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The Badmature Hour is where we amateurs talk
about Alabama football, basketball, and other
related topics. So let's jump in. Today is Wednesday,
May 14th, 2025 in the Year of our Lord. We are
amateurs are blessed to be here and happy to
talk about Alabama football today. And that's
what we're going to jump into. We're going to
jump into the Alabama offense for 2025. We're
going to look at what the problems were from
last year with the We're going to jump into the
various areas that were concerns from last year,
how they may be addressed this year, how things
look up for the offense this year and. Then we're
going to look at the position groups and we're
going to talk about what we think the outlook
is for the offense. So we're going to jump into
it. Let's go into the rundown. First off, I'm
going to list some problem areas and we're going
to jump into it in detail. Number one, there
was inconsistent play at quarterback. I thought
the quarterback from last year regressed versus
how he did the prior year, took too many sacks.
We had an inexperienced first time offensive
coordinator to boot. We had a head coach. change
and we had a new OC come in and he had never
been an OC before. At the running back level
last year, we did not have a dominant NFL level
running back that Alabama's used to having. We
had inconsistent offensive line play. We didn't
have a consistent run blocking scheme and game
and we had breakdowns in the pass protection.
Transition from saving to DeBoer went okay, not
great. And when the offense was forced to pass.
They couldn't move the ball consistently and
could not win when they're forced into pass only
options. We didn't have a quarterback that could
pick apart the defense and move the team down
the field. It was either explosive play or bust
and the offense was just inconsistent. So those
were the issues that just in a highlight issues
that we had from last year. Jump in Will Kay.
Comment on the struggles from last year and where
you thought we were really struggling on the
offensive side. Jalen Milero. Now I will say
he looked like the Heisman winner against Georgia.
I mean, when he plays Georgia and LSU, he's the
best player I've ever seen. I mean, the past
two years, not just this past year, but, you
know, when he was saving too. I was at that game.
I was also at the game after that, the Vanderbilt
game, where, you know, he wasn't bad. He did
have two turnovers. That was more of a defensive
game, but he's just so hit or miss. I thought,
you know, the defense was fine for most of the
year. Last year, they gave up 40 to Vanderbilt,
and it seems like they just didn't show up in
the games that they, you know, they just kind
of tossed them aside. Vanderbilt. Oklahoma, you
know, Michigan was just a bowl game. It didn't
really matter, but Jalen Milrow was terrible
in that. So just peaks and valleys, you know,
went to LSU and beat them by four touchdowns.
Was beating Georgia by 28. They did come back,
but beat them. Tennessee, Jalen Milrow wasn't
great. I think that Ty Simpson is more... Ryan
Grubb and Kalen DeBoer Speed, more of a pocket
passer, and he's going to get a lot of help with
his receivers, which might be the best in the
country next year. Jam Miller's back, you know,
good. He'll just have a lot around him. So I
think that he doesn't have as much pressure.
So that's what I'll say about that. Dr. T? Yeah,
on The Hills of Will, I agree. I think Jalen
Mulro was the problem last year. He had some
good games, but I think we won in spite of him,
not because of him. And most of the time, I think
you had a first year offensive coordinator who,
man, you put him in that situation and it's tough.
And now if you're experienced like Lane Kiffin
or maybe Sarkeesian, they can do it with somebody
like Blake Sims or Jalen Mulro. But a new guy
trying to use a runner like that, um, who can
throw a deep bomb and that's about the extent
of his weapons. It was tough. And I think we,
we realized, you know, early on, we don't have
a great OC and, uh, we don't have a really, uh,
a really complete quarterback and, uh, it was
going to be difficult. I didn't expect Vanderbilt
or Oklahoma, but I expected us to only go as
far as Milro could take us unless Debore had
the leadership to pull him out. Like Sarkeesian
pulled yours out once last season, maybe twice.
But I remember one in particular game who wasn't
playing well, they pulled him out. And we could
have easily done that this season. And I heard
a guy on the radio yesterday saying if it had
been Saban this year, which is easy to say, but
Bet he would have pulled him out. He feels like
halfway through the year. But I think DeBoer
was not comfortable doing that. So we went as
far as we could with an inexperienced OC and
an average quarterback. Hey, guys, I want to
throw out a couple of stats here that I think
are real interesting. In the wins, so we had,
what were we, nine and four last year. So in
nine wins, Milro's passing completing percentage
was 70%, but the average yards per game were
215 passing yards per game. And he threw for
an average of one and a half touchdowns per game
and threw for less than one interception per
game. So it was 0 .5 interceptions. So it was
one and a half. So it was a... two to one ratio
of TDs to interceptions in the wins. And then
in the wins also Milro rushed for 76 yards and
two touchdowns. So he averaged almost four touchdowns
per game with less than a half of an interception
per game in the wins. In the four losses, Milro
had a 55 % completion percentage. So he went
from 70 % completion percentage to 55%. He did
throw for more yards, 226 yards versus 215, but
he only threw one. passing touchdown per game
in the four losses and he averaged two interceptions
per game in the four losses and then on the rushing
side he averaged a nine yards rushing per game
in the four losses and he averaged 0 .25 touchdowns
per game in the four losses. So what did they
do? They forced in those four losses, forced
Milro to throw the ball. They loaded the line
of scrimmage. They did not let him break containment.
