In discussing Kalen DeBoer's time in Tuscaloosa, the ghost of Nick Saban and his six championships as the Alabama Crimson Tide's head coach still harrowingly looms over the conversation. CBS Sports' Brad Crawford acknowledged that while challenging DeBoer to fix his thus far biggest issue with the Tide: the run game, and the general toughness in the team's offensive trenches.
Crawford reminded DeBoer that if he doesn't right the ship, he'll always be known for his stubbornness in trying to outscheme opponents instead of honoring Alabama's time-honored tradition of creating canyons between the tackles for a physical specimen running back to burst through before embarrassing opposing skill-position defenders.
"Alabama players love Kalen DeBoer. The administration wants greater buy-in. Fans remain divided. Next season will be pivotal for the Tide's third-year coach, who has yet to generate the momentum many anticipated after succeeding one of the sport's all-time greats. Nick Saban lost eight games combined over his final five seasons in Tuscaloosa -- the same total DeBoer has accumulated in two years. Lopsided losses to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and to Indiana in the CFP at the Rose Bowl served as measuring-stick moments, and the Crimson Tide fell short in both. DeBoer's finesse-oriented offense thrived at previous stops, but Alabama's identity has long been rooted in physicality. How the Crimson Tide perform at the line of scrimmage and in the run game next season will significantly influence the national perception of his tenure," Crawford wrote.
For those who forgot, here's a reminder that CBS Sports' John Talty reported on DeBoer's aforementioned stubbornness in the aftermath of the Crimson Tide's unfathomable 31-17 loss to the Florida State Seminoles last August.
"It is inherently unfair to keep writing columns like this about DeBoer failing in a way Saban never did -- but this is what he signed up for. This is what the $10 million contract that made him one of the game's top 10 highest-paid coaches was supposed to prevent," Talty wrote.
"He didn't have to choose this path. He had a contract sitting on his desk that would have paid him $9.2 million this season to stay at Washington, according to public records obtained by CBS Sports, but he wanted to follow the GOAT. He wanted his chance to show the SEC what his offense could accomplish.
"It was a potentially awkward fit from the start, the South Dakota native who had never seriously recruited the SEC now thrust into one of the most pressurized jobs in the sport. You have to be wired a certain kind of way to really succeed in the SEC the way Saban, Kirby Smart and others have, and DeBoer doesn't look up to the task. Program insiders told CBS Sports this offseason that DeBoer truly believes in his abilities to out-scheme and out-think opponents and prioritizes it over the mental toughness Saban used to drill into his teams."
Kalen DeBoer might not have fixed his biggest issue in the portal
DeBoer did not get his preferred running back transfer portal target in January, losing NC State Wolfpack transfer Hollywood Smothers to the Texas Longhorns. The offensive line seemingly saw no difference-making additions, but did see the losses of offensive tackles Wilkin Formby and Olaus Alinen to the Texas A&M Aggies and Kentucky Wildcats.
Is he cooked? Only if Ezavier Crowell, Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley, and AK Dear can't produce a competent running attack between them, and neither Austin Mack nor Keelon Russell looks the part of a top-tier SEC QB.
DeBoer is pushing a boulder uphill and has been for two years now. We'll see if he can finally garner the strength to get it up there, or he falls apart under its weight this fall.