ESPN names Kalen DeBoer's second season at Alabama a top 2025 college football storyline
ESPN names Kalen DeBoer's second season at Alabama a top 2025 college football storyline
If you think your job is tough and carries lofty expectations, try following only the greatest coach in college football history: Alabama's Nick Saban.
That's the challenge Kalen DeBoer accepted when he left Washington for the Alabama job after Saban's decision to retire from coaching in January 2024.
Alabama went 9-4 in Year 1 of DeBoer in a season filled with several highs. The Crimson Tide beat No. 1 Georgia in a thriller at Bryant-Denny Stadium, defeated Auburn for its fifth straight Iron Bowl win, and ran LSU completely out of Tiger Stadium.
There were also some lows: a loss to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years, an ugly blowout at Oklahoma late in the season, and an uninspiring loss to a Michigan team that was missing countless starters in the Outback Bowl in Tampa. The jury is still out on exactly how much DeBoer's first-year record is indicative of future success or failure.
With 100 days until the start of the 2025 college football season, ESPN's staff got together on Thursday to name the 10 'must-know' storylines heading into the season. Year 2 for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa was named the third biggest on ESPN's list, with Kyle Bonagura saying:
"Replacing Nick Saban at Alabama was always going to be a unique conundrum because it's completely unfair to expect anyone to replace the greatest college football coach of all time. The coach who came after Saban was going to be measured against him. That's just how this works. While that dynamic is probably unfair, that doesn't make DeBoer's task any easier. He left a place where the external pressure would be relatively nonexistent for the foreseeable future after leading Washington to a national title game appearance in his second season. The Crimson Tide were disappointing last year, but it also made sense that Year 1 was transitional as Saban's shadow still loomed quite large. That will be the case for a long time, to varying degrees, but now that there has been adequate time to shape the roster into his own vision, it will be interesting to see how Alabama looks in Year 2 under DeBoer."
To that end, DeBoer reunited with longtime offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ryan Grubb in the offseason. Ty Simpson seems to have a leg up on the quarterback race after some public backing from Grubb and DeBoer, and Alabama brought in depth at wide receiver -- Miami transfer Isaiah Horton, plus freshmen Derek Meadows and Lotzeir Brooks -- to help sophomore sensation Ryan Williams and senior Germie Bernard.
Alabama opens the 2025 season against Florida State on Aug. 30 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Kickoff was announced this week for 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.
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