College football analyst gives unhinged take on the future of Alabama Crimson Tide football under head coach Kalen DeBoer
Joel Klatt has a take about the future of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kalen DeBoer, and let’s just say that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The Alabama Crimson Tide has not reached the pinnacle of the sport since 2020, when Nick Saban last hoisted the trophy and cemented his legacy as the greatest coach to ever blow a whistle in collegiate sports.
At the Capstone, it’s championship or bust every season. Kalen DeBoer knew that when he took over, and he certainly knows that heading into year three. But if you ask Joel Klatt, he has no shot at bringing Alabama back where it belongs.
Kalen DeBoer’s accomplishments at Alabama
- 2025 SEC Champion (regular season)
- Top-10 seed in CFP
- Both starting quarterbacks were drafted, including Ty Simpson at 13th overall.
Joel Klatt rips the future of Alabama under Kalen DeBoer
“I have been a defender of Kalen DeBoer, I would agree with you. I think Kalen is a terrific coach. [But] I think that this spot is insurmountable,” said Klatt on Next Round Live. “There’s nowhere to go but down, period. I think that they [Alabama] are going to struggle to be the same team next year.”
“I think what we have seen them do is regress every year, and I think that will continue next year, specifically, because the one element that you could rely on last year is gone, and you’re going to replace it with a guy that has zero starts, and it showed, and they got their doors blown off against Florida State. So good luck.”
Where Joel Klatt is wrong
Ok, so where his argument completely went off the rails was when the Klatster said that Alabama has only regressed and will continue to regress. Well, from year one to year two, Alabama went from missing the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff altogether, to being named regular season SEