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How Alabama plans to improve its run game in 2026

Alabama Crimson Tide On SI · Jul 22, 2026 16:00 · 4 min read

How Alabama Plans To Improve Its Run Game in 2026

DeBoer Details Ground Game Overhaul at SEC Kickoff

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer at 2026 SEC Kickoff | SEC

TAMPA, Fla. — Alabama’s run game was one of the worst in major college football last season, and fixing it has been the focus of nearly every offseason move Kalen DeBoer has made since.

The Crimson Tide averaged just 104.1 yards per game rushing in 2025, a figure that ranked No. 125 in all of the FBS.

The overhaul started up front. DeBoer parted ways with offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic after the season and hired Adrian Klemm, who has a track record of success at the college level and NFL experience with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots.

The position group was almost entirely rebuilt along with the coaching change. Michael Carroll is the only returning starter. Eleven players from that room left the program and were replaced by four freshmen, a junior college transfer and six players from the transfer portal.

The staff also added experience and size at tight end. Richard Owens, hired away from Louisville, has a background as both a former NFL tight end and an offensive line coach, along with a track record of productive rushing attacks at his previous stops.

Oklahoma State Transfer Josh Ford, a 6-foot-6, 265-pound run-blocking specialist, joined him. DeBoer, speaking at SEC media days, said the tight ends could be a significant factor in the run game.

“I would add in the tight ends as well. I think that can really help add to the change of your run game. Guys like Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett and Josh Ford, guys who are a year older,” DeBoer said. “Kaleb was just coming to us a year ago and also got thrown on the football field, took some reps all season long. But Marshall understands things and his physicality is greater. Josh brings that demeanor.”

Health will determine how much the running back room can contribute early. Alabama’s plans at the position took a hit in January when transfer target Hollywood Smothers, who had briefly committed to the Crimson Tide, signed with Texas instead.

That left five-star freshman EJ Crowell, who reclassified to enroll a year early, as the centerpiece of the room. Crowell is regarded as a potential Day 1 contributor at the next level, but he missed all of A-Day in a boot, getting around on a scooter on the sideline instead of taking reps.

That opened the door for fellow freshman Trae’Shawn Brown, a three-star signee who stood out on in the scrimmage. Brown caught a short pass on Alabama’s second drive, powered through a pile of defenders for a gain on the fourth drive and turned a short catch from freshman quarterback Jett Thomalla into one of the bigger plays of the scrimmage.

Alabama also returns juniors Daniel Hill and Kevin Riley at the position along with sophomore AK Dear.

DeBoer said the offensive line has shown him improvement this offseason, though he cautioned that spring and summer work hasn’t been tested yet.

“All of our running backs haven’t had a chance to take those reps, mainly due to injury status, and EJ in particular,” DeBoer said. “But there are certainly things like Daniel Hill, just body transformation because he’s been healthier this offseason. Kevin Riley, continuing to grow and get bigger.

"I think those areas have happened, but I would say the offensive line is the area where I’ve seen us improving. Again, we’ve got to go out there and prove it. Our guys know that. But right now all we can do is focus on where we’re at, and that’s the summer months — these guys putting in the work individually. We put the pads on here in just a couple weeks.”

Whoever wins the starting quarterback job between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack will lean on the ground game to ease the burden of a first-time starter. Wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams said the receivers see their own role in that effort, particularly in blocking downfield.

“We have a big role in making that eight-yard run a 40-yard run, with touchdown blocks and getting that roll-down safety,” Coleman-Williams said. “We’re just trying to do our part and elevate the run game, because we have a room full of guys who are ready to explode out of the backfield. We just have to do our part.”

Alabama’s fall camp opens in the coming weeks, with the Sept. 5 season opener against East Carolina the first opportunity to show whether the changes have made a difference.

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