Where Alabama football's rebuild for 2026 begins and ends | Goodbread
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The notion that returning experience is vital to success in college football has always been a bit overrated, but thanks to the NCAA transfer portal, never more so than in current times. It's easy enough to point to a specific player — a quality starting quarterback, for instance — and make the argument that his return is of paramount importance. On a case-by-case basis, the value of a veteran can be a real asset.
But it falls apart as a general concept. A blanket truth it is not.
The reality is that most players have a limited trajectory for improvement. Bad players often stay bad, and average players often stay average, even under optimum developmental circumstances.
Which brings us to the total rebuild Alabama football is facing in the area most crucial to its 2026 success: the line of scrimmage. The Crimson Tide just wasn't very good up front last year, despite reaching a College Football Playoff quarterfinal. The defensive line certainly performed better than the offensive line, but that was a low bar to clear.
When Alabama was winning national championships, it held ownership papers on the line of scrimmage pretty much every Saturday, and a return to exceptional line play is the program's only path back to championship football under Kalen DeBoer. Without it, his team won't make a more serious playoff push than the one that fell short. In fact, it's somewhat remarkable that a team with a rushing attack as miserably bad as Alabama's went as far as it did.
As DeBoer's offseason program commences, experience on both lines of scrimmage has largely been wiped out by graduation, NFL draft entries, and transfer portal exits. Tackle Michael Carroll is a fine building block for a revamped line, and will by far be UA's most experienced returning offensive lineman. Otherwise, changes will be wholesale, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. From a performance standpoint, not all of the experienced departed will be missed. On the defensive line, coordinator Kane Wommack will replace Tim Keenan, LT Overton and James Smith; good players all, none dominant. Several reserves who rotated behind those three hit the portal, as well.
By Alabama's acquisitions in the portal, it would appear DeBoer and his staff recognize the urgency of the pending big-man rebuild. Ten of UA's 16 incoming transfers are linemen, 11 if you count edge pass rusher Desmond Umeozulu of South Carolina, and the Crimson Tide just added Mississippi State's starting left tackle in Jayvin James. Between the transfer class, the signing class, and youngsters like offensive tackle Jackson Lloyd and defensive tackle London Simmons, competition in the spring should, and will, be a wide-open free-for-all up and down the line of scrimmage.
Alabama didn't have enough championship-caliber players up front in 2025.
The CFP underscored that.
And there isn't a more important offseason task for DeBoer than changing it.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Where Alabama football's rebuild for 2026 begins and ends
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