Jumbo Package: Coaches seem confident in run game, defense

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Happy Gump Day, everyone. Only three sleeps separate you from Alabama football’s breakfast date with East Carolina. Everyone is excited to see Keelon Russell sling it, but the bigger question will be the run game.

This team gained 48 rushing yards in the final three games of the 2025 season.

Granted, they faced elite competition in those games.

But this is Alabama.

Elite is the only expectation.

Period.

We said we’re not forgetting what happened Jan. 1 in California.

This Alabama program doesn’t have to be centered on the ground-and-pound, but the run game can’t be absent.

Not again.

And it certainly can’t get bullied like it did late last season.

Alabama was soft. Did they fix it?

The coaching staff has expressed confidence that the run game will be better. I’m not sure that East Carolina will be a great test, but we will get an idea anyway.

Grubb said that Crimson Tide freshman EJ Crowell is expected to be ready to play on Saturday after an injury limited him late in preseason camp. Crowell will be part of a room that also includes Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley and fellow freshman Trae’Shawn Brown.

Alabama also has a mostly new offensive line, with just one starter returning from last year. With all the new faces, DeBoer shared what he thought was a key to success.

“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.”

Colin Gay notes that we haven’t heard much about the defense, because they are expected to be strong.

“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.”

It’s why Alabama’s defense isn’t being talked about. It’s a group that doesn’t feel like it has to.

It’s a defensive unit that preaches the same wavelength, a room filled with people on the same page, coaches and players who have been interacting together for multiple seasons.

There’s buy in. This is Alabama’s defense with players like Brown and Hubbard, Wommack said, who set the standard and the legacy of what it’s supposed to look like.

Wommack’s group will be facing a new offensive coordinator, who is known for playing fast and spraying the ball around.

“Their new offensive coordinator came from North Texas, who was the number one scoring offense in the country,” defensive coordinator Kane Wommack told reporters on Monday. “They also led the country in yards per game.”

Davis wasn’t the only mastermind behind the Mean Green’s offensive attack last season. Head coach Eric Morris was successful enough to get a bigger job at Oklahoma State, and took along quarterback Drew Mestemaker.

Still, he adds a wrinkle that the Crimson Tide will have to deal with, given that he has never coached a game with the current East Carolina group. Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown gave his appraisal of the ECU offense on Tuesday.

Preparation has required a look at tape from last year at North Texas.

“We watch a lot of where their old offensive coordinator was at,” Brown said. They like the tempo, they want to throw the ball. Spread team, so we’ll be ready for it.”

Blake Toppmeyer believes that Saban’s documentary is going to put additional pressure on Kalen DeBoer.

I saw that trailer and thought, Mercy, Kalen DeBoer can’t catch a break, can he?

This docuseries will accelerate Saban’s demigod status. And, accomplished coach though DeBoer is, he’s not like Saban.

If ESPN can make an unscrupulous renegade like Lane Kiffin come off as a reformed soul, then I can only imagine the unbridled exaltation that’s coming of Saban’s career. Mark me, if you watch this docuseries — and every Gump will — you’ll come away thinking Churchill had nothing on Saban’s leadership.  

ESPN calls this six-part project “Saban.” I call it a horror show for DeBoer.

The SEC is not backing down on NFL players returning to school.

The president of the SEC’s executive committee, Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, told ESPN on Tuesday that the league “will not budge” on its rule that NFL players cannot return to college. Speaking on behalf of the SEC’s presidents and chancellors, she made clear that the SEC is “prepared to defend our rules” and wants commissioner Greg Sankey to feel empowered to levy significant penalties.

“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.”

Last, Dabo has some jokes at Lane’s expense.

“… 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.”

Stay in our lane? That’s pretty good. Earlier in his presser, Swinney, while talking LSU prep, quipped that he might get “turned in for tampering” because he watched practice footage of the Cowboys, Buccaneers, Wright’s Browns and Harris’s Saints in August. That’s even better.

That should add a little spice to Saturday night’s matchup.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.

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