Chase Goodbread

Alabama football's Kalen DeBoer addressed the Crimson Tide's biggest need for improvement at SEC Media Days, but talk is cheap when it comes to UA OL.

We'll forgive Kalen DeBoer the nearly 100 words of hem-haw pleasantries he uttered Wednesday before finally addressing directly a question about the Big Al in the room: his offensive line. After all, this was SEC Media Days, where answers to even easy questions, much less tough ones, drip with gibberish.

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Alabama football has plenty of new faces this fall, and other SEC teams have even more. Assimilation, not development, is the real key for coaches.

Kalen DeBoer's third Alabama football team opens fall camp next week, roughly a month ahead of the 2026 home opener against East Carolina. New faces abound across the offense — that goes for both players and coaches — which will make for a challenging August. Things are a bit more stable defensively, notwithstanding an overhaul at inside linebacker.

Alabama football commences fall camp next week. Here are a few players, and themes, worth watching in the lead-up to a home opener vs. East Carolina.

Plenty of SEC schools have a quarterback battle to settle, but none with quite as much intrigue as the one at Alabama.

Preseason expectations of Alabama football don't amount to much. The players are keenly aware, per coach Kalen DeBoer, but shouldn't be surprised.

Maybe it's the pending sixth-place finish in the SEC standings, as predicted by reporters who attended SEC Media Days, or a modest preseason ranking of No. 11 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Maybe it's the tempered expectations that accompany a quarterback transition, or the manner in which the Crimson Tide was blown off the field by Indiana for a lasting offseason impression.

Alabama football can't afford another impotent rushing attack in 2026, and one transfer could play a key role in the improvement.