The Alabama Crimson Tide football program announced some major updates to the spring game format, and it sounds like fans are going to be pretty happy with what they hear.

According to a release from the University, full details have been announced regarding the annual event, which will be held on Saturday, April 11 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After last year’s game was largely a glorified practice in front of an empty crowd, Alabama is returning to the intrasquad scrimmage format.

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A two-hour scrimmage will begin at 1:00 p.m. CST after gates open at noon, and the annual Walk of Fame ceremony at Denny Chimes will begin at 11 a.m. featuring Kalen DeBoer along with 2025 captains Parker Brailsford, Tim Keenan III, Deontae Lawson and Ty Simpson.

At 12:45 p.m., the 2026 roster will participate in the Walk of Champions leading into Saban Field before the scrimmage begins.

According to the announcement, several modifications have been made to the stadium experience which are as follows:

• Premium Areas Closed: There will be no access to suites or club spaces for A-Day.
• Seating: Seating for A-Day will be available in the lower bowl.
• Limited Concessions: A select number of market pads will be open with a limited menu on the south, east and west sides of levels 1 and 2. Concessions in the north will not be open.
• Crimson Tide Access: There will be no upgraded experience offerings such as locker room tours, reserved seating or parking passes.
• TIDE PRIDE Breakfast/Luncheon: There will be no TIDE PRIDE Breakfast/Luncheon in Coleman Coliseum prior to A-Day.
• Vector Security Champions Lane: The pregame fan fest area will not be in operation on the northwest side of the stadium prior to A-Day.

More info can be found here.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.

Young football coaches who want to learn from the best of the best just got a huge piece of news — the annual Alabama coaching clinic was revealed on social media by the program this week.

Legendary former Crimson Tide linebacker and current Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is making his return to Tuscaloosa for the clinic and giving budding coaches a chance to learn from one of the best defensive minds in the business.

Ryans will be teaming up with Kalen DeBoer and numerous other high profile assistants to bring the clinic to town.

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The clinic will be held in Tuscaloosa on April 10 and 11 and will cost $50 to register and attend.

Spring camp has started for the Alabama Crimson Tide which means football season will be here before we know it, and once again, there is a quarterback battle in Tuscaloosa for the coaching staff to solve.

Following the departure of Ty Simpson, the contenders are former Washington transfer Austin Mack, who came over with Kalen DeBoer, and former top five-star recruit Keelon Russell out of Texas powerhouse Duncanville, who is now entering his sophomore year.

Mack may have a slight leg up after serving as the backup last year and the extra time in DeBoer’s system, but the talent of Russell is undeniable and makes for a fascinating battle.

While speaking after practice this week, the Alabama head coach praised both of them and how far they have come.

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“You can tell that they’ve had a number of reps from last year under their belt, playing with confidence, calling the play in the huddle with confidence, both of them light years ahead of where they were a year ago obviously, and they should be,” DeBoer said. “It’s just a matter of them building the rapport with their skill around them, making the throws when they’re there, feeling the timing and trust and just feeling comfortable in the pocket.”

“That just comes with time, feeling comfortable with your offensive line doing the job up front. I like what they’ve done through two practices. Some good explosives on their end, good feel, working the mobility when they have to…I think they’re really putting a lot of pressure on our defense and our defense is doing the same to them.”

DeBoer certainly did not give up any information if either has been better than the other, so it sounds like it’s another long summer ahead of questions at quarterback.

It will be a new chapter starting this upcoming season for former Alabama Crimson Tide superstar quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

With the Miami Dolphins beginning a rebuild under a new head coach and general manager, they made the decision at the start of this week to release the quarterback and eat the remaining salary on his contract, which will cost them approximately $100 million over the next two seasons.

Tagovailoa quickly landed on a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons, which will pay him the league minimum, but he will still make more than $50 million this season from the Dolphins.

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It’s been a rough go of it for Tagovailoa over the last couple of years, with injuries and poor play derailing his career as things bottomed out for Miami this past season.

