Only three days separate Alabama from its breakfast matchup with East Carolina, and the biggest question hanging over this opener is not the passing game. It’s whether the Crimson Tide can show a real running attack after managing just 48 rushing yards in the final three games of the 2025 season.
That stretch came against elite competition, but Alabama does not get to hide behind that excuse for long. The standard in Tuscaloosa is clear, and the ground game cannot disappear again or get pushed around the way it did late last season.
There are reasons the staff believes things will look different. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said freshman EJ Crowell is expected to be ready to play Saturday after an injury slowed him late in preseason camp. He joins a running back group that also includes Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley and freshman Trae’Shawn Brown.
The line in front of them is also taking on a new shape. Alabama returns just one starter from last season, and Kalen DeBoer said the key is not just strength, but synchronization.
“The physicality has to be on point, but I want to see when you really break down the film, you want to see guys working together,” DeBoer said. “They’re exactly on the same page, they know not just what their job is but the footwork and how that is going to sync up with the guy next to them.
You’ve just done the same thing over and over so many times that it just carries from practice onto the game field. That’s when it results in the success that you’ll see on the field on the statistics sheet.”
On the other side of the ball, Alabama’s defense has not drawn nearly as much attention, and that’s by design. Kane Wommack said the unit has talent and is in a better roster position than it was earlier in his tenure, but he also pointed to the growing chemistry inside the group.
“We have a lot of talent,” Wommack said. “We’re certainly in a better place in terms of our roster than where we were, maybe, the first two years. But when you look and peel back the layers, ultimately that cohesiveness is just starting to develop at a higher level.”
That continuity is part of why the defense isn’t being discussed much. It’s a group that already knows the language, with coaches and players working together across multiple seasons and a standard set by players like Brown and Hubbard, Wommack said.
The opener will still ask questions of that defense, because East Carolina’s new offensive coordinator comes from North Texas, which led the nation in scoring and yards per game last season. Wommack noted that North Texas ranked first in both categories, and Alabama has spent plenty of time studying that offense even though the current East Carolina staff is new.
“We watch a lot of where their old offensive coordinator was at,” Zabien Brown said. “They like the tempo, they want to throw the ball. Spread team, so we’ll be ready for it.”
The North Texas connection matters because Eric Morris, who helped run that attack, moved on to Oklahoma State and took quarterback Drew Mestemaker with him. Even so, Alabama expects to see a fast, spread look that forces it to be sharp from the start.
Away from the matchup itself, there’s also more SEC noise around the rule barring NFL players from returning to college. Donde Plowman, the president of the SEC’s executive committee, told ESPN on Tuesday that the league “will not budge” and is “prepared to defend our rules.” She said commissioner Greg Sankey should be empowered to hand down major penalties if needed.
“We have a responsibility to try and lead the best we can in this time of chaos,” Plowman said. “Our group is united on this.
This is not a rule we will budge on.” She added: “Enough is enough.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney also took a shot at the whole situation.
“... I would just say it’s kind of embarrassing,” Swinney said of NFL players returning to college.
“I mean honestly, it’s just embarrassing that that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system.
I just think it’s embarrassing where we are with college football.
“And we’ve been there for awhile. I just keep my energy, my focus on the things that I control and the things that matter and that’s these kids here and our team.
But all that outside stuff, I mean, we just kind of-no pun intended-we just stay in our lane here at Clemson. Try to.”
Swinney also joked earlier in his press conference that he might get “turned in for tampering” after watching practice footage of the Cowboys, Buccaneers, Wright’s Browns and Harris’s Saints in August.
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Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb have both pointed to Russells progress, and their focus has centered on the communication needed to keep protection on schedule. The staff knows the line only works cleanly when the quarterback and the center are on the same page, and that kind of connection can determine how much freedom Alabama has to expand its offense this fall. The work is still unfolding, but the early signs suggest Russell is trying to set a tone that reaches well beyond the huddle. [Read more 🡒]