Season 2 under Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and his coaching staff is complete, meaning it’s time to grade how it went.
Grading the Crimson Tides season:
The 2025 season brought the highest highs and the lowest lows for Crimson Tide fans, from losing Week 1 in Tallahassee to Florida State as the 13.5-point favorite to ending Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak in Athens.
Then the Crimson Tide went on an eight-game win streak, including four straight ranked SEC wins against No. 5 Georgia, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Missouri and No. 11 Tennessee. These were four ranked SEC wins in four weeks, a feat that had never been accomplished before in the history of SEC football.
DeBoer and the Crimson Tide next suffered a loss to Brent Venables and Oklahoma for a second straight year. The team got its revenge when it mattered most in the playoff matchup, erasing a 17-point deficit to tie the largest comeback in CFB Playoff history.
DeBoer became the first head coach in the history of the CFB Playoffs to make it with two different teams after making it this year and in 2023 in his final year at Washington. The Crimson Tide finished at the top of the SEC regular season, going 7-1 and earning a trip to the SEC Championship in Atlanta.
Although the SEC Championship, a 28-7 blowout loss to Georgia, didn’t end the way DeBoer and the Crimson Tide had hoped, it was still an impressive feat to make it to the SEC Championship game. . Besides DeBoer, Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian are the only other active head coaches who have coached in an SEC Championship game.
DeBoer and company didn’t want their season to end with a 38-3 loss to Indiana at the Rose Bowl, but it was definitely a step in the right direction after missing the playoffs in Year 1. DeBoer and the Crimson Tide felt frustrated and upset following the Rose Bowl.
“It [the loss] doesn’t sit well with us. But after today, all we can do is move on,” DeBoer said following the Rose Bowl.
After going 11-4 overall with five ranked wins and three blowout losses, making the playoffs and the SEC Championship, DeBoer has received a high B+ grade.
Grading Alabama’s recruiting under DeBoer:
DeBoer has been an elite recruiter since arriving in Tuscaloosa, landing the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in 2025 and the No. 4-ranked class in 2026, according to On3.
The 2025 class was highlighted by the highest-ranked recruit in the history of Alabama football, quarterback Keelon Russell, as well as five-star offensive tackle Michael Carroll and five-star cornerback Dijon Lee.
The 2026 class includes five-star running back Ezavier Crowell, five-star linebacker Xavier Griffin, and five-star wide receiver Cederian Morgan, who will all look to make an immediate impact next year.
On the recruiting front, DeBoer has dominated thus far, landing multiple five-stars and one of the best classes in the country in back-to-back years, earning himself an A.
Grading DeBoer’s coaching staff:
Another big factor in the evaluation of DeBoer’s final grade for this season is his coaching staff, which had its ups and downs. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s defense, ranked No. 14 in the nation and No. 3 in the SEC, began to come into its own this season. The team allowed just 296.8 yards of offense and 19.20 points per game.
The assistant head coach/co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach, JaMarcus Shephard, was a huge part of the Crimson Tide coaching staff. Shephard was a big reason star wide receiver Ryan Williams recommitted to Alabama after briefly decommitting when Nick Saban retired. Shephard was so good that Oregon State made him the Beavers’ next head coach.
Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Nick Sheridan, was a key reason Alabama had such a strong quarterback room. Sheridan had a strong relationship with Alabama’s signalcallers and influenced Russell to flip his commitment from SMU to Alabama. Sheridan will be heading to Michigan State to take over as the offensive coordinator.
Now for the negative. The Crimson Tide came into this season with one of the most talented offensive lines in the country, but offensive line coach, Chris Kapilovic, struggled to get the full potential out of the position group. As a result, Alabama had one of the worst run games in the nation. The team ranked No. 123 nationally and 15th in the SEC for rushing yards, averaging 104.1 per game.
Kapilovic can’t take all the blame for the inconsistent run game, as some may point fingers at offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s inconsistent play-calling. Grubb’s offense struggling to run the ball was a common theme in his lone year as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator last season, leading to his firing.
Grubb and Kapilovic’s struggles have led fans to wonder if they will be a part of the coaching staff next season. As of right now, it looks like they will both be on staff next year, but if there aren’t noticeable improvements, changes could very well be made at the end of the next season.
“Well, it’s not just one thing. It never is, there’s pass protection, run blocking, all those things work together,” Grubb said prior to Alabama’s 20-9 win over LSU about the struggling run game. “So for us, I think it’s about the runner pushing the hole enough, making sure we press the cut long enough.”
The coaching staff was the hardest grade to give out, as there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. All in all, the coaching staff’s final grade is a B-, very close to a C+. The inconsistency in the run game hurt the coaching staff’s grade.
It was a successful Year 2 under DeBoer and the rest of the coaching regime, but when you take over for the greatest head coach of all time in Nick Saban at one of the most successful football programs of all time, you are going to be held to a high standard.