Now, he gets a chance to reset his career and potentially battle for the starting job in Atlanta with Michael Penix Jr., who suffered a torn ACL near the end of last season.

Tagovailoa is most remembered at Alabama for coming into the national title game in 2018 as a true freshman and leading a comeback victory over Georgia, capped off by one of the most iconic plays in college football history with his bomb to DeVonta Smith on 2nd and 26 to secure the walk-off victory.

Across the next two seasons, he would rack up nearly 7,500 passing yards and 87 touchdowns, becoming the all-time program leader in passing scores. Eventually selected 5th overall by the Dolphins back in 2020, Tagovailoa has experienced serious highs and lows throughout his career.

With a fresh start back in the South, perhaps he can find his way once again and be able to get his career back on track.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is always thoughtful and honest when speaking on the current state in college sports especially since retirement, and Friday afternoon at the White House was no different.

President Trump hosted a roundtable event on the future of college sports focused on solving issues like NIL and the transfer portal, and Saban was one attendee on a long list of distinguished guests.

While giving his take on what needs to happen to restore some order to college football and the rest of the sports, Saban offered a perspective not many think of: players creating value for their futures both through athletic achievement as well as the ultimate goal of getting a degree.

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“We have a challenge here today on the ramifications of the current system on how it helps players be successful in their future and how we can impact and create a system that will help and preserve the opportunity for student athletes to be able to have success in their future beyond athletics,” Saban said.

“How much does anybody talk about getting an education anymore? Nobody talks about it at all, which is the most important thing any of these student athletes can do in terms of enhancing their future…We need to come up with a system to allow student athletes in all sports, including women’s and olympic sports, to enhance their quality of life, while going to college — but still provide opportunity to advance themselves beyond their athletic career.”

Trump is planning another executive order to try to return college athletics back to a similar system of old, however it will unquestionably face challenges in court. With voices like Saban in the room however who clearly have the best long-term interest of the athlete at the front of mind, perhaps this unique set of challenges can be tackled.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Gene Stallings hit a very impressive milestone on Monday, turning 91 years of age more than three decades since his national title triumph.

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“I’m about as well as a man who has had a heart attack & 3 strokes can be,” Stallings told Rick Karle over the weekend.

Stallings probably does not get the credit he deserves as a legendary figure in the Crimson Tide fraternity of coaches — due to Nick Saban and Bear Bryant winning at such an absurd rate — but he is absolutely one of the best to ever do it.

Beyond the famed 1992 undefeated team that brought Alabama its first title since Bryant, Stallings led Alabama to five bowl victories in his seven seasons, averaging over 10 wins a season with an 11-1 record in 1991 and a 12-1 record in 1994.

He is remembered extremely fondly in Tuscaloosa, and Crimson Tide fans around the state will be sure to wish Coach Stallings a very happy 91st birthday and continued good health.

President Donald Trump made some headlines last week when it was revealed he was doing an appearance with one of the more prominent college football media personalities in Josh Pate.

Among the topics discussed was former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who played golf with Trump, former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis the week prior.

Pate pried into what conversations between Trump and major figures in college football are like, and the President downplayed the football aspect, saying they talk more about politics than the sport.

“They talk to me about politics really, more so than football they like politics,” Trump said. “They’re all, obviously, very competitive people. But I would say for the most part we talk about politics. They want to know what’s happening with Iran. How’d you do that with Venezuela.”

Ironically, Saban has said in the past how much Trump is a fan of sports and wants to talk football when the two get together, so perhaps the two find common ground somewhere in the middle.

Saban has been one of the biggest advocates for NIL centered reform in the political landscape, and while Trump has taken some action, ultimately legislation has been unable to be passed.

Perhaps if the legendary head coach can stay close with Trump, he can encourage the President to help assist in making changes before it’s too late.

Now that legendary former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been retired for a couple of years, it’s easy to look back and wonder what could have been had he not taken the job in Tuscaloosa back in 2007.

When Saban left the Miami Dolphins to take over the Tide, he was just two games below .500 in total at 15-17, and was a quarterback away from experiencing some real success. Before his final season in the NFL in 2006, he nearly landed that quarterback in New Orleans Saints Hall of Famer Drew Brees.

Brees was a free agent after Saban’s first year in 2005, and Saban wanted to sign him, but infamously, the Dolphins medical staff did not clear him from a torn labrum that ended his season with the San Diego Chargers, and he ended up with the Saints.

During an appearance with “The Dan Patrick Show,” Brees told the story of the visit to Miami which nearly altered the course of football history both in college and the NFL.

“On paper, this was the easiest decision in the world. It’s the Miami Dolphins all the way,” Brees said. “Nick Saban is the head coach, has done an outstanding job on that defense, one of the best defenses in the league — Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor. Like, they had finished that last season, the previous season, winning seven in a row…On my recruiting trip there, we’re eating dinner on (team owner) Wayne Huizenga’s yacht. And he’s sitting there talking about how every summer we’re going to go to Scotland and play golf ‘me, you and Dan.’ I’m like, ‘Dan?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, Dan Marino.’ I’m like, oh, so Dan is like my mentor now? You know what I mean? Like, this is the greatest thing ever, you know? State of Florida, no state income tax. I’m like, I mean, this is a no-brainer, right?”

“But also on that trip, they put me through, like, this rigorous health inspection basically, like, six hours of testing – contrast, MRI tube, you know, where I’m in the MRI, literally, for two hours. And they’re trying to assess just the damage that was done to my shoulder and the chances of me being able to come back and be the same…And at the end of the day, Nick Saban looked me in the eye and said, ‘You know, our doctors think you have a 25 percent chance of ever coming back and playing again.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, OK, I know what they say, but what do you think?’ He’s like, ‘I got to believe what the doctors are telling me. But we still want you, but it’s just letting you know kind of what’s been said.’”

As a result, Brees wound up signing with the Saints, won a Super Bowl, and Saban was at Alabama a year after the fact. Had Brees come to Miami, perhaps it could have been the Dolphins who found team success, and perhaps Saban would have turned down Alabama entirely.

Of course, Tide fans are thrilled with the way things worked out, but it is fascinating to look back and think about what could have been if the team doctors saw things differently.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.

The Crimson Tide has been in the news frequently over eligibility conversations, and those conversations won’t stop quite yet.

Kedrick Bingley-Jones, who arrives to Tuscaloosa via Mississippi State, posted on social media thanking the Lord after he received word from the NCAA that he was granted his waiver for a seventh season of eligibility.

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Originally playing at North Carolina from 2020-2023, Bingley-Jones found his way to the SEC via the portal and spent two seasons with the Bulldogs program before entering the portal once again for a final season with Alabama.

His case for another year was largely based off not playing during the COVID season in 2020, missing 10 games to injury in 2023 and missing another eight in 2024. During a turbulent time within the NCAA as far as eligibility goes, clearly they decided that the injury history on the defensive lineman was enough to allow him a seventh year to play.

Given the fact that Alabama is replacing essentially its entire defensive line, Bingley-Jones — who started every game for Mississippi State in 2025 — could be a massive part of the plan on defense this season.

The University of Alabama has announced the date of their homecoming game for the 2026 season.

According to a release from the athletic department, the annual homecoming football game will take place on October 24 when the Tide hosts the Texas A&M Aggies, following a season in which both teams made the College Football Playoff.

Prior to this past season, Alabama won 22 consecutive homecoming games in a row, but the Oklahoma Sooners wrecked that streak when they left Tuscaloosa with a 23-21 victory — before the Tide got revenge in Norman in the first round of the playoff.

Since 2000, Alabama has won 22 of its 25 homecoming games in total.

As for the Aggies, Alabama owns a 13-3 record in the previous 16 meetings between the two sides, last facing off in 2023 in College Station where the Tide came away with a 26-20 victory.

