Alabama opens the season with more than just East Carolina on the schedule. There’s the heat, the questions, and the possibility that a few game-changing traits start showing up right away. And if you’re looking for the biggest reason to lean in, it starts with Keelon Russell.
The freshman quarterback has already built a highlight reel that feels tailor-made for Saturdays. There was the scramble to the right against Temple, when he slid toward the sideline and still found Emmanuel Ellison on a curl route with a sidearm strike. Then came the 60-yard throw to Dakorien Moore against DeSoto as a senior, a bootleg shot delivered off his opposite foot while he was trying to escape pressure.
“That’s one of those throws that (there’s) a small percentile of people who can throw that … and a lot of them aren’t even in college,” said Jaylin Nelson, former Duncanville running backs coach.
That’s the version of Russell Alabama is banking on: calm, quick, and hard to rattle. The kind of quarterback who sees the field fast, gets the ball out, and doesn’t get swallowed up when the pocket starts to close. According to the source material, that edge was sharpened through countless 6 a.m. meetings with coordinators and assistant coaches.
“Trust me,” Frazier said. “I’d hate to be a defensive coordinator.”
Saturday’s opponent may have to deal with more than Russell, though. Alabama is also staring down a brutal weather forecast for its season opener against East Carolina. Current reports have the high temperatures in the high 90s, with the heat index expected to push into triple digits.
Jackson Lloyd isn’t concerned.
“It’s always hot here,” Jackson Lloyd told reporters on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa. “It’s nothing different for us.
We’re used to it. I mean, it’s never not hot here, so we’re not really worried about that.
So they got to play in the heat too, so we’re just going out there and play football.”
He said it again more directly when asked about the conditions.
“It’s hot for us every single day,” Lloyd said. “You never come out here and it’s cloudy, 70 degrees, like you don’t see that here. So it’s nothing different for us.”
That’s the mindset Alabama will need, because this one is going to be uncomfortable.
Another thing worth watching: special teams. Alabama has gone nearly three years without a special teams touchdown, and the drought has become its own odd little subplot.
Caleb Downs had the last punt return touchdown in 2023 against Chattanooga. Jameson Williams owns the most recent kick return touchdowns, with two in the same game against Southern Miss in 2021.
Malachi Moore scored after Ja’Corey Brooks blocked a punt against Louisiana Monroe in 2022. And the last time Alabama blocked an extra point and scored came all the way back in 1998 against East Carolina, the same program the Crimson Tide opens against in 2026, with Kenny Smith and Kecalf (KELF) Bailey involved.
So yes, the question hangs there: is this the year the streak ends?
On defense, Yhonzae Pierre is expected to carry a bigger load after becoming Alabama’s top pass rusher in 2025. He finished with 14.5 tackles for loss and 8 sacks, both the best numbers for any player in two years under Kane Wommack’s scheme. He also added 52 tackles, a pass deflection, and 3 forced fumbles.
Now entering his fourth season in Tuscaloosa, Pierre is the clear favorite to lead the Crimson Tide in sacks again.
“We need to see more of the same, and you expect improvement there,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of Pierre on the SEC Football Coaches Media Teleconference.
There’s also fresh Alabama reading material making the rounds. John Talty’s book about Lane Kiffin has drawn attention for its account of the former Alabama assistant’s time in Tuscaloosa, including a quote attributed to Saban: “You’ve got to keep Lane away from the girls that are in college,” Saban said, according to one former coach.
“Just keep him away from the sorority girls. Make sure they’ve graduated college or are working a job.”
The book describes a tense relationship, with Saban often assuming the worst and Kiffin struggling to understand why the criticism came so hard and so often. One Alabama staffer said, “You have an interaction that is a little bit more contentious than you would hope,” and that it “creates more tension for the next potential event.”
It also says Layla and the kids never moved to Tuscaloosa, leaving Kiffin on his own around town. The reporting in the source describes nights at Tuscaloosa-area bars, including one instance when an Alabama staffer had to go to Innisfree Irish Pub to pick up a golf cart Kiffin had left there the night before.
Josh Booty quoted Derick Purdy as saying, “‘Your boy Lane’s back in here asking where the hotties are,’” followed by “‘Can you introduce me to hotties?’” A friend of Kiffin’s during that time said he feared Kiffin was going to “drink himself to death.”
The same friend also described seeing Kiffin “on the floor crying like a goddamn baby,” and at other times behaving in ways that led to the blunt line: “you got to put your dick back in your pants.”
And finally, Alabama basketball has added another exhibition to the calendar. The Crimson Tide will host Furman on Thursday, Oct. 8 in Coleman Coliseum, giving the program a third preseason test before it begins its 2026-27 non-conference schedule. It will be the second straight year Alabama and Furman have met in an exhibition.
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Alabamas Toughness Debate Just Got More Uncomfortable For Tide Fans
An anonymous Big Ten running backs coach took aim at Alabamas style of play this week, framing the Tide as a team that can be pushed around and pointing back to last years loss to Indiana as evidence. For a program that sells physicality as part of its identity, any suggestion of softness tends to land loudly, and this one arrived at a time when Alabama is already trying to prove it can be more efficient and more consistent in the trenches.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb did not brush aside the concern, acknowledging the offense dealt with too many negative-yardage runs last season. He pointed to the need for better communication and cleaner execution in the running game, a reminder that the conversation around Alabamas toughness is not just external chatter but something the staff is clearly trying to address before the next season gets moving. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Got A Feel Good Visit Right Before The Season Opener
Right before Alabama kicked off its season, the program got a little extra star power on campus. WWE standout Oba Femi, better known to Crimson Tide followers as former track athlete Isaac Odugbesan, stopped by the universitys athletic facilities and spent time with the football team and coach Kalen DeBoer, turning the visit into one of those feel-good moments that reminds everyone how wide Alabamas athletic reach really is.
Femi also took in the upgrades around the facilities, and he was complimentary about the work ethic he saw from the football side. The visit carried an added flourish when he presented DeBoer with a custom championship belt, a fitting gesture from someone who has climbed fast in WWE and still has a connection to the school that helped shape his athletic path. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama WR Ryan Coleman-Williams Is Taking A Risk He Can't Afford
Ryan Coleman-Williams heads into a pivotal junior season for Alabama with his future very much on the line after a sophomore year that left questions about his reliability as a receiver. The Crimson Tide wideout has spent the offseason trying to sharpen the details that can make or break a draft case, and teammates have noticed the urgency behind his work. Zabien Brown has pointed to Coleman-Williams competitiveness and effort in practice as signs that he is attacking the challenge head-on.
Coleman-Williams has also chosen to lean into a familiar approach as he tries to clean up the part of his game that drew the most scrutiny. For a player who needs a strong year to reframe the conversation around him, every rep will matter, and Alabama will be watching closely to see whether the adjustment helps him turn a promising skill set into dependable production. [Read more 🡒]