AJ McCarron thinks Bama sucks because of recruiting

[CHorn427]

https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/aj-mccarron-sounds-alarm-alabama-nil-reality-after-florida-state-loss

Bama is the #2 team in talent composite with 14 former 5* and 50 former 4* on roster. FSU is 19th with 1 former 5* and 36 former 4* on roster. It ain't NIL or recruiting. He's just sad that it would cost $20 million just to have the RB depth Bama used to have. That's a Bama education at work, folks. 

[Bunk Moreland]

I think the issue is that DeBoer didn’t make the right hires on the defensive side of the ball. That’s a huge difference between DeBoer and Sark: one still thinks of himself as primarily committed to constructing a dominant offense, while the other has brought in some of the best defensive coaching in the game and generated increasingly dominant defenses. Alabama is a top-5 most talented roster in the country. Losing to Vanderbilt, OU, and FSU is just unacceptable. This is NOT a Saban defense.

[LonghornFan4Ever]

It's not a talent issue.  It's not an NIL issue.  It's a coaching issue.  Last season, Bama should've went 11-1 in the regular season, played Texas in the SEC title game, and been a CFP lock.  This season, Bama should go 10-2 in the regular season at worst, but more likely to go 8-4 and miss the SEC title and CFP once again.  I know Saban is gone, but this team is good enough to be a perennial playoff contender, even if they're no longer a national championship contender.  DeBoer is too "buddy buddy" with his players and coaching staff for this to work.  LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and even Georgia are licking their chops to play this Alabama team.  

This guy is spot on with the issues happening in Tuscaloosa rn

Edited 6 hours ago by LonghornFan4Ever

[CHorn427]

5 minutes ago, Bunk Moreland said:

I think the issue is that DeBoer didn’t make the right hires on the defensive side of the ball. That’s a huge difference between DeBoer and Sark: one still thinks of himself as primarily committed to constructing a dominant offense, while the other has brought in some of the best defensive coaching in the game and generated increasingly dominant defenses. Alabama is a top-5 most talented roster in the country. Losing to Vanderbilt, OU, and FSU is just unacceptable. This is NOT a Saban defense.

It’s not just the defense. It’s discipline. Kalen DeBoer is used to coaching Midwest and west coast players. IMO, Southeastern players are more talented, but play with more attitude and “swag”. I think Kalen DeBoer got away with lackadaisical discipline coaching players that naturally had more even keel attitudes. 
 

Now he’s at Bama (lot of alpha types). They have just been unyoked from one of the biggest disciplinarian coaches in history to be coached by a much easier going coach, and I think the players are responding by being much more loose and undisciplined than they were under Saban.

Under DeBoer, Bama has never had fewer penalties than an opponent to date. Completely wild stat that illustrates the lack of discipline. 

[Bunk Moreland]

5 minutes ago, LonghornFan4Ever said:

It's not a talent issue.  It's not an NIL issue.  It's a coaching issue.  Last season, Bama should've went 11-1 in the regular season, played Texas in the SEC title game, and been a CFP lock.  This season, Bama should go 10-2 in the regular season at worst, but more likely to go 8-4 and miss the SEC title and CFP once again.  I know Saban is gone, but this team is good enough to be a perennial playoff contender, even if they're no longer a national championship contender.  DeBoer is too "buddy buddy" with his players and coaching staff for this to work.  LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and even Georgia are licking their chops to play this Alabama team.

Completely agree. Simpson might be okay, but for all his uneven play the one thing Milroe gave them was a complete freak with his legs and a devastating deep ball. They don’t have either of those weapons this year, which means they might be average or below-average on both sides of the ball. They might be in trouble. Also, losing Jam Miller just devastates their run game. They will be very one-dimensional on offense.

Edited 6 hours ago by Bunk Moreland

[TexasLonghorns]

Deboer went 9-3 in year one with a loss in the bowl game. 9-3. He’s 0-1 in year two, give the man some time. Sark went 5-7 and then 7-5 for comparisons. Accountability is important, but patience is too. Deboer deserves a little breathing room to see how the season unfolds. Odd how some are held to unrealistic and unreasonable standards but others aren’t. 

