Kalen DeBoer is about to enter his third season in charge of the Alabama Crimson Tide, with the clear mandate to be a national title contender after a couple of disappointing seasons. Key to achieving this outcome is a single decision DeBoer is yet to make: Who will be Alabama’s starting quarterback?
The options are Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, former four- and five-star recruits, respectively. Both quarterbacks owe their place in Tuscaloosa to DeBoer, as Mack transferred from Washington soon after the coach made the same move, and Russell is possibly the most important recruitment coup of the DeBoer era.
It’s all to be decided this preseason camp, said DeBoer on Wednesday during the SEC Media Days:
“It’s going to be a competition that will lead to a tough decision.”
“Between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, two guys that we have a lot of confidence in,” DeBoer said. “They both have a lot of similarities, I think probably when you look at their effectiveness as a passer. I think things that they don’t have are just the number of reps in game experiences. And so there’s a lot of things that are similar about them. Their styles are going to be a little different, right? You got at least 6-6, and you know Keelon is not short — he’s 6-3. So they’re both taller quarterbacks,”
He did admit that Austin Mack possibly knows the offense the best out of the quarterback room, but that Russell has come a long way and that he’s still positively developing into a better player.
Kalen DeBoer believes that Alabama needs to run the ball more in 2026
During the SEC Media Days, DeBoer also admitted that there’s a place where the Crimson Tide can dramatically improve in 2026: The running game.
“We want to be able to run the football better. I think that will help our overall team,” DeBoer said. “That’s something that we’ve addressed and stressed within our team.”
In 2026, Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama had only one player run for over 500 yards: Jam Miller, who had 504 rushing yards. A couple of other players had 200+ rushing-yard seasons.
Jalen Milroe’s departure hurt the Crimson Tide on this front, as the team became dependent on the dual-threat quarterback to propel its running game.
In 2024, the signal-caller had 726 rushing yards. But Miller also regressed in his output, with the running back having recorded 668 rushing yards in 2024. Justice Haynes’ transfer to Michigan also impacted Alabama, as in 2024 he recorded 448 rushing yards. Once in Ann Arbor, he recorded 857 rushing yards in 2025.
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