Kalen DeBoer's big swing on Alabama staff named most impactful coaching move of college football offseason so far
Kalen DeBoer was expected to pounce on the chance to re-add Ryan Grubb to his staff at Alabama after the Seattle Seahawks dismissed the offensive coordinator after one year, and he did. DeBoer took some time to rearrange his staff but eventually landed on a familiar face so he could focus less on the offense. […]
Kalen DeBoer was expected to pounce on the chance to re-add Ryan Grubb to his staff at Alabama after the Seattle Seahawks dismissed the offensive coordinator after one year, and he did. DeBoer took some time to rearrange his staff but eventually landed on a familiar face so he could focus less on the offense.
Andy Staples of On3 named Alabama's hiring of Grubb to their offensive coordinator position as the most impactful coordinator move of the offseason.
Here's Staples' analysis:
Grubb was originally slated to follow Kalen DeBoer from Washington to Alabama, but then Grubb was offered the Seattle Seahawks’ OC job. Going up a level with the same title without having to move is pretty tough to turn down, so Grubb stayed in Seattle.
But things didn’t go as well as DeBoer or Grubb hoped in their new gigs. DeBoer lost four games, and Grubb got fired after one season. So now they’ll reunite, and that could be huge for Alabama. When Grubb worked as DeBoer’s OC at Fresno State and Washington, he was not an in-name-only coordinator. He called the plays, which helped DeBoer to be the best possible CEO.
DeBoer tried that arrangement with Nick Sheridan last year, but the offense never truly found its identity. It’s telling, though, that Sheridan is staying on staff in spite of Grubb’s return. Sheridan was a key piece of that staff in Washington and a big reason Michael Penix Jr. decided to transfer there.
With the band back together, Alabama could bounce back.
The Tide were almost perfectly balanced in 2024, calling 53% of their plays as runs or passes that turned into runs by Milroe. That balance is usually a staple of good things for Alabama, but the lack of a quality run game stemmed from mediocre blocking, running back talent, and a scheme issue.
To fix this, one of three things must happen. Either the talent needs to get better, the scheme improves, or the passing game is used to set up the run game. The latter is what Grubbs can bring.
Almost 59% of Washington's plays in 2023-24 were passing calls. While Alabama might not go to that much of an extreme, as that was the eighth-highest rate, Grubbs followed suit with Seattle. Again, his personnel allowed that without a star rusher for much of the season and Geno Smith is a lot like Penix.
With Milroe gone, the Tide is left with Ty Simpson and 5-star recruit Keelon Russell as the players most likely to win the starting quarterback job in 2025. They added former ULL running back Dre'lyn Washington, but he's far from a sure-fire star.
With that in mind and no significant talent additions coming, the Tide might as well lean into Grubbs' aggressive attack. They don't want to become a pseudo-Mike Leach offense in the SEC, but there's a path to keeping the dominant run game that Nick Saban balanced with their spread concepts with Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, and Bryce Young.
