It was not the deciding factor in the University of Alabama missing out on the College Football Playoff last season, but it did play a role.
Alabama football suffered some injuries on its roster at the wrong time. Keon Sabb, a safety, went down early in the season with a foot injury versus Tennessee. The incident gave Brayson Hubbard an opportunity to step up — and he did — but Sabb started the season with two interceptions against Western Kentucky and was primed for more before the injury.
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Deontae Lawson, an inside linebacker, sustained a leg injury in the Crimson Tide’s 3-28 loss to Oklahoma on the road. He missed the remainder of the season and was out for spring football practice. Alabama had a few others that were banged up throughout the 2024 campaign and were limited in spring practice. Kalen DeBoer spoke Tuesday at the SEC Coaches Spring Meetings in Florida. He is very excited about the health of his roster heading into the fall.
DeBoer said the players have been ‘over the top’ with the work they are putting in because they ‘want to prove some people right and some people wrong.’
“There will be a group, and there is still too many as a whole coming off last season that missed spring ball, but there will be a pretty good group that’s now in full swing,” DeBoer said.
“We will have just a few guys that we’ll refer to as ‘limited’ or ‘limited contact.’ There is not contact now, but limited as we monitor their situations as we go through the month of June. … But by the time we hit August, we feel confident we will have everyone back.”
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DeBoer said this team is pouring everything into being the best it needs to be.
“They have a desire of wanting to be great and have an amazing season,” he said. “In coming off of last year, they want to prove some people right and prove some people wrong.”
DeBoer, 50, learned a lot from his first season as Alabama’s head coach in 2024.
He said the team is in a ‘much better spot’ heading into year two under him.
“We have found out who wants to be here,” DeBoer said.
“They have dug in deep and we have a great mix of upperclassmen that understand what it takes mixed with some young guys that either got their feet wet last year or just came in and have been accepted in a way from the guys who have gone through it.”
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If Alabama can stay healthy, this is a roster — talent wise — that can make the College Football Playoff and contend for a national championship.
Stephen M. Smith is a senior analyst and writer for The Bama Standard. You can follow him on X via @CoachingMSmith.