[CHorn427]

3 minutes ago, LonghornFan4Ever said:

It's not a talent issue.  It's not an NIL issue.  It's a coaching issue.  Last season, Bama should've went 11-1 in the regular season, played Texas in the SEC title game, and been a CFP lock.  This season, Bama should go 10-2 in the regular season at worst, but more likely to go 8-4 and miss the SEC title and CFP once again.  I know Saban is gone, but this team is good enough to be a perennial playoff contender, even if they're no longer a national championship contender.  DeBoer is too "buddy buddy" with his players and coaching staff for this to work.  LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and even Georgia are licking their chops to play this Alabama team.

I disagree with your win expectations for Bama this season, but agree with many of your points. People assumed they were gonna get great, improved QB play and heavily de-emphasized how much of a cheat code Jalen Milroe’s running ability was. They play a very tough schedule this season. UGA in Athens, LSU and @ SC were gonna be tough no matter what. So 9-3 would have been an ok season in my book. But now, they are looking like they could lose 6 or 7 games this season with the schedule they have. 
 

In addition to UGA, LSU and SC (which they are likely betting underdogs now), they could lose vs Tennessee, OU or Auburn playing the way they did. Vandy and Mizzou aren’t even gimmes playing the way they did.

[CHorn427]

Just now, TexasLonghorns said:

Deboer went 9-3 in year one with a loss in the bowl game. 9-3. He’s 0-1 in year two, give the man some time. Sark went 5-7 and then 7-5 for comparisons. Accountability is important, but patience is too. Deboer deserves a little breathing room to see how the season unfolds. Odd how some are held to unrealistic and unreasonable standards but others aren’t. 

Sark has improved in every season and took over from a rotten culture situation. DeBoer could fall HARD this season, and took over one of the best and most talented programs/cultures of all time. Monumental difference there. 

[LonghornFan4Ever]

4 minutes ago, TexasLonghorns said:

Deboer went 9-3 in year one with a loss in the bowl game. 9-3. He’s 0-1 in year two, give the man some time. Sark went 5-7 and then 7-5 for comparisons. Accountability is important, but patience is too. Deboer deserves a little breathing room to see how the season unfolds. Odd how some are held to unrealistic and unreasonable standards but others aren’t. 

If they bounce back and make the CFP, I would agree with you, but the difference is they are regressing as a program.  Sark has improved the program every year he's been here and we'll see if that trend continues or if he's plateaued.  The culture that Saban had built is quickly eroding under DeBoer.

[CHorn427]

6 minutes ago, TexasLonghorns said:

Deboer went 9-3 in year one with a loss in the bowl game. 9-3. He’s 0-1 in year two, give the man some time. Sark went 5-7 and then 7-5 for comparisons. Accountability is important, but patience is too. Deboer deserves a little breathing room to see how the season unfolds. Odd how some are held to unrealistic and unreasonable standards but others aren’t. 

Also, DeBoer left a team that made the natty to take over for a guy that just made the semis and won 6 titles for the program. I think not losing to OU or Vanderbilt was an ok expectation to have of him. 

[TexasLonghorns]

2 minutes ago, CHorn427 said:

Sark has improved in every season and took over from a rotten culture situation. DeBoer could fall HARD this season, and took over one of the best and most talented programs/cultures of all time. Monumental difference there. 

One game into his second season is barely a sample size, especially at a program with the expectations DeBoer inherited. Knee-jerk reactions like that are wild when you think about it. If this were any other coach at a program not named Alabama, people would laugh at the idea of firing them after a 9-4 year one and 0-1 start into their tenure. 

[Bunk Moreland]

5 minutes ago, CHorn427 said:

Also, DeBoer left a team that made the natty to take over for a guy that just made the semis and won 6 titles for the program. I think not losing to OU or Vanderbilt was an ok expectation to have of him. 

Part of the issue is that we don’t know what DeBoer is really capable of when he doesn’t have a deeply experienced qb who is likely the best in the country (Penix) along with a stable of dangerous and experienced WRs like he had at UW. I know he’s won big everywhere he’s been, but he never had to rebuild at UW. He had all the pieces for an elite offense. Even with all the talent he has at Bama, he’s never had a truly elite QB. And aside from Williams, what WR even comes close to the dudes he had at UW? If he’s not able to recreate the same kind of dominant offense that he had at UW, it means he needs his defense to be incredible—and they are far from that. These are the things that concern me about his ability to take Bama back to the heights they reached under Saban.

[CHorn427]

4 minutes ago, TexasLonghorns said:

One game into his second season is barely a sample size, especially at a program with the expectations DeBoer inherited. Knee-jerk reactions like that are wild when you think about it. If this were any other coach at a program not named Alabama, people would laugh at the idea of firing them after a 9-4 year one and 0-1 start into their tenure. 

The only teams Bama had any business losing to last season were UGA, LSU and Tennessee (not even really Tennessee given their struggles). Realistic expectations for DeBoer would have been lose 2 of those 3 and make the CFP, or even all 3 and miss the CFP (they probably would have made the CFP if those were the 3 they lost). But to lose to Vandy and OU just shows an immense change in culture for the worse. 4 losses to unranked teams, matching the total number Saban had his whole time there. And again, Bama has never been less penalized than their opponent under DeBoer yet. That is wild. It goes beyond the record.

If DeBoer pulls it out and goes 8-4 or better, props to him because that will be a hard earned 8-4. But I really do think he could go 6-6 or worse this year.

[CHorn427]

2 minutes ago, Bunk Moreland said:

Part of the issue is that we don’t know what DeBoer is really capable of when he doesn’t have a deeply experienced qb who is likely the best in the country (Penix) along with a stable of dangerous and experienced WRs like he had at UW. I know he’s won big everywhere he’s been, but he never had to rebuild at UW. He had all the pieces for an elite offense. Even with all the talent he has at Bama, he’s never had a truly elite QB. And aside from Williams, what WR even comes close to the dudes he had at UW? If he’s not able to recreate the same kind of dominant offense that he had at UW, it means he needs his defense to be incredible—and they are far from that. These are the things that concern me about his ability to take Bama back to the heights they reached under Saban.

Germie Bernard is pretty good. I think he is of the caliber that he would have been at least a top 4 receiver on that UW team. 

[HookemTexas]

3 hours ago, Bunk Moreland said:

Part of the issue is that we don’t know what DeBoer is really capable of when he doesn’t have a deeply experienced qb who is likely the best in the country (Penix) along with a stable of dangerous and experienced WRs like he had at UW. I know he’s won big everywhere he’s been, but he never had to rebuild at UW. He had all the pieces for an elite offense. Even with all the talent he has at Bama, he’s never had a truly elite QB. And aside from Williams, what WR even comes close to the dudes he had at UW? If he’s not able to recreate the same kind of dominant offense that he had at UW, it means he needs his defense to be incredible—and they are far from that. These are the things that concern me about his ability to take Bama back to the heights they reached under Saban.

I would argue DeBoer inherited a Rolls Royce from Saban whereas Sark inherited a Ford Focus from Tom Herman.

[Dread-headed Texan]

1 minute ago, HookemTexas said:

I would argue DeBoer inherited a Rolls Royce from Saban whereas Sark inherited a Ford Focus from Tom Herman.

Chevy Volt 🤣 we do bow ties not blue ovals

[Oldest Horn]

DeBoer was blessed with a senior laden UW team who all came back for one last year in 2023. He’s yet to “build a program”. It shows. 

[GoHorns1]

3 hours ago, CHorn427 said:

Sark has improved in every season and took over from a rotten culture situation. DeBoer could fall HARD this season, and took over one of the best and most talented programs/cultures of all time. Monumental difference there. 

DeBoer is screwed regardless what he does because he isn’t Saban. Never follow a legend much less the GOAT.

[CHorn427]

10 minutes ago, GoHorns1 said:

DeBoer is screwed regardless what he does because he isn’t Saban. Never follow a legend much less the GOAT.

A very hard fought 10-2 to make the CFP this year is not completely out of the question and would be very impressive. But I’d give it a 1-5% chance given their schedule. 

[CHorn427]

26 minutes ago, Oldest Horn said:

DeBoer was blessed with a senior laden UW team who all came back for one last year in 2023. He’s yet to “build a program”. It shows. 

UW was 4-8 the year before he got there. What he did with UW was impressive. The UW job was very different than the Bama job. The Bama job is very different than any job DeBoer’s had. The only two coaches that have ever had sustained success at Bama were two of the most hardass coaches of all time. I just can’t see a HC that is California cool having real success coaching Bama. He’d be better off at a premiere Big10 program. Just doesn’t fit imo 

[NothinButDaHorns34]

I remember CJ and gerry loving the deboer hire at bama saying “he wins wherever he goes”. I just wasn’t convinced he could field a competent defense for the SEC or win at this level on a consistent basis. 

[Oldest Horn]

10 minutes ago, CHorn427 said:

UW was 4-8 the year before he got there. What he did with UW was impressive. The UW job was very different than the Bama job. The Bama job is very different than any job DeBoer’s had. The only two coaches that have ever had sustained success at Bama were two of the most hardass coaches of all time. I just can’t see a HC that is California cool having real success coaching Bama. He’d be better off at a premiere Big10 program. Just doesn’t fit imo 

And they had a bunch of talent returning for third and fourth years in 2022 followed by them sticking around in 2023. Three first round picks who were all draft eligible the year before. DeBoer did great with what he had. But like at Fresno State he didn’t stick around long. I don’t blame him in the least, but he’s not a proven program builder. 

[Dread-headed Texan]

3 minutes ago, Oldest Horn said:

And they had a bunch of talent returning for third and fourth years in 2022 followed by them sticking around in 2023. Three first round picks who were all draft eligible the year before. DeBoer did great with what he had. But like at Fresno State he didn’t stick around long. I don’t blame him in the least, but he’s not a proven program builder. 

That's what makes coaching at the top level SEC teams so hard. At most if your freshman recruits hit, you have to maximize them because you only have them for two more years. 

[CHorn427]

5 minutes ago, Oldest Horn said:

And they had a bunch of talent returning for third and fourth years in 2022 followed by them sticking around in 2023. Three first round picks who were all draft eligible the year before. DeBoer did great with what he had. But like at Fresno State he didn’t stick around long. I don’t blame him in the least, but he’s not a proven program builder. 

On the surface, it’s easy to argue that Bama didn’t need a program builder. Their program was built, just needed a competent winner. Which DeBoer had proved himself to be in his prior stops.

But to be a Devil’s advocate along the same lines as your argument, I recently watched a clip of Saban making his Bama team run wind sprints and he said something that is very pertinent and supportive of your position. He said: “only two things can happen- either we’re gonna get better or we’re gonna get worse. We’re not gonna remain the same”

And maybe that was the flaw in the case of the Saban to DeBoer transition, and all transitions of a great to his successor. It seems like the general thought/goal is to “maintain” the greatness. Which, if you believe Saban’s line, is impossible. It’s either better or worse. 

[Oldest Horn]

Just now, CHorn427 said:

On the surface, it’s easy to argue that Bama didn’t need a program builder. Their program was built, just needed a competent winner. Which DeBoer had proved himself to be in his prior stops.

But to be a Devil’s advocate along the same lines as your argument, I recently watched a clip of Saban making his Bama team run wind sprints and he said something that is very pertinent and supportive of your position. He said: “only two things can happen- either we’re gonna get better or we’re gonna get worse. We’re not gonna remain the same”

And maybe that was the flaw in the case of the Saban to DeBoer transition, and all transitions of a great to his successor. It seems like the general thought/goal is to “maintain” the greatness. Which, if you believe Saban’s line, is impossible. It’s either better or worse. 

One thing Saban knew is your program is built every day, relentlessly. You recruit like your hair is on fire 24/7. You don’t take even a month off. You adjust as the game evolves. He didn’t hesitate to bring in Kiffin and then Sark to run the offense. He would recruit and bring in transfers over existing talent if it made the team better. He’d pull or gray shirt commits if he could upgrade. He never stopped building, for a minute.