They did not let us run the ball. And they said,
pick us apart if you can. We're not going to
give you explosive plays over the top. You got
to pick us apart with the five to 20 yard passes
and Milro couldn't do it. And it's going to be,
it's really interesting that Milro and Shador
Sanders Milro went I think in the third round
and Shador Sanders went in the fifth round and
we would have done a lot better with Shador Sanders
under center. with this team last year. He's
highly accurate, great ball distributor, would
have gotten the ball out. He could throw the
deep ball, the intermediate, the quick pass.
He couldn't run the ball. He couldn't have had
the explosive plays, but I think he would have
been a lot better off with that type of quarterback
last year. And so that's the thing about Milro
is the inaccuracy holds on the ball too long,
takes sacks because he's holding on the ball.
He didn't read the defense well. So I thought
those stats were very telling for the problems
that we had last year. year and they just wouldn't
give Ty or Austin Mack snaps when Millrow wasn't
playing well. They were just gonna die on that
hill and it was it was tough to watch. Scott?
Well guys I have a confession to make. Okay.
Remember I am a Florida man in many ways. So
all the videos you see I'm that guy. I've enjoyed,
I suffered from some saving fatigue as a casual
fan. So then I was just in the last few years
is kind of enjoying the competitive balance and
watching Georgia do well and just not paying
attention and detail other than noting that Millrow
was inconsistent. So this exercise for me is
going to be academic. I just don't have the viewing
history, but you guys sound super smart and I
believe what you're saying. Thank you, Scott.
It's my pleasure, and you may have another if
you ever ask. Okay. I want to say something,
John, also about Milro that I didn't say earlier.
Little things that bothered me about him that
I had not witnessed in other quarterbacks, at
Alabama at least, is that it's almost like he
doesn't know how to play the position really
well. For instance, when he would run, oftentimes
he would run out of bounds a yard early Which
he could have easily had another a first down
with one more yard But he would just run out
of bounds one yard early not even look for contact
Even though he's 225 pounds a small court would
come up to try to hit him and he would run out
of bounds And I'm thinking Milro dude one more
yard. We had a first down that happened several
times It was dry vendors and then also he would
throw he would go well across the line of scrimmage
and throw and that was called on him multiple
times last year and You know, he's also he's
really fast. Yes, but He doesn't follow blocks
really well in several games. He would leave
the block and then get tackled and it was just
frustrating it's like he has a lot of gifts,
but he doesn't quite know how to use them and
and So yeah that really frustrated me and of
course he couldn't read defenses He never really
went through progressions much at all. It was
just kind of either a bomb or get sacked It seems
like a lot of times. But anyway, we'll find out
this year, I guess And I think that on top of
that we had offensive line struggles last year
and I don't think we had a top level. We didn't
have a Derek Henry, Jamir Gibbs, Najee Harris,
Josh Jacobs, even a Damian Harris. I didn't feel
that any of the running backs there that were.
in the rotation last year, guys that are going
to be starting NFL running backs. I could be
wrong, but I didn't think we had that kind of
running game. And then the offensive line, the
pass protection was not what we would want either.
I mean, how many times were guys getting beat
on the edge with speed rush? And I don't know
how much of it was design and poor pass blocking
design and poor plays and mirror holding on the
ball versus just our offensive line. could not
hold up effectively across the board. And one
of those tackles that was getting really torched
last year were speed rushers. And we'll talk
about that later, but hopefully they're going
to be a lot better in pass protection this year.
And also with Ryan Grubb coming in, they're going
to scheme it up. But I just thought our offense
was boom or bust. It was explosive play or nothing.
We were not an offense that was good at putting
together three 10 play drives in a game and scoring
21 points off a long drives. It was either big
explosive plays for touchdown with Milrow running
it in or going over the top to Ryan Williams
or Jeremy Bernard or it was fumble interception
or three and out and punt the ball. And so that
was just very frustrating that I didn't feel
like we had a consistent effort, even in the
Georgia game where Milro was great in the first
half. And then he had one explosive play in the
second half, but we almost lost that Georgia
game because in the second half, other than that
big play to Ryan Williams, the defense really
bailed us out or Georgia would have beaten us
in that game. So it was not even a full game
that Milro put together and yet he was being
touted as a Heisman winner. And then in the Vanderbilt
game, he did some good things in the Vanderbilt
game, but he also had some turnovers and took
some unnecessary sacks and, you know, wasn't
great. And then against Tennessee, Oklahoma and
Michigan, they just shut him down. They just
said, You're not gonna run against this. We're
not gonna allow the running game. We're not gonna
give you the deep ball and good luck picking
us apart with three to 15 yard passes. Tom Brady,
he is not. And it's gonna be really interesting
in the NFL if someone can develop Milrow. The
best case scenario for Milrow is he's Jalen Hurts.
That's what he hopes he can become. That's what
the NFL types are banking on. But I think Shador
Sanders is gonna be a much more effective. quarterback
than Milro is, because I just don't think Milro
has the ability to read defenses and the accuracy
to do what he needs to do, even though he is
a fantastic athlete. But we'll see. I mean, I
hope he does great. I'm just very, very skeptical.
