What Alabama football can count on, and what it can't, entering preseason camp

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6 days ago

Inexperienced quarterbacks. The health of the tight ends. The depth at running back. Wide receiver Jalen Hale's recovery from a knee injury. New specialists.
These were all question-mark areas of the Alabama football team that second-year coach Kalen DeBoer addressed Wednesday, with equal parts encouragement and caution, following the Crimson Tide's first practice of preseason camp. Some more relevant and pressing than others, to be sure, but all worthy of a watchful eye as the next three weeks of practice give way to the onset of the 2025 season.
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What was missing in all that uncertainty?
Anything about the defense. Anything about Alabama's load of experience on that side of the ball. Anything about the defensive backs, in particular, who are primed to be the stalwart unit.
"The veterans, it starts with communication and their confidence with that communication. Guys (being) in sync, knowing the space they've got to cover between two guys in the secondary or the back half. You can just see the jelling of that," DeBoer said. "I can't really think of anything (Wednesday) where it felt like there was a missed assignment or something that was blown all day. And our offense does a lot of stuff to put a lot of pressure on (defenses) to communicate, to (react to) motions, shifting, things like that."
There's an awful lot to learn about this Alabama team that a single practice without full pads neither explains to coaches nor reporters. But nobody needs to see this defense practice for a month to know its relative strength and value. Absent injury, it should be one of the best in the SEC. With a breakout season or two among its pass rushers, it could be one of the best in the country (LT Overton, Qua Russaw, James Smith, your numbers have been called).
Other than the near-complete recovery from a knee injury by middle linebacker and team captain Deontae Lawson, and perhaps depth at a few positions, there just aren't a lot of concerns on that side of the ball. Meanwhile, the timing for such a defense couldn't be better with Alabama's offense breaking in a new quarterback.
Ty Simpson, it would appear for now, will make his first career start on the road at Florida State in about four weeks. And although FSU was a disaster in 2024 with a 2-10 record, that doesn't mean the 2025 Seminoles won't be capable of giving Simpson fits at Doak-Campbell Stadium. Programs can make one-year turnarounds in the era of NIL and the NCAA transfer portal like never before; from 2021-22, under current coach Mike Norvell, FSU made a jump from 5-7 to 10-3.
Beyond the opener, however, it could be a few weeks before Alabama's offense finds a full stride. That's the nature of turnover at the quarterback position, particularly when there are other question marks in play, such as right tackle, left guard, and the aforementioned rotations at running back and tight end.
As such, defense might have to carry a little more of the weight early in the season for Alabama.
And it doesn't take a bunch of camp practices to know it can.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at [e-mail]. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What Alabama football can count on, and what it can't, in fall camp