What Do You Think About Our Portal Additions?

Upgraded at:

Punter
Kicker
OL
DL
LB

Held steady:
TE
WR

Lost:
RB
DB

Variable is that Bama brought in what's regarded as the #3 recruiting class with some absolute studs at WR, RB, DB, and LB.


Summary, Bama will be fine provided that coaching staff coaches up the youth and molds the portal additions with the returners to play as a "team" similar to how Indiana did.

A contributing RB would send this class to the next level.

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Do you think we're doing well with portal additions, or did they drop the ball like many said early on?

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On3 still considers this transfer haul a net negative. A lot of those losses were edge rushers though which we had too many of for the system we’re running currently. Arguably the d linemen we added are a better fit for the system despite being lower rated players in many cases.

247 has us ranked 4th nationally in the combined high school/transfer rankings, but that doesn’t account for the players we lost.

I’d say the portal additions are probably a C. There’s some solid pieces but no one to really get excited about, so I’d say it’s an average haul. Net of the guys we lost, it’s probably more like a D.

However, our high school haul is an A, so the question is was this year just a one off with a bunch of national title competitors built through the portal?

Until this year, there were good portal teams, but the national championship teams were built through high school with just some portal guys filling gaps.

Our portal additions are good enough to fill some gaps, but this year, the final four teams were largely built out of the portal. Our group certainly isn’t that.

I think we really need another experienced OL. Even if it's another small school guy. Whatever configuration we throw out there is going to have a total of like 2500 snaps under their belt and half of them belong to a guy moving up from FCS. There's going to be a lot of growing pains. Maybe too many.

If Bama finishes up with a LB who can compete for 1 of the 2 opening spots, and a backup Edge so that J. Hill can continue to be used in 3-4 different roles if Pierre were to go down, then I give this class a solid “A”.

Anyone looking at “rankings” for the Portal is wasting time, and will be misinformed. The Portal Is about filling needs. Teams that signed 25 players regardless of quality will be “ranked” higher than Bama.

Bama is making a philosophical change on the Dline. They wanted bigger bodies: Thompkins as a 290lb 4-tech/5-tech, Green as a 330lb 3-tech and Bingley-Jones as a 340lb Nose to rotate with Simmons at the Nose/Shade are far different body types to what they had this past season.

Defensively, Bama is using a 3-4 Under Front defensively (and have been much better against the run this year doing-so with IU being the lone exception).

They are no longer a 4-down/3 and a Shade/ traditional 4-2-5 defense anymore. The defense finished #2 in the conference this past year in fewest yards allowed behind OU only.
Last year, they allowed the fewest points a Bama defense has allowed since 2017 and was Top10 Nationally, and I think they are adapting to the SEC.

The 265-280lb bodies like Keeley/Collins/Renaud/etc no longer fit. They did not produce and they were getting pushed back into the laps of 2nd level defenders (IU game). The upgrades on the DL was Massive both literally and figuratively, and a return to more CNS style bodies up-front.

The upgrade at Punter cannot be understated. Then of course the quality and depth along the OLine was also a major upgrade.

No, Bama did not get a big name like a “Hollywood Smothers” or a Cam Coleman to give them a “top-10 ranking”, but I would contend the skill positions are good enough offensively.

The staff clearly targeted both LOS, which is precisely what was needed. Anyone disappointed in this class, I would contend has a poor understanding of what this past years team was missing.

It is now up to Grubb/CKD to get the offense/running game going, and to do so with consistency. They have the personnel to do so. If they can get it going, then they will return to the SECCG and advance in the Playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season.

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Better be able to block or it won’t matter

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This. Without coaching changes we'll see more of the same.....hearing coaching changes coming but we'll see.

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I'd say the portal additions are probably a C. There’s some solid pieces but no one to really get excited about, so I’d say it’s an average haul. Net of the guys we lost, it’s probably more like a D.

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About where I'm at on it. All things considered, as things stand now, I think we're a bit less talented than last year and I don't really like the talent distribution as much either. Not much really stands out as a clear area of improvement to me, outside of the guys who kick things maybe lol. Also not really liking what I can glean of our approach - seems like we were left scrambling for bodies. This wasnt some surgical trimming fat and replacing it with muscle type of deal.

I think you've got to be a really big believer in the staff's talent evaluation and ability to implement its approach when the guys we have are ones it brought in if you're excited about the roster changes.

I, on the other hand, am getting my hopium from choosing to believe that our next QB will be much better suited for us, that the staff is settling in and course correcting, that some weaknesses we saw last year were kind flukish, and that we're going to have great injury luck. Nothing too much

Think Saban recruited most of the OL from this year .. could be wrong but worth looking up

ETA- you are right that the OL was terrible… and this staff at least recruited some of them for sure . Worst I can remember

I think the breakdown you will see are going to be based on one of two things those who hated the DeBoer hire and those that don’t and 2. Some people are hung up on brand so a OL from a small school doesn’t get them excited in spite of the fact we see guys get drafted every year from small schools that no one has ever heard of before. Thisnportal class addressed all of the needs that we saw during the season OL/DL. The guys we lost to the portal were highly ranked guys who were going to require a certain amount of money to hang on to and we honestly didn’t get the kind of production from them that could justify spending that money. Alabama will be limited as to how much money they have available to spend as compared the Texas schools, Miami and Ohio State. Teams like LSU who have fan bases that are tired of 4 loss seasons will pony up large funds to hit the portal hard, Alabama is not there yet. I am cautiously optimistic that they addressed needs and we will see a group of players who play harder with something to prove.