Yeah, I mean, he's a fantastic athlete. And I
guess what you mean by that is he can run fast.
But he has no, well, he can throw the ball. He
can throw the ball deep, but right. Yeah. Yes.
I just felt like on the basketball court, I don't
think he'd be that great. I don't think he'd
be a great baseball player. What I mean by that
is like, remember, remember, um, uh, good grief,
his name slipped my mind. Who's the Carolina
Panthers quarterback just lost us. to my Cam
Newton. Bryce, Bryce, Bryce, Bryce. Oh, yeah,
yeah. I'm sorry, man. Yeah, he was a point guard.
He was an all -state. Right. And I see, I didn't
even know that, John, but I remember watching
Bryce. He would get some bad snaps. His, his
head never went down. He'd pick the ball up and
just keep the players just keep going. If Milroy
got a bad snap, it was a, it was a big deal.
It's a bad snap. He might not get it. He's going
to take a sack. He's going to start running.
I mean, he just didn't have good hands. I never
saw any short to intermediate. Intermediate passes
because take some touch now he can heave it because
it takes one speed all you got and he can heave
it But I just don't see that translating into
the NFL not having Good hands not having good
touch. He can't throw it hard and he can't throw
it far But I just don't you know, I don't think
that's gonna pan out and I think Ty Simpson is
a there's a quarterback I think he played quarterback
a lot in the past and I think he knows how to
play the position I want to say his dad was a
coach. Is that right? Correct. That is correct.
Yeah. And so I just think he's going to bring
the intangibles that Mill Road didn't have. And
we're going to, we're not going to have as many
drive stoppers. I just think it will be a more
consistent offense and he'll probably he's had
two years in the system of the new OC and you
know, Ryan Grubbs and Nick Sheridan. So he'll
probably have a bigger playbook when they need
it. So I think we'll have much more success.
And I think the Nick Sheridan fact, it's going
to be really interesting to see how inexperienced
and how much did Nick Sheridan hurt us in game
planning and coaching us up and really being
able to run an offense and to prepare the team
and to get them to do. And I'll give Milro credit
for this. He's a great deep ball thrower. He's
a great Throwing a post route, a go route, the
deep ball. That's what he can do. But, you know,
a short intermediate pass, he could never do
what Tom Brady could do, which is just throw
a guy open three, five, eight, 10 yards, hit
him in the right spot, see it and read the defense
and just pick a team apart with those short intermediate
passes. That's what he can't do. But getting
back to the Ryan Grubb. I believe Nick Saban
tried to hire Ryan Grubb as his OC his last year
and Ryan Grubb stayed at Washington and then
he went to Seattle instead of coming over with
DeBoer. DeBoer wanted him to come here and then
things didn't work out at Seattle and so now
he came back here and I'm really excited that
we're going to have a high level offensive coordinator
on the Sarkeesian level, on the Lane Kiffin level.
and to see what he can do with Ty Simpson. Ty
Simpson's a five -star quarterback. He was a
five -star quarterback for a reason. I don't
think he ever was given a real opportunity to
win that job. If you remember, Buckner came in
from Notre Dame, and Tommy Reese was a Notre
Dame guy, and he played favorites with Buckner,
I think, because of that Notre Dame connection,
and for whatever reason, he never really gave
Simpson a chance to win the job over Milro. It
was going to be either Buckner or Milro, and
then Saban just went with Milro. And then look
how much more productive Milro was. He had 23
touchdown passes under Saban, and I think he
only had five interceptions versus 11 interceptions
last year and only 16 touchdowns. So his touchdowns
went down, his interception. So Millrow got worse
his first year under DeBoer versus he did as
well. So there were coaching issues to it. He
didn't get, they got worse. So, you know, there
were just a lot of things. So I'm optimistic
about Ty, but we just haven't seen Ty. We don't
know. We didn't get to see anything in spring
practice. Dr. T, you were at the spring. I don't
know what you want to call it. What a spring
game, but the spring extravaganza. But did you
really get to see anything? I mean, could you
see anything from the quarterbacks? I'll tell
you what I saw. In the box I was in, I saw some
good food, good hot dogs. I'm just kidding. But
no, I mean, I was invited to go to a box. And
that was the highlight of the day, the box. Uh,
no, I couldn't tell a lot. I mean you could tell
it it seemed apparent to me that ty was the man
in charge out there I did notice the other guys.
I mean again, it's a small sample size, but the
other guys threw picks pretty pretty bad picks
I'll say like in double coverage ty didn't ty
just kept moving the ball and the drills, um,
you know, there was no they couldn't tackle ty
so, you know, it's not quite a game -like scenario,
but But it seemed pretty apparent to everyone
that was watching near me that Ty is the best
player right now on the team, I mean, best quarterback
option. So yeah, I just think Ty is going to
be a lot better, steady. He has Williams back
and we'll go into all that later, but he has
a lot of weapons around him and a great OC. So
it should be pretty good this year, I think.
All right, Will Kay, you've been awfully quiet.
Jump in here. Kind of sounds like Ron Grubbs
trying to avoid Jalen Milro. It does. DeBoer
asked him to come. He's like, nah, Jalen Millrow
leaves to go to Seattle. Kellan DeBoer asked
him again. He's like, yeah, I think I'll give
it a chance this time. I love it. I love it.
But remember this, I think Ryan Grubb got paid
a bunch of money to go be the OC in Seattle.
And then I think he got fired. Then why was he
paid a bunch of money if he was going to get
fired? Well, they paid him a bunch of money to
get him to go to Seattle instead of coming to
Alabama as the OC, I think. And he was going
to try his hand at the pro. And this is just
kind of what I've picked up through reading.
And then I think for whatever reason, they let
him go this year, I guess. Was it McDonald, who's
the head coach there? They must have had a falling
out. So that's what I heard there. But yeah,
it does seem like he was trying to avoid Milro,
and I don't blame him. Yeah, I mean look at Michael
Pinnix, you know The Washington is not like a
top -tier program or anything and They went do
they go undefeated until the championship game.
That is correct He had Pinnix for two years at
Washington and then I believe he had him at Indiana
too. I believe that Grubb was coaching him at
Indiana, but That's right. Pennex came over from
Indiana and he had blown his knee out. Apparently,
Pennex was a great dual threat quarterback at
Indiana and then he blew his knee out and I think
he had another knee injury again. So he's had
both of his knees repaired, but they turned him
into a great pocket quarterback who could scramble
when he needed to. And it was his second year
at Washington that he really popped. You know,
that's one of the things I'm worried about here
is that Simpson will be good this year. And if
he's going to pop, it's going to be the next
year where he's going to go from good to great.
But, um, you know, AJ McCarran in his first year
was a game manager and yet we still won the natty.
And then he really popped his next year and his
last year. Um, and, you know, that's something
to, to, that we need to discuss is do we think
tie? Is going to pop this year and be like a
Bryce Young did in his first year and just killed
it? Or is he going to be just the game manager,
the guy that can do well enough to get us into
the playoffs and maybe even win a Natty and then
really pop the next year? That's one of the concerns
I had. You look at Burrow, Joe Burrow first year
at LSU. He's OK. Next year, he kills it. He's
a Heisman winner. And same thing with Jaden Daniels.
His first year at LSU, he was pretty good. They
did beat Alabama. But the next year, he just
was killing it again. And I think that's one
of the things about Ty is he's set on the bench.
He's bided his time. He's learned a lot. He's
21. I certainly think if we're having to play
Keelan Russell over Ty Simpson, this is probably
a lost season because it can be really hard.
for a true freshman to come in here and lead
us where we need to go. Ty needs to do it. And
then maybe Ty goes pro after that. We turn it
over to Keelan Russell. But I have real concerns
about if Ty's not the guy that the other two
guys are not ready to lead us back to the playoffs.
Give me your thoughts. Yeah, I mean, sometimes
quarterbacks. I mean, if Kaelin DeBoer wants
to keep his job, I think Ty Simpson has to be
good this year, don't you think? No. No? No,
I think if we had nine wins, he keeps his job,
but we're going to do better than that, don't
you think? I think he's got to make the playoffs.
I think he has two years for sure, DeBoer. Yeah.
Last year was the stinker. And this is from the
guy outside looking in who's just now getting
re -engaged to Alabama football. I'm not worried.
I'm just, I'm not that not that nine and four
is embarrassing. You know, you had a, like you
guys said, a quarterback that was kind of a trick,
you know, almost like a magician, but not a quarterback.
Um, and just the clips I've watched to this Simpson
guy. Super comfortable. And I think John, I need
22. He's a junior, right? Junior. So he's probably
a senior in about, you know, four, four years.
He's at least 21. So, you know, that's the point.
He's 21 Austin Max, what 19 and Aquila Russell's
only 18. So we need the 21 year old to be the
mature guy and to lead this team. And, and I
think the The point I was making in referring
him or comparing him to AJ McCarran is McCarran
was just a game manager the first year. We won
the natty. So I think the big thing is don't
turn the ball over. Make the passes when you
need to throw the ball away. Sometimes punting
is not a bad thing. hand the ball off, just work
the offense, and don't make stupid plays, don't
hold on to the ball too long, be accurate, and
we can do really well with him being a game manager.
He does not have to be what Joe Burrow was the
year LSU wanted for us to do well, because when
we dig into this roster, we have a bunch of five
-star guys, we have a bunch of four -star guys,
we did well in the transfer pool bringing guys
in. No one left after the spring practice and
transferred out, which hats off to the board
for being able to keep everybody. I couldn't
believe that I couldn't because North Carolina's
roster was. It was like fruit basket turnover.
The the amount of turnover guys leaving and other
guys coming in and you know we get. We got a
24 year old trying to be Miss Maine and. Belichick
and all that kind of craziness. So I love the
stability of what's going on here. So I don't
think Ty Simpson has to. be a top 10 NFL draft
pick this year for Alabama to do really, really
well. Now, if we do well, we go to the playoffs
and he comes back next year, maybe Keelan Russell
sticks around. Austin Mack will be gone. He's
not going to sit for two years and not get to
play. Whereas Keelan, if he's smart, will bide
his time. and then be ready to take off because
Ty will be gone in two years, maybe just one
year, but probably likely to stick around for
two years. And meanwhile, Keelan Russell can
be honing his craft and playing in mop up duty.
But I think Ty Simpson doesn't have to be amazing
if he can just. be that point guard, get the
ball out. We've got weapons all over the field.
And if some of the running backs can come through,
I think we can have a great season. But he doesn't
have to put up 4 ,000 yards and throw for 40
touchdown passes. He does need to throw 25 touchdown
passes and throw only five or six interceptions,
not throw. 14 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions.
I mean, we're in trouble if he does that. He
certainly is not going to be able to run for
20 touchdowns like Jaylen Milrow did, but he's
just got to be able to get it in other people's
playmaker's hands and let them do their stuff.
You know, I noticed that the 8A game also, Ty,
was very comfortable with Checking down, going
to the running back on plays. I mean, just things
that you love to see in a quarterback that we
haven't seen in a couple of years. He made smart
plays. I remember last year he came in and mopped
up duty one game. I can't remember the game,
but I remember the first play was he rolled out
to his right and threw right over a linebacker
to a tight end. Very easy 10 -yard pass. I just
had not seen Milro do before and I'm like, oh
my gosh, that looks so nice and I'm excited about
it and also Remember last year by the end of
the year the receiver started to really show
their frustration on the field with Milro and
we all heard the rumor that You know and the
board did not deny it that they all came down
after the season and said hey Listen, we're gonna
transfer if he comes back, you know, DeBoer said
That's not all true. He said something to that
effect So we know that that kind of happened
and then yesterday on jocks a guy on there said
That he you know, I love this third person thing
here But he said I have a very good reliable
source from a very good player on the team That
the players went to tie midseason even and said
hey You got to go plead your case to the play
to start and they said tie said i'm not doing
it that way I'm only going to get it if I earn
it. I'm not going to go Uh, you know politic
to play and which makes me like it even more
if that's true But so I think the players even
last year saw it that he needed to start so that
makes me feel like hey Even though it's his first
year to start. He's pretty good I think the players
feel like he's pretty good and I think he's gonna
have like a mac jones type year. I think he's
gonna have his only year It's gonna be this year.
He's gonna do very well I I expect us to win
the whole thing and I think he's going in the
draft and then key line starts next year Boom,
you heard it here. Mike dropped. Well, the one
thing about the Mac Jones comparison is remember
Tua got wiped out with his hip and so Mac got
to finish that year and he had that that horrible
loss where he threw two pick sixes against Auburn
at Auburn. So Mac got his feet. to the fire.
And also Mac at the A -Day game, one of his years
was the MVP. So Mac had the on -field experience
before that COVID senior year where they just
rolled. So he was battle tested. And, you know,
that's the one thing I'm worried about Ty is
he didn't get the reps he should have gotten.
He should have gotten a lot more reps this last
year. And I'm not saying that Ty can't lead us
where we need to go, but I think Mac benefited
from making some horrible mistakes that year
where Tua got hurt and his hip was... busted
and you know he had the Bo Jackson hip injury
and his season was done and so Mack had to play
in some big games and he still almost got us
to the SEC Championship game and we should have
beaten Auburn except he threw those two picked
sixes at the goal line. If we kicked field goals
we beat Auburn, we go to the SEC Championship
game. Now I think we would have skipped it. I
think we would have LSU won and we would have
skipped it, but with one loss would have gotten
in the playoff as the fourth team against LSU
and it would have been Mac taking us to the playoff
in all likelihood. But that was the one thing
is Mac got those tests and I mean he didn't do
well. He took some hard knocks, but that had
him ready to go in that COVID year and Saban
had him and that was a loaded team. So you know
he just did the great. But I think Ty Sipson.
can be successful this year. But let me ask you
guys this question. What if Ty gets out there
and he falls on his face and he's not the guy
and they have to play Keelan? Can we make the
playoffs if Ty does not come through? Ty's coming
through. You said in Ty we trust. We're in this
32 minutes deep already. Ty is the guy. Ty is
the guy in 32 minutes. So are we, is this going
to be a two hour session since we've just beat
this guy like a drum or are we going to move
on to other players? He's fine, man. He's fine.
I want to talk about Keelin. Do we think a true
freshman could take over? Let's say, uh, Ty falls
on his face. Can Keelin come in and do it as
an 18 year old, uh, true freshmen? Uh, Will Kay,
what do you think? Well, I mean, yeah, like you
said, he hasn't had a lot of experience. He's
a five star. I mean, I feel like he's been the
backup here for forever. I mean, he was the backup,
backup to Bryce Young. At some point, I thought
he might be like, what happened to him? There
he is. At some point, I thought he was going
to be like Paul Tyson, you know? Paul Tyson was
supposed to be like the guy. But he just never
panned out, but now he's getting his shot. But
we have gone a full year with a mediocre quarterback
and then a talented youngster step up. So if
Keelan Russell is who we think he is, then absolutely.
Dr. T, what do you think about that scenario
where Ty fails and we have to go with Keelan?
Well, first of all, I hate to beat the drum more,
Scott, but I have to say this. What people don't
appreciate about Ty, who haven't watched him,
because I've hear people on the radio from far
away say, oh, he's going to be a pocket passer
like Mack Jones and just stand there. This guy
can fly. He runs like, you got that right. He
runs like a four, five, a four, six. The guy
can move. He's not as good as fast as Milro but
this guy is an athlete. So I think people are
going to be surprised what he does with his legs
this year when plays break down. I guarantee
you Ryan Grubbs, there are going to be some quarterback
runs that he's going to gash defenses. Just watch.
That's number one. Number two, Keyline. Yeah,
John, I don't know. I mean, he's awfully young
and I know a day it's just one little sample
But man, he was throwing some pretty bad picks
now the ball does zip. Okay, that's good The
ball zips out of his hand. It's super beautiful
to watch but I don't know cuz that's so if Ty
falls on his face That's gonna be early. What's
it gonna be? I guess Florida State ULM, Wisconsin
So he falls on his face right in there and key
line comes in and against Georgia No, I don't
like it. I don't like it at all. Well, I think
it would be Ty goes to Georgia, gets wiped out,
is playing mediocre, but we win those games,
but then Ty goes to Georgia, we get blown out,
Ty plays terribly, and then they pull him and
go with Keelan. So in that scenario, I think
with this team with a really solid defense and
a good offensive coordinator, They could probably
get to the playoffs because the playoffs you
can lose two probably and so yeah, I think it's
possible but if we lose at georgia We don't have
much margin, right? And so I don't know. It's
a tall or tall task to get through the last eight
or nine games without losing just one with a
true freshman, but So I would yeah, could he
could he pull a hurts? Could he do what jalen
hurts did as a true freshman and lead us to the
championship game? I mean, that would be my question
is, could he be as good as Hertz was as a true
freshman? I think he could be, yeah. And I think
all of us are discounting Austin Mack and thinking
Austin Mack's not going to play, he's not the
guy, and then he's going to transfer after this
year. That's my take on Austin Mack. Me too.
I agree. Now, I think Keelan Russell... won't
stay around in another year to sit. I think the
money will be too good to go somewhere else,
but you know, I don't know. We'll see what happens.
Yeah. If Keelan has to stay his sophomore year,
he's gone. You mean if he has to sit, if Ty stays
another year? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But if
Ty's good enough, then he might go to the NFL
draft. John, you back? I'm here. Can you hear
me? Scott, are you there? We're all here and
we're still talking about quarterbacks. Those
are two things I know. 22 years old, 6 '2", 209,
runs like a deer, cerebral, he's fine. We're
good. Let's talk about the running back room.
I'm concerned about the running back room. Somebody
give me some comfort in why we're going to have
quality running backs this year and have what,
because in Alabama we expect to have NFL caliber
running backs. And I don't think we had that
last year. Somebody make me feel better about
the running back. You don't like angry Dick Young?
His name's Richard. His name's Richard. That's
why I said that. But some people call him the
Big Dick. This is a Christian program, right?
We call him Angry Dick Young. But I think that
our running backs are fine. I mean, we got a
stable. There's a lot of young ones. I don't
know how to pronounce his name. Akeline, Ackland
Deer, he's a five -star. Daniel Hill is good.
Jan Miller is a good running back one. I mean,
I like him. Maybe would have liked to see more
Justice Haynes. But you know, last year we didn't
run the ball a lot. It was more Jalen Milrow
designed runs, you know, that little guard pull.
I don't even know what you call that, like quarterback
off tackle. But a lot of that on the goal line.
The running back just didn't get a lot last year.
And I think you'll see more of that. And then
Dralyn Washington out of Lafayette maybe. He
was pretty good. I think he was like near a thousand
yard rupture. I think you're going to see - And
he can run. Dre Washington, I think he's four
sub four fours. He's good. I agree. I watched
tape on him. That guy's legit. You're going to
probably see two, maybe three running backs go
in there. Like a couple of years ago with McClellan
and Roydale Williams and Jan Miller. Guys, I'm
cautiously optimistic that Daniel Hill is gonna
be a bowling ball and just wipe people out. I
think he could be really good from everything
I've read and heard. I haven't seen him play,
but any comments on Mr. Hill? I think that there's
only so much playing time that you can get, you
know? I mean, are you gonna run four running
backs deep? I mean, that's... Not a lot of stats
are going to be accumulated because there's only
so much field you can see I think there's going
to be some third down situations but I can see
Hill being the goal on back though. From what
I understand, he is a solid 240 and he's strong
and fast and he might be that guy that good luck
breaks his yards after contact or high and one
guy's not going to tackle him. He's going to
knock people over. So I'm enthusiastic about
that. I think Miller's going to get like 75 %
of the snaps and then you're going to see two,
maybe three others, you know, kind of fight for
those snaps. And, you know, I know we're going
to get into it, but I mean, are we going to need
to run the ball that much? I mean, obviously
we are, but we're going to have the best receiver
core in the country, in my opinion. Yeah, Ohio
State has Jeremiah Smith, but in terms of depth
and ability, I think that ours will be the best.
Dr. T, give us an assessment of the running back
room. I think we have lost Dr. T. So hey, hey,
how bit the guy, John, the guy you were talking
about the goal line back, how tall is he? I think
he's only 510. OK, so yeah, I'm agreeing with
you because. Miller is what 220 and 510 and young
is 511 216. I like those sizes. I don't know.
I'm in that Dre Washington's explosive. So I'm
feeling pretty good as the the naive one of the
bunch. Yeah, Hill Hill is 240. Wow, yeah, he's
a he's a he is a bowling ball. Right, but all
of them are strong. They're not 180, they're
220, 216, 240. I'm feeling pretty good about
it. I guess Dr. Rick's taking a nap. I think
he's lost his mic. The other one I'm really curious
to see is Dre Washington because I think he's
the burner. He is the closest thing we have to
Jameer Gibbs on this because Jim Miller's not
a burner. I think he's got, I think he's a four,
five, four, six, 40 guy. And I think Richard
Young's pretty fast, but again, I'm not sure
he runs sub four, five. You're right, John. When
I watched footage of all of them, Miller would
get caught from behind, you know, in the open
field. And whereas Dre would just create separation.
So. Pick me up, Will, what do you think? Yeah,
I mean, I haven't really watched a lot of them.
Just Richard Young and Jam Miller. Justice Haynes
is gone, but I think it'll be fine, you know,
above average, but - Hey, John. You're there.
You're there? Yeah, I've been here the whole
time. You went silent. Dr. T, you went silent
on us. Okay. All right. Well, what about the
running back room? We were, we were waiting on
you to give us a running back assessment. He's
avoiding the question. He doesn't want to answer
it. He pleaded the fifth. Yeah. He's, he's cooking
something up over there. Doctors are smart, man.
They know, they know how to play their hand.
It's picking me up, but I can't hear them. I
guess I can leave and come back, can I? Should
I do that? Yeah, I think you should. All right,
let's move on to the receiver room, Will Kay.
I mean, I understand. They were talking, all
of a sudden it went quiet. It'll be the best
in the country. Obviously, Ryan Williams. All
right. All right. Are we good now? That was kind
of fun. I think that we won't lose any subscribers
over that. Yeah. I hope not. But yeah, obviously
Ryan Williams, the second best wide receiver
in the country behind Jeremiah Smith, the best
in the SEC. Jeremy Bernard, he was a good wide
receiver too last year. And then I think Isaiah
Horton is a good three. He can just throw it
to anybody. It'll take the pressure off of Ty.
And then we got Lotser Brooks. I've heard good
things about him. I've heard he's another, you
know, he's another waddle type guy. that he's
a burner and you get him in space and he's going
to make explosive plays and take it to the house.
So I'm excited about that. Yeah, I mean, he might
have too many weapons. There might be so many
people open, he can't even make a decision. Well,
Cole Adams is good. He's a good little slot receiver.
Yeah, and then I would try to get to Cole Adams
too. You know, he kind of reminds me of those
New England Patriots. wide receivers you know
that kind of just they were reliable they just
caught it and just you know not not a lot of
speed but you know he's a good punt return or
two um but he would he would catch the ball um
really good hands um doesn't fumble doesn't muff
any punt returns so he's a good like third and
short kind of guy we need like an out or a whip
route um and then we get Jalen Hale back he was
he looked really good um He got hurt last year,
but the year before, he caught that touchdown
against Ole Miss. I was like, this guy's for
real. So we're going to have a lot of weapons
with the receivers. And then Josh Quavis, I know
he's a tight end, but he impressed me last year.
He was really good, so we'll have him back too.
Well, let's talk about Isaiah Horton. I think
the thing that Isaiah Horton brings to the table
is, I believe he's 6 '4". And I think 6 -3, sorry.
All right. 6 -3, 175 averages 11 yards. Not bad.
But he's that guy that in the goal line situations,
he can beat a guy one -on -one. You can toss
it up to him and he can go get the ball and come
down. Michael Irvin type guy. I'm really excited
about him. And Horton and Ty Simpson were on
the same seven -on -seven team in high school.
So they have a history of playing together, so
I think they're going to have an instant chemistry
from their high school days. So I think he's
going to be a big red zone receiver and a big
third down receiver when we just got to pick
up, say it's third and 10 and we got to get 11
yards. He's the guy you can go to because the
one thing about Ryan Williams, he is explosive,
but he's not the guy that's going to go up against
a tall corner. and out jumped the guy. And I
think that's where Isaiah Horton, I'm really
excited about that. All right, let's move on
to the tight ends. Will Kay, you were talking
about the tight end. So let's talk about that.
Yeah, I didn't know who Josh Quavis was last
year, but he made some good plays. I really liked
what he did. Didn't really use a lot of tight
ends. Or I guess we did actually, you know, Robbie
Udson, CJ Dupree. I don't know how tight ends
fit into Grubbs' offense. And I'm not sure that
we have a lot of depth, but I like Cuevas. I
know we brought two guys in out of the transfer
portal and a lot of people are talking up Marshall
Pritchett, who I believe is at least a four star.
So I think we've got some options at tight end,
but I think it's unclear what the level of play
is going to be, so we're just going to have to
watch that. All right, let's jump into the offensive
line. Will K, thoughts about the O line and question
marks and thoughts? I like the offensive line.
Kaden Proctor, he's pretty good. I mean, I think
he's projected a first run. from draft pick.
No doubt. He kind of gets burned sometimes. He's
pretty big. If you got a speedy defensive end,
he might have trouble with that. But the center
is the best in the country. We got that Newberry
guy from... Yeah, Cam Newberry came out of the
pool. I think he was about one sack at Texas
A &M or something like that. So I'm excited about
him. Wilkin Formby, I just, I don't know about
him, you know, maybe it's just the penalties
with him. But the only thing that I've seen,
you only notice an offensive lineman when they
play bad, you know? So we need them to kind of
not notice the offensive lineman. We don't need
to name them. Because if you don't, if you do
that, then you know that they're doing a good
job. So. Yeah, this is a big year for Wilkin.
Last year, Wilkin had some struggles, particularly
in pass pro. He got burned by speed rushers,
and I'm not sure how much of it was lack of putting
a tight end with him or sending a running back
to chip. But Wilkin is a big, strong bulldozer.
of a guy and he's certainly strong enough. I
hope he's worked a lot on his lateral quickness,
his footwork, using those arms in pass pro because
he is he is prone to a speed rusher beating him
to the quarterback, so they're going to have
to scheme things up. And I think one of the things
they need to do is if if Wilkin does get in trouble
where he's got a speed rusher is being beaten,
what they need to do is run behind Wilkin and
Jaden Roberts and just beat up whoever. The D
end is there if he's a speed rush guy and just
let Wilkin maul him to death. And by the fourth
quarter, that guy will be in trouble. But I don't
think they helped Wilkin a lot with the designs.
And then hopefully Wilkin's really been working
on his lateral quickness. So to me, Wilkin's
probably the biggest question mark in the starting
group. But I mean, they've really sung his praises
in spring practice and his development. So hopefully
after taking those lumps. that he did last year
and with the holding penalties and getting beat
on the edge and giving up sacks that you know
he's learned his lesson he's ready to roll this
year so he certainly was a highly rated four
star he's big he's strong he can run block he
can he can bulldoze some people. It's just can
he hold up and pass pro against some of these
high level rushing ends. But they can solve that
by putting a tight end over there chipping with
the running back. There's a lot of things they
can do to help him out in that thing. But that's
probably my biggest concern is just can he hold
up against speed rushers? Hey, John, real quick
to your point. I don't know how much this I guess
you pronounce it Knudsen. from Weber State or
Weber State is going to fit in, but he's a good
blocker. I just in the footage I watched, so
you may have a point there. Maybe they put him
in to offer that assistance. And Quavis is a
pretty big tight end as well. I think he can
chip and then some of those running backs can
do that, but I think that's some of the things
they just gotta scheme it up and in obvious past
situations they've just gotta do things. that
are going to make sure that we don't leave our
guys hung out on an island when they load up
on blitzes and such. They've got to recognize
that. But also, Milrow hung onto the ball way
too long and took sacks he shouldn't have because
he should have gotten rid of the ball. He either
thrown it out of bounds, thrown it into the dirt
without getting a grounding penalty but not.
just hanging onto the ball and taking sacks because
he just thought he could out athlete the rushers
and he took a lot of stupid sacks that he shouldn't
have taken just because he was more of an athlete
than he was a high level quarterback in those
pressure passing situations. So I think those
are the big concerns I have about the offensive
line, but I really think having Ryan Grubb in
is going to help clean up a lot of that and everything
I've heard about the line prep and the line coaching
that they're getting this year and having them
for another year. Guys getting your feet to the
fire for a year and being battle tested, you
can grow a lot. in that year of taking those
hard knocks. So I think we're ready to step up.
I'm pretty excited. I just think there's a lot
of question marks. about the offense, but part
of it's we didn't get to see them in spring practice.
We didn't get to see a spring game. And the reason
they did that is they don't want to put stuff
on film and they don't want to have our guys
get poached in the transfer portal and have all
these outside influences seeing how well our
guys are doing and then getting offered all this
money. So there's a lot of cloak and dagger going
on with the spring practice. And so you just
don't know a lot about how much they progressed
since last year. because we were able to keep
guys, but they don't want to put a lot out there,
and they don't want to know how good some of
these guys are, so they're kind of trying to
hide them, and there's a lot more secrecy to
spring practice now with the whole transfer portal
thing. Will K, thoughts? Thoughts on what? Will,
did we lose you? Hello? He's there. All right,
guys, I think it's time to wrap this podcast
up. I think we've beaten the horse. We've got
a dead horse here. Anyway, there's a lot of optimism
about the Alabama offense, but I think there's
a lot of question marks as well. We've got a
lot of guys who are going to have to step up
into key roles that aren't proven to play at
a high level. But Alabama is loaded with five
-star and four -star talent, have a lot of talent
on the offense. There's a lot of room for optimism.
Anyway, this is another episode of the Bammacher
Hour. We've gone through the outlook for the
offense, given what we know coming out of spring
practice. And roll tide. Roll tide. Do defense
next.