Alabama football added a walk-on tight end in his final season of collegiate eligibility, one who expected to make an impact upon arrival.

The Alabama football standard was clear in the Nick Saban era. A year after Saban retired, how does it look under Kalen DeBoer?

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer and his former right-hand man at Washington, Ryan Grubb, could reunite in Tuscaloosa. It'll just be a bit awkward given how Grubb left the Crimson Tide last year.

Let’s take a look at answering that question by handing out some grades for Alabama football in year No. 1 under head coach Kalen DeBoer.

Alabama starts the 2025 season on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Florida State. The Tide also host Wisconsin during nonconference play before getting their SEC season underway. It’ll be important for DeBoer to get off to a hot start in those games to keep the heat off of him.

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer isn't on the "hot seat" entering the 2025 college football season, though that could quickly change if things trend south in Tuscaloosa next fall. DeBoer had a fairly decent debut season at Alabama by most standards.

Although DeBoer’s season wasn’t the worst first year for a Crimson Tide coach, it snapped a streak of 10-win seasons. Alabama had won at least 10 games for 16 straight seasons. The last time the Crimson Tide didn’t win 10 games was in 2007, Saban’s first year.

But 9-4 won’t cut it Alabama. Not this year, not any year now that Nick Saban has set the standard so preposterously high via 6 national championships and 9 SEC crowns in 17 seasons. Fair or not, DeBoer walked into what can confidently be called an unwinnable situation – unwinnable, of course, unless he won every game in the 2024 season.

TAMPA, Fla. — No one expected Michigan football to come into Raymond James Stadium and upset the vaunted Alabama Crimson Tide. However, the Wolverines took the Jan. 1 game against Alabama and did so again on Dec. 31 to close the calendar year.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer stands to lose a lot if the Crimson Tide were to miss the College Football Playoff again in 2025.