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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama football playing time must be earned, not owed, in 2025 | Goodbread
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama football playing time must be earned, not owed, in 2025 | Goodbread
This week, Kalen DeBoer will surely be meeting with Alabama football players about all kinds of topics, from the transfer portal, to NFL draft decisions, to the offseason program.
Yes, the transfer portal is still open for the Crimson Tide , due to an NCAA rule that extends the portal window for players who participate in bowl games that are played after the official Dec. 28 closure. The second-year coach will have a much better idea of what his 2025 roster will look like around Jan. 25, by which time NFL draft declarations will be clear, and the portal will mercifully close for the players who compete in the College Football Playoff title game.
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But he can't wait until Jan. 25 to set a tone for the reset needed in a program that just lost four-plus games for the first time since 2007. Whatever that message is, it needs to be sent sooner. And part of it needs to be that, when it comes to playing time next season, no player is owed anything. Not a single returning starter, nor any incoming freshman, no matter how many stars show up in their recruiting profiles.
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There were moments during DeBoer's first season when that didn't appear to be the case. In fact, there were moments when he all but said so, at least when it came to the players who were first to embrace him as the choice to replace Nick Saban 12 months ago.
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That would include Malachi Moore , whom he declined to suspend after the senior safety threw an embarrassing, unhinged tantrum at the end of Alabama 's loss at Vanderbilt. In explaining that decision, DeBoer made direct mention of the loyalty Moore showed to both DeBoer and the program in helping to keep the roster together amid the transfer portal chaos that followed Saban's retirement.
It would also include his unflinching resolve to stick with Jalen Milroe at quarterback, even through struggles that arguably demanded an opportunity for backup Ty Simpson (see the Oklahoma loss, and Tuesday's ReliaQuest Bowl 19-13 loss to Michigan ).
"I want to hang in there with the guys that this program means a lot to," DeBoer said, in part, when asked if he considered turning to Simpson after three first-quarter turnovers staked Michigan to a lead that later proved to put the game out of reach.
That DeBoer felt that kind of obligation is, frankly, understandable. Alabama fans shouldn't forget that Milroe, Moore, guard Tyler Booker , and others put the program above themselves at an inflection point in the Saban-to-DeBoer transition. Those three, along with linebacker Deontae Lawson , were named 2024 captains in the preseason, a DeBoer departure from the Saban way, which was to name captains after the season.
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They stood by DeBoer at the hardest moment to do so and, in turn, DeBoer stood by them at the hardest moments to do so.
But in 2025, DeBoer doesn't owe players anything but his best effort.
If that means returning starters get passed on the depth chart by younger talent, so be it. They can hit the portal if they don't like it. If it means rooting out good players with bad attitudes, point them to the exit door. If it means relegating Saban-era players who aren't the right fit for the offensive or defensive system, relegate away. In Year One, any new coaching staff has to bend its schemes to fit the talent it inherits, but by Year Two, players had better be ready to bend to the scheme.
Spring practice should represent a battle at every position, with every player beginning from the same starting point. At quarterback, whether Milroe turns pro or not. At offensive tackle, where Alabama has struggled for two years in a row.
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And anywhere else DeBoer might be tempted to pencil in returning experience.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer owes players no promises in 2025
