.

But rival SEC coaches believe that Alabama is going to take a step back in the fall. Athlon Sports conducted anonymous interviews with several SEC coaches, and a couple of coaches weighed in on Alabama’s prospects in the 2026 season.

Both quotes seem to be indictments of the program’s direction under DeBoer. Both coaches believe that the program isn’t up to the Nick Saban standard that was set by the legendary coach in his tenure.

“With whoever was going to follow Nick Saban, there was going to be a measuring stick on the toughness or the softness of the program. The run-game statistics do not vouch for toughness. They have to fix that. Losing (QB Ty Simpson) doesn’t help that. The top two running backs are gone, three of the top offensive linemen are gone and (WR) Germie Bernard was a special player. Losing all of them doesn’t allow people to play you honest so that you can run the ball. People are going to be able to play two-high safeties, create multiple looks and create issues for them,” one coach said.

Another added, “Double-digit (point) losses were never a thing (under Saban). Now, they’re a thing. That creates concern, talking points and narratives, which is tough to deal with because the players see it.”

Alabama finished the season with an 11-4 record; they lost two regular-season games to Florida State and Oklahoma, and then suffered an SEC Championship loss to Georgia. Still, the record was good enough to get into the college football playoffs, and they got their revenge against Oklahoma in the first round, beating them 34 to 24. But they were ultimately eliminated from the college football playoffs after losing 38-3 to Indiana.