Start time and television information will be revealed at a later date.

The University of Alabama has sent out a release officially announcing the hiring of new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, joining Kalen DeBoer’s staff as the successor to Nick Saban heads into a critical third season with the program.

“Adrian Klemm has a reputation for recruiting and developing players at every level, having worked with some of the top offensive lines in his 15-plus years coaching,” said DeBoer. “He has a deep knowledge and passion for the game, and I know that he will be able to have an immediate impact on our program. We look forward to having him on staff.”

Klemm replaces Chris Kapilovic, who was fired by DeBoer after two lackluster seasons for the line as a whole and an especially poor running game during the 2025 season.

With previous stops at Oregon, UCLA and SMU, as well as the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers, Klemm brings a ton of experience to the staff and has been able to both recruit and develop offensive linemen at a high level.

“I am incredibly honored and grateful for this opportunity to join Coach DeBoer’s staff at The University of Alabama,” said Klemm. “The tradition, culture and championship standard in Tuscaloosa is second to none. I’m excited to get to work with our players and this staff, and it feels great to be a part of the Alabama family. Roll Tide!”

The California native spent the 2025 season on the USC coaching staff as a defensive assistant before moving back to the offensive side of the ball, where both his playing and coaching roots are. Now, the task for Klemm is clear: get the Crimson Tide back to a spot where they are running the ball with consistency.

DeBoer is potentially staking his job security on Klemm being the man to get this right, so it’s a massive decision. Time will tell how it pans out.

The biggest games in sports always bring out all the biggest stars, and this was certainly the case in Miami for the national title game between the hometown Miami Hurricanes and the eventual champion Indiana Hoosiers.

As it turns out, President Trump was in the crowd, and he got to take in some of the action with the greatest of all time in former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

In photos shared to Instagram by Lara Trump, Saban can be seen in a box with the President during the game, likely chatting football and potentially the future of the sport as well.

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Saban has met with Trump several times in an effort to discuss the ongoing issues in college football that are defining the era, and if things are ever going to get under control with or without government intervention, Saban will be a huge part of the reason why.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson has his coach’s back.

Coming off another turbulent season for the program which ended in bitter disappointment and disgust with a Rose Bowl beatdown at the hands of Indiana, the temperature surrounding Kalen DeBoer and the fanbase is a bit hot.

During Senior Bowl week in Mobile though — which Simpson is not actually participating in but is in the city to train for the draft — Simpson was asked about his head coach and issued a stern warning to his doubters that they should get on board before the train leaves the station.

“Don’t be a fan later,” Simpson said via Nick Kelly of AL.com. “Everybody likes to criticize him now. Don’t be a fan later. That dude is the exact person for the job. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Simpson went on to explain his rationale and talk about the growth of the program from year one to year two under DeBoer and why he believes DeBoer is the right man to lead the Crimson Tide forward.

“You saw what he did in Year 2,” he continued. “Imagine what he’s going to do in Years 3 and 4. That dude is a great leader of men. He’s a great coach. He’s a great motivator. There’s no other coach I would play for, beside my dad, than coach DeBoer…I thank him every day for the opportunity he’s given me. He’s my guy. I’ll go to war for that guy, and everybody who plays there will go to war for him.”

There is no question that DeBoer is going to need to get more results than he has so far if he’s going to do what he came to Tuscaloosa to do when he took over for Nick Saban. But it certainly does seem like he has the faith and belief of his players that he can get it done at the highest level.

Next season is going to be very telling as to whether or not that’s true.

Every year in Mobile, the city gets to host one of its events of the year with NFL coaches and scouts descending upon the Gulf Coast for Senior Bowl week.

With three practices during the week before the game on Saturday, the best college football players from around the nation get the chance to show their skills in the first step of the draft process.

Coaches at the game knew what they were doing though when they pitted two of the stars from the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers against each other, and it produced one of the moments of the week so far.

Alabama superstar pass rusher faced off against Auburn standout offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright for an epic 1-on-1 rep which Wright got the better of Overton on.

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On game day, the two rivals will be wearing the same uniform of the American team taking on the National squad, but it’s clear that there’s no love lost between Overton and Wright after facing off wearing uniforms of the two most hated rivals in the sport.

Now at the Senior Bowl, that level of competitiveness has not changed, but the stars are fighting for draft status at the next level rather than just trying to beat their rival.

Throughout the Nick Saban era, dominant defenders made a name for themselves at Alabama. However, there were not many players better than Crimson Tide legendary pass rusher Will Anderson Jr., who made a habit of terrorizing opposing quarterbacks in college.

Once he reached the next level, not a whole lot changed for Anderson.

The No. 3 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Houston Texans — coached by fellow Alabama legend DeMeco Ryans — Anderson has really started to come into his own.

After his best season yet in 2025, Anderson was nominated for one of the most prestigious honors in football, the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

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Along with some of the best players in the league such as Aidan Hutchinson, Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons, Anderson is now being recognized right in that same category.

With 12 sacks and 85 quarterback pressures this season, he was second in the league in both categories.

In just three seasons, Anderson has already recorded 30 sacks and has begun his ascension into one of the most feared pass rushers in all of football.

The sky appears to be the limit for him, and no matter how far he takes his career, he likely is going to continue repping Alabama as he does it.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban left college football during a time the sport was rapidly changing. He’s made his feelings pretty clear about NIL over the years and is not afraid to throw a little shade about it.

The time of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) has leveled the playing field like never before, and the Big 10 might just be on the cusp of its third straight national title as a conference.

Interestingly, Saban and many others have pointed to NIL and the transfer portal as reasons why that may be the case.

Saban doubled down in a hilarious quip on “The Pat McAfee Show.” On the day of the national title game between Indiana and Miami, he revealed the real reason why Big 10 schools are getting such great talent.

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“To me, in this day and age of the culture we have in college football with paying players, [NIL], and transferring, it’s an advantage to the Big 10,” Saban began. “I don’t care, you will never convince me otherwise … because people in the south would not go to the north unless you paid them.”

While Saban was being humorous, he does make an interesting point in how Big 10 programs are starting to match talent with the SEC.

In terms of NFL draft picks, there is still not a conference with better athletes than the SEC, but the Big 10 is catching up, and in the process, filling up their trophy case.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban left his mark on college football in countless ways before retiring two seasons ago, but his influence has rarely been more visible than it is during this College Football Playoff.

Headed into the quarterfinal round of the 12-team field, more than half of the eight teams remaining were coached by former assistants of Saban at Alabama. As fate would have it, the final four wound up being all Saban disciples.

With Indiana and head coach Curt Cignetti — a former wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in Tuscaloosa — cruising over former Alabama graduate assistant Dan Lanning and his Oregon Ducks to the national title game, they enter as a heavy favorite.

Standing in Cignetti’s way from completing one of the most improbable college football stories in history is former Crimson Tide offensive line coach Mario Cristobal and his Miami Hurricanes, who have made their own surprising run to the title game after barely making the playoff field.

Cignetti against Cristobal guarantees that someone who coached under Saban will win the title, something which may be a tough pill for Alabama fans to swallow after they opted not to go with a coach from his tree in order to replace the greatest of all time.

Regardless, it is more clear than ever just how influential Saban was in the sport of college football, and his lasting legacy will be displayed through the coaches who cut their teeth and were forged in the fires of working for him.

The 2026 College Football Hall of Fame class was revealed this week, and there are some big names in the field.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide legendary running back and the school’s first Heisman winner Mark Ingram headlines the induction class along with standout defensive linemen Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska and Aaron Donald (Pittsburgh), both of whom went on to have sensational and Hall of Fame worthy careers at the next level.

During Ingram’s Heisman season, he had 1,658 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns, finishing his Alabama career as the all-time leader in rushing scores, a record which has since been broken by both Derrick Henry and Najee Harris. Ingram would enjoy a lengthy NFL career of his own which spanned 12 years and saw him rush for over 8,000 yards and 65 touchdowns.

Notably, one player who did not make this year’s class was former Auburn quarterback as well as a Heisman winner and national champion in Cam Newton. Finding himself on the ballot for the first time, Newton likely did not make it on the first ballot because all of his production came within one season.

It was a magical campaign though, and Newton’s 2010 season is considered arguably the greatest in the history of the sport. He is all but a guarantee to be inducted eventually, it just seems he will have to wait a little bit longer. Newton joins former Baylor Heisman winning quarterback Robert Griffin III as a snub from the ballot while Johnny Manziel despite being eligible was not even on the ballot.

Though he did not make the CFB Hall of Fame this year, he did have his jersey officially retired by Auburn and made it back to Jordan-Hare Stadium for a special ceremony this past season.

Ingram was on his second ballot after falling short in 2025, and now he gets the honor of making it into the Hall with some of the most distinguished players and coaches in history.

The ceremony will not be held until December of 2026 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during the National Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner.

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson has made some big headlines over the last couple of weeks since the season came to a disappointing close in a blowout Rose Bowl defeat.

After that juncture, he was left with a major decision to make.

Though Simpson was seen as a potential top overall selection in the NFL Draft midway through the season, he closed the year on a sour note and had some ugly performances down the stretch.

This left the signal caller to decide whether or not he would return to school and try to improve his draft stock.

But in today’s day and age of college football, a third option loomed for Simpson, and it was tempting.

He was receiving offers as high as $6.5 million from other schools such as Miami, Tennessee and Ole Miss to enter the transfer portal and come to their program, however he instead admirably turned down the offers and decided to bet on himself in the draft.

He was asked about that decision during a recent interview with Chris Low of On3 after finalizing his paperwork for the draft, and Simpson revealed that while the offers were extremely tempting, ultimately his Alabama legacy meant too much to him to jeopardize it by playing for another school.

“I had a knot in my stomach,” Simpson said on the offers from other schools.

“I didn’t know what to do. I really felt good with my decision to go pro, but that amount of money to play college football again for what amounts to about eight months makes you stop and think.

I remember my parents telling me that $6 million was more than they had made the whole time they had been married. But the thing they wanted most for me was to be happy.

“[Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb] have been so good to me. I’m sure they were wondering what was going on because they wanted a decision from me last Thursday so they could start building their roster for next year. I was honest and told them what I’d been offered, but that I just couldn’t do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I built there.

Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his last year.

But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Denny Chimes.

I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama.”

Simpson also revealed that he asked his former coach Nick Saban for advice.

He recounted that Saban told him to make the decision independent of the money and simply based on what he wanted to do — which ultimately helped him make the choice to stay in the draft and be able to say, for the rest of time, that the only college team he played for was the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In a time in the sport where players are all too often looking out for only themselves and their pocket, Simpson’s loyalty to Alabama is admirable and will surely pay dividends down the line as he remains a member of the Crimson Tide family.

It’s safe to say Alabama fans will be rooting for him hard here at the next level.

Indiana and Miami will face off in the National Championship, and if the favored Hoosiers come home with the trophy, how will the team rank against college football’s gold standard?

When the Indiana Hoosiers take on the Miami Hurricanes next Monday night for all the marbles, it will mark the third consecutive season the SEC will not have a team even playing in the national title game, the first streak of its kind since right around the turn of the century.

While it may have been tough to believe before the year, the top-ranked Hoosiers are the heavy favorite. They look primed to become the first team in history to run the table and go 16-0 in the expanded playoff era.

Fresh off a 38–3 demolition of Alabama in the Rose Bowl, they made quick work of Oregon as well, rolling to a 56–22 blowout that never felt competitive.

As unlikely as it may seem, this Indiana team is doing some historic things. If they blow out Miami as well, it’s not crazy to ask where this team stacks up in comparison to some of the greatest squads in the long history of the sport.

In recent history, the 2019 LSU Tigers led by Heisman winner Joe Burrow, along with superstar receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson, are widely considered to be the greatest.

An equally compelling case is the 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide led by Mac Jones and Heisman wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

Would the 2025 Hoosiers be in a similar category if they defeat Miami this week?

In terms of sheer NFL talent and roster depth, they still don’t match the SEC’s elite programs. That said, stack them against Georgia’s 2021 or 2022 teams, and the debate is already on the table.

Perhaps not in terms of guys who will excel at the next level, but this Indiana team led by former Nick Saban assistant Curt Cignetti executes at as high a level as any group you could put them up against.

The offense quarterbacked by Fernando Mendoza has not put up the gaudy statistics of those Alabama and LSU teams, but they have made just as few mistakes.

Nobody in the South is going to be making the case for Indiana as the greatest team in the history of the sport, however, if you can’t respect this group as an all-time legendary unit by this point, you simply are not looking hard enough.

The current college football climate sees some seriously insane figures being thrown around in the transfer portal to entice players to come to schools, and as each year goes by, those numbers just keep going up.

The latest example is seen with Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, who entered the NFL draft last week with a real decision to make.

Simpson could have stayed at Alabama, but many wondered whether he would try to hit the open market in the portal and cash a huge check.

As big as his draft announcement was, it has not deterred rival schools from calling him to enter the portal.

According to AL(dot)com’s Nick Kelly, Simpson is being offered as much as $6.5 million to take his name out of the draft and return to college, this time wearing a different uniform.

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Though the school offering $6.5 million has not been revealed, some have speculated the Miami Hurricanes, who are in the national title game after pulling Carson Beck out of the portal a year ago for a huge pile of cash.

According to Kelly, in addition to the $6.5 million, at least three SEC schools have extended offers in the range of $4 million. It brings into perspective just how desperate teams are for experienced quarterback play in the portal.

Given the fact that each signal caller who was playing in this past weekend’s College Football Playoff semifinal arrived at their respective schools via the portal, perhaps they may be onto something.

By all indications, Simpson is not budging from his initial pledge to the NFL draft. During a video he released upon breaking the news, he talked about how much his Alabama legacy means to him and how he would not trade it for anything.

“I’m proud to be a part of this legacy, to have chosen to be where my feet are, to have learned you can’t be anybody but yourself and to strive to be the best version of yourself every single day,” he said in the video. “There was temptation along the way, temptation to find an easier path. But when you choose Alabama football, there’s a responsibility and a pride that comes with it. It’s something you feel deep down. It’s not a choice to stay at Alabama. You just are Alabama, or you’re not.”

Regardless, if schools are offering him this kind of money, this is absolutely a story worth monitoring.

The Crimson Tide had a roller coaster of a season that ended in a disappointing fashion — an embarrassing blowout at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers at the Rose Bowl. With recent transfer portal buzz, it’s looking like Kalen DeBoer is going to have quite a different team next season.

The Tide has seen a number of players enter the transfer portal, which definitely raises some alarms for people, but DeBoer has already landed five transfers of his own — with more certainly to follow.

The first transfer Alabama landed happened when they signed Oklahoma State tight end Josh Ford, who will potentially have a chance to step right in with Josh Cuevas headed to the NFL.

https://x.com/TransferPortal/status/2000963334418677881

Beyond Ford, DeBoer has gotten busy quickly as the season has come to an end. First, he landed linebacker Caleb Woodson out of Virginia Tech to fill another hole.

https://x.com/RecruitsBama/status/2008667500544922094

Woodson was joined on defense by USC defensive lineman Devan Thompkins, who committed to Alabama this week as one of the top rated defenders in the portal overall.

https://x.com/Hayesfawcett3/status/2008950548410626166

Thompkins and Woodson should help immediately on defense, but it was the additions to the running game, including Ford — who will likely be used as a blocker — which could make the biggest difference.

North Carolina State running back Hollywood Smothers committed and could instantly become the top back on the team next year, and he was joined by Michigan interior offensive lineman Kaden Strayhorn, who also could start right away.

https://x.com/Hayesfawcett3/status/2008694607174041898

https://x.com/Hayesfawcett3/status/2008340570767294552

Alabama is still pursuing a significant amount of talent, including some of the top players available, such as former Auburn receiver Cam Coleman and Smothers’ NC State teammate, left tackle Jacarrius Peak.

Clearly, DeBoer and the staff are not satisfied with the way things ended this year and are doing whatever it takes to fix it.

The Alabama Crimson Tide is going to have a new quarterback next season.

According to various reports on Wednesday morning, Ty Simpson is headed to the NFL Draft after a roller coaster of a 2025 season.

https://x.com/On3sports/status/2008929150669656304

Regardless of the way things went down the stretch of the season, Simpson’s phenomenal tape from early in the season will likely give him a great chance to be selected in the first round, which was likely the biggest factor in the decision.

He posted a video on Instagram announcing the decision and thanking Alabama for a wonderful four years.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ty Simpson (@ty_simpson06)

While the Tide could have benefited in 2026 from another season with Simpson under center, his departure also allows the program to turn an exciting page in year three with Coach Kalen DeBoer.

For the first time, DeBoer will be starting a quarterback that he fully recruited and developed himself.

The two presumptive favorites to compete for QB1 are Austin Mack — who DeBoer brought with him from Washington — and Keelon Russell, the former highly touted five-star who was one of the best players in the nation as a high schooler.

Assuming neither gunslinger shocks everyone and chooses to transfer, Mack likely enters the offseason with a slight edge. He served as the backup this season and got the chance to play most of the second half of the Rose Bowl after Simpson went out due to a rib injury.

Mack has now been in DeBoer’s system for three seasons — going back to 2023 at Washington. It’s clear Mack is someone DeBoer thought highly enough of to bring him along to Alabama.

Russell, on the other hand, has as high a ceiling as any quarterback who has come through Tuscaloosa. Even though he served as the third string in his freshman year, many see him as the future of the program.

His otherworldly talent could carry him through the spring and push him ahead of Mack, despite being behind him this year.

While Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa each could have an outside shot at pushing their way up the depth chart as well, this certainly seems to be a Mack vs. Russell race to be Alabama’s starting quarterback.

It should be another exciting spring of football in Tuscaloosa, as the two big-armed hopefuls try to stake their claim as the main man in DeBoer’s offense.

Despite Alabama’s unfortunate fate in the Rose Bowl, millions of people tuned in to watch the widely talked about matchup.

The Alabama Crimson Tide’s season came to an ugly finish in Pasadena on New Year’s Day, being defeated by Indiana 38-3 in what was the most lopsided bowl defeat in program history.

The Hoosiers clearly proved that they are the best team in the country, and it looks like a ton of people were able to witness it.

ESPN and ABC released television ratings following the second round of the College Football Playoff. The Rose Bowl was not only the highest rated game of the week, but the highest-rated playoff game since the 12-team expansion.

A staggering average viewership of 23.9 million people — peaking at 25.6 million — tuned in to watch the game.

https://x.com/ESPNPR/status/2008305017460003146

That number means this game was viewed more than 18 of the last 22 semifinal matchups in the College Football Playoff and outpaced the ratings of other sporting events.

In terms of overall numbers, the quarterfinal round’s viewership was up 14 percent from a year ago. The standalone Wednesday night game between Ohio State and Miami averaged 19 million viewers and the Ole Miss vs Georgia game averaged 18.7 million.

Even the early game between Texas Tech and Oregon reached an average of nearly 16 million viewers and peaked at 19 million.

For all the issues the sport seems to be having during this chaotic season, people are still tuning in at a higher rate than ever — and likely will continue to do so.