Alabama Football 2026: Meet the New Running Backs

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From Bobby Humphrey to Shaun Alexander to Mark Ingram to Derrick Henry, Alabama’s program identity has often been defined by the running back position. Ingram and Henry were the Tide’s first two Heisman winners, and from 2009 to 2022, every single one of Alabama’s lead running backs wound up being a starter in the NFL (and a lot of their backups became pro starters as well).

Since then, though, the Alabama run game has struggled for one reason or another. And with senior Jam Miller graduating, there’s room on the Tide depth chart for someone new to step in and up.

Today, we’ll take a look at the new players joining the Tide, whether they are freshman recruits or incoming transfers. As a housekeeping item, we’ll use the 247Sports Composite rankings for the prospects, but I will note when one of the other services differs significantly.

Ezavier (EJ) Crowell

• Position: RB
• Stars: 5
• Hometown: Jackson, AL
• National Rank: 15
• Position Rank: 2
• Height: 5’11”
• Weight: 205

Crowell is, without a doubt, the crown jewel of the offseason for the Tide. Not only is he extremely highly rated, but he’s coming in at a position of need. On top of that, he probably could be even more highly rated. Crowell has put up a few billion yards and touchdowns the last few years – and that came with him skipping his junior year and reclassifying as a senior in 2025. Despite being younger than everyone, he put up 2,600 yards with 35 touchdowns (12.6 yards per carry), won a state championship, and won Alabama’s player of the year.

He’s easily the most decorated in-state high school running back since Carnell Williams.

Athletically, he’s built perfectly at 5’11” and somewhere between 205 and 215 pounds, plus he’s on record with an impressive 10.72s 100m sprint.

Playstyle

There’s really nothing that Crowell can’t do. He’s a smooth and powerful runner that, in my opinion, reminds me a little of Eddie Lacy before Lacy bulked up over 220. While a lot of running backs have a very choppy stride, Crowell is much more smooth and gliding, but he can do that while accelerating out of odd angles and horizontal moves. When he’s changing direction, he has what a like to call a low-ankle-angle…. Essentially his shin gets way closer to horizontal while his foot stays flat on the ground than a normal human should be able to, and he generates a tremendous amount of force and acceleration out of that, all without seeming to break speed.

On top of that, he’s got the top end speed to just fly past defenders when he needs to outrace them. And he’s got a whole highlight reel worth of clips of him running directly through defenders or running for 15 yards with 2-3 defenders hanging on his back. He’s a no-nonsense runner, too. When he gets the ball, he’s taking as short of a path as he can to get where he’s going and rarely wastes steps with lavish jukes.

And if you want even more college readiness, he played a decent bit of slot receiver in high school, and he even had to pass block more than I usually see from high school running backs.

Scheme Fit and Prediction

Crowell ran a lot of counter and off-tackle power O plays out of shotgun in high school and excelled at letting pulling guards get in front of him and then bursting off of their hip to the sideline. I don’t totally know what to expect from Ryan Grubb this year, to be honest. Grubb ran a LOT of that back at Washington, but he seemed to stick to much more inside duo and zone plays last year at Bama. So who really knows.

Still, I think Crowell is pretty well scheme-agnostic. Give him the ball and let him go.

He’s obviously really young, and it’s tough to predict how a 17 year old will do in the SEC. But he’s already built like an NFL back, and it’s hard not to view him as immediately the best runner on the team. I don’t think he’ll be a day 1 starter over a veteran Daniel Hill, but I do expect he will be part of the regular rotation the entire season.

Trae’shawn Brown

• Position: RB
• Stars: 3
• Hometown: Huntsville, TX
• National Rank: 727
• Position Rank: 43
• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 190

Brown was a late addition to Alabama’s recruiting class, committing to the Tide in December. Brown’s recruiting is kind of interesting, as he comes from a high-level Texas program that’s put multiple players into the NFL, he had really good production as a senior (1400 yards), and, supposedly, ran a 4.35s forty. His lack of size obviously worked against him, but he does seem to be a player that slipped through the recruiting cracks a bit.

Playstyle

Brown has way more power in his frame than someone at 190 pounds has any right to have. He’s excellent at wriggling through highly trafficked areas in the middle of the field and will bounce off of tacklers and drag them forward for extra yards all the time. And if he gets a defender on the edge? He’s got a nasty stiff arm. He’s not generally the most straightforward runner and will cut and juke his way up the field in a fashion that reminds me a bit of former Auburn running back, Michael Dyer. His top end speed may be a bit limited, and I think he’ll have some issues with giving up some negative plays by being a little too creative at times, but his ability to slip tackles and churn yards will make him a thorn in the side of opposing defenses.

The cool thing about Brown is that he put a fair number of highlight clips out of him playing wide receiver and making plenty of downfield plays, and as him being a lead blocker and absolutely blowing up some defenders and delighting in the chaos.

Scheme Fit and Prediction

First and foremost, I think Brown is going to be an exceptional special teamer as a blocker and/or gunner, and I think he’ll turn that into a future as a dedicated 3rd down back for receiving and blocking on passing downs. I think it’ll be a long shot to expect him to eventually be a lead back, but a multi-year contributor as a special teamer and a future rotational role player that converts more than his fair share of critical 3rd downs seems well within his abilities.

Khalifa Keith

• Position: RB
• Transfer School: Tennessee, then Appalachian State
• Class: Redshirt Junior
• Stars: 3 (recruit), Not Ranked as a transfer
• Hometown: Birmingham, AL
• National Rank: 613 (recruit), not ranked as a transfer
• Position Rank: 42 (recruit), not ranked as a trasnfer
• Height: 6’1”
• Weight: 240

Keith played a bit for Tennessee his first two seasons, rushing for 124 yards and playing in 16 games total, but he was little more than a depth guy for them. Last year, he transferred to Appalachian State and found himself at the bottom of the depth chart there as well, only getting 3 carries.

Now transferring to Alabama, Keith is expected to be a depth piece. At 6’1” 240, he brings a similar body type to current Tide starter, Daniel Hill. It may also be within possibility for him to be a specialized fullback.

Playstyle

He’s a big guy, obviously, and generally is an up-the-middle zone runner. He has a good feel for pressing up to the line patiently then accelerating into a hole and running headfirst into a second level defender. He’s not going to make anyone miss at that point, but he’ll absolutely bowl someone over and turn a 5-yarder into an 8-yarder.

Past that, we’ve not seen enough of him in live game situations to know too much more.

Scheme Fit and Prediction

It’s tough to see Keith offering too much without good enough blocking to get him past the line of scrimmage – and at that point, Daniel Hill offers the same skillset with a lot more experience and production despite being a year younger. At this point, I’d suspect that Keith is solely a depth piece for the Tide.

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