The No. 14 Alabama Crimson Tide has lost its status as college football’s most dominant program since the legendary Nick Saban retired. The Crimson Tide hired Kalen DeBoer to take over as head coach, and while the team has seen some success, it has struggled to meet Saban’s established standard.
One analyst believes the program must move on from the Saban era to succeed, while DeBoer recently highlighted an area where star wide receiver Ryan Williams needs to improve as ‘Bama prepares for next week’s road trip to No. 5 Georgia.
Alabama Urged to Move Past the Saban Era As Kalen DeBoer Highlights Key Ryan Williams Issue
When Saban retired from Alabama, no matter who the Crimson Tide hired, they would never live up to what he accomplished. In his 17 years as head coach, he won six national titles and consistently kept Alabama at the top of the college football world.
DeBoer entered the 2025 season with his seat already starting to feel warm after Alabama missed the College Football Playoff in his first season. To make matters worse, the Tide fell to a then-unranked Florida State to start the year, and fans are clearly fed up with the lack of success.
Ahman Green, a former Nebraska star and analyst, believes Alabama and DeBoer are struggling because the programs still live in the Saban era. Green explained that to find success, they need to step out of the shadow Saban left behind.
“They just got to show up and play, though,” Green said. “That’s the only thing they got to let themselves do. They got to let themselves out of the Saban shadow, and it’s like, ‘Look, we got to come out here and play football.”
As Green notes, the team feels the pressure of living up to Saban, which leads to overthinking on game days and not playing loose. If Alabama could forget about Saban and focus on its own style of football under DeBoer, the on-field product would improve.
One player who has struggled this season is star wideout Ryan Williams. In 2024, Williams was one of Alabama’s top performers as a true freshman. However, Williams hasn’t looked like himself in 2025, with drops becoming an issue.
DeBoer recently addressed the drops, saying they aren’t caused by bad passes or a lack of talent, but rather a lack of focus from Williams.
“Guys just have to continue to watch the ball all the way in,” DeBoer said. “I think that’s a lot of it. I thought the ball was right where it needed to be. That’s just focus.”
Williams’s lack of focus could be linked to the pressure of the “Saban shadow” that Green mentioned. If Williams played more freely and confidently, he would likely eliminate the drops.
No. 14 Alabama is 2-1 this season, and both Williams’ performance and the team’s overall mindset need to improve if the team hopes to succeed when SEC play begins Saturday, September 27, against Georgia. After the Week 1 loss, though, ‘Bama has taken down Louisiana-Monroe and Wisconsin, attempting to reset.
The college football world will see if it’s enough when the Tide travels to Athens, Georgia, next week to take on the No. 4 Bulldogs, whom they beat in dramatic fashion last year in Tuscaloosa. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
