Feelings about the short-term future of the program after National Title/Playoff Losses

Everyone will run next year because we will be back and stronger. The only thing that will hold us back is Saban's decision making in hires (OC and OL coaches).

That is what screwed us this year.

Marrone fricked up a loaded team of OL talent. Literally no development... in fact our players got worse; See Evan Neal.

While Bill O'Brien rode Bryce coattails and instead of innovation, made us regress in creativity before and after the snap. We don't even have a gameplan to exploit future weaknesses in the second half. I mean the idiot tried to throw 1000 different types of short passes and screens not realizing if we don’t even attempt to throw deep and keep them honest they will just pin their ears back.


Those hires punished us all year.



We need both of those piece of shite morons OUT. We need Saban to make better hires this time

2016 was heartbreaking. Last night sucked but we are returning a stacked Football team.

Need to use the spring to really build rapport between Bryce and his new starting WRs. Hopefully we can also find another stud WR in the portal and he goes through spring practice. OL development is a concern... also assuming our young corners get better.

I feel great. It’s funny to me that the people doing the most whining about last night are the same people that:

Knew this team sucked after Florida.

Knew this team sucked after A&M.

Knew this team sucked after LSU.

Knew this team sucked after Auburn.

Knew this team was going to get absolutely destroyed and exposed against UGA in the SECCG.

But all of the sudden, after having egg all over their doomy-gloomy faces by Saban's best coaching job yet, not winning a rematch is some huge travesty with injuries all over the place.

Almost like they just want to complain about something, regardless.

Feel really good about next year. Motivation combined with talent and experience will be at high we haven’t seen in while. If BOB moves on the o coordinator hire will obviously be the key. Get that right and Bama can win it all again.

2014 - I felt like we didn't really have the talent to go all the way and was another year with tons of injuries. Our defense was really depleted.

Coming out of that season, my biggest concern was with our QB situation. We were in pretty bad shape there; thankfully Coker developed and the 2015 team was probably one of my favorites.

2016 - I'll never get over that one. That was one of the best college football teams that has ever taken the field. Watson had one of the best QB performances that I can remember and anything less than him playing a nearly perfect second half and they don't win. Oh yeah, you can't forget, 99 plays and 0 penalties for Clemson. Statistically, that's nearly impossible.

Looking forward, I thought we'd be in pretty good shape. Lots of talent coming in, skill positions especially. With how recruiting was going, I knew we'd be in the mix for at least a few years.

2018 - I thought the dynasty was over. Got our asses kicked and that team completely lost its way throughout the year. Felt like that program lost its identity and we had a bunch of individuals that were just looking for the fastest route to the pros, instead of becoming a great team. I really thought the ride was over and we'd start a bit of a decline.

2021 - Flat out, too many injuries. We may have a lot of young talent, but experience counts more than talent. you can't lose an entire running back crew, defensive backfield and WR lineup and beat elite teams. That said, this team was way ahead of schedule. They're young, have great leadership, an established QB and really probably the fewest guys going off the the NFL that we've had in a decade. If the coaching staff can develop players, the '22 team should be one of the best ones yet. My only concern is with the WR's. They'll need to improve over what they've shown so far.

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Helluva year this year

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I'm proud of the year overall. I wasn't expecting us to be there this season with a first year starting QB, defensive question marks and some coordinator and position coach hiring mistakes.
We've got some positives though. Will and Dallas are monsters and back next year. We had a first year starter win the Heisman and is back. I think we have some OL talent if we get the right guy coaching them. Gotta replace Neal though. Assuming a bunch of guys don't transfer, we've got some WR talent coming back and coming in. We do need to see if we can bring in (via portal)some experience at this spot. Even if Metch comes back, he got hurt late in the season and may not be ready for fall.
We have plenty of RB talent if healthy.

Hopefully Ricks can provide some stability in the defensive backfield. We needed that last night. Kool and Kyree weren't the best last night. Middle linebacker will be a question mark for next year as Henry and Harris will probably be gone. We might need to fill some depth from the portal too because I could see some of the receivers leave and I'm concerned about Drew Sanders coming back. He's from Texas and he saw Dallas take his spot after he got hurt.

On a side note, a shout out to Brian Robinson on the year. He's not at the level of some of the backs we've had in here but he busted his arse this year and had more of a workload than he needed. (and Trey Sanders too for coming back from his injuries and playing hard)

Overall, I am happy with the season. I think our success moving forward will depend on who Saban brings in as OC and OL coach and how the portal goes for us both ways.

The next 2-3 years should have plenty of talent available based on recent recruiting. The big question is development. There are several factors creating concern for me. Coaching and coaching changes have impacted the development of the OL and the depth in several areas. I strongly feel that games with big leads should be used to develop depth across the board, and feel like many of these opportunities are wasted. Ending a game that is out of reach with run after run that the other team knows is coming, isn’t developing anyone. Granted, we don’t want to risk momentum, but how are you going to trust your depth when really needed without getting them experience. The coaching turnover has an obvious impact and I don’t think some of the current coaches are really committed/hungry/intense enough to provide the desired impact to college kids that in many cases still have to learn how to work hard the correct way. The next big concern is the combination of NIL and the transfer portal. We could possibly see players developed and the critical developed depth transfer out to teams for immediate playing time, and NIL provides extra incentive to entice players to move.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is a big drop off in the next few years, it’s really just a matter of getting the team to be the best they can be. Fortunately, Saban is a master of drilling the message of the process and creating value into everyone’s head.

If we can get a split of the ILB and Safeties to return (my guess would be HTT and Hellams as the best bets), then the defense next year has a chance to truly be something special. Even if we don't, we'll still be very good, but the experience and talent would be something we haven't had in a long time.