Kalen DeBoer has made it official: sophomore quarterback Keelon Russell is Alabama’s QB1 for the 2026 season, and that decision changes the shape of the Iron Bowl in a hurry.
For Auburn, the timing is bad news. Russell takes away some of the weaknesses the Tigers might have hoped to attack, and he brings a much higher ceiling than Austin Mack. He’s still short on college experience, with just 37 snaps across two appearances in his lone season in Tuscaloosa last fall, but by the time the Iron Bowl arrives, that number will be a lot higher.
Russell isn’t being handed the job because of raw projection alone, either. He came out of Texas 6A football at Duncanville High School and already has a history of competing against elite North Texas talent.
His athletic profile jumps off the page, too. He’s been timed at 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash, but that speed isn’t mainly for designed runs.
Like Jayden Daniels, Russell uses it to buy time behind the line of scrimmage and let receivers uncover on scramble drills. His release is quick, his throws come out fast, and the overall package looks like a dual-threat prototype.
That matters most when the stakes rise. In the Iron Bowl, with a CFP spot potentially hanging in the balance, Russell should have plenty of chances to use his legs when the play breaks down and Alabama needs answers.
The other big piece here is Alabama’s run game, which may not be the easy target Auburn hoped it would be. On paper, the Tide ought to be stronger there, but 2025 was a rough year.
Alabama finished No. 125 nationally in rushing yards per game, a far cry from the Derrick Henry, Mark Ingram and Najee Harris era. The interior offensive line last season struggled badly, getting outleveraged almost immediately after the snap.
The backfield hasn’t solved everything yet, either. AK Dear and EJ Crowell have been injured in camp, and Daniel Hill still hasn’t separated himself as the clear lead back. Trae’shawn Brown has started to emerge, and Kevin Riley has made progress, but those developments alone don’t restore Alabama to its old standard.
What Russell does give the Tide is a way around some of that. He can help mask the run-game issues better than Ty Simpson could, in the same way Jalen Milroe did. His ability to stress defenses changes how opponents have to line up and react.
That could be especially relevant against an Auburn defense that is strong in the middle, where WILL LB Xavier Atkins led the team with 17 TFLs a year ago. If the Tigers load up inside, Russell may have room to work the perimeter and attack in the short passing game, where Auburn’s corner group does not look especially strong heading into 2026.
Alabama may not be “back” by its own standard, but with Russell officially in control, the Tide are better equipped to move the ball and better positioned to win in more ways than one.
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Even so, this offense is not completely finished taking shape. Several projected starters and backups have emerged at the different positions, but the staff still has two notable battles to sort through before the Tigers run out for the opener, and those decisions will help define how this group looks early in the season. With transfers and returning players all in the mix, Auburn still has a little more work to do before the picture is fully clear. [Read more 🡒]
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Since the 2010 national championship season led by Cam Newton, no Tigers team has come close to matching that standard, and the gap has only grown as the losses piled up. College football analyst David Pollack has called Newtons run one of the best seasons in the sports history, which only sharpens the challenge for Golesh now: Auburn does not just need improvement, it needs a version of itself that can finally make the 2010 benchmark feel like more than a distant memory. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Faces One Big Test Before Baylor Under Alex Golesh
Alex Golesh has already moved Auburn past the early-camp groundwork and into the part of August where details start to matter as much as effort. After spending the first stretch preaching tackling, physicality and the basic habits that can get lost in camp, the Tigers head coach said the group has made progress since its second scrimmage, enough that the conversation has shifted toward sharpening how the team handles game-like moments.
What comes next is the harder part for a new staff and a roster still learning each other: situational football. Golesh wants Auburn more aware, more controlled and better prepared for the specific decisions that shape a game, which makes the lead-up to Baylor less about raw intensity and more about whether the Tigers can translate that camp growth into clean execution when the opener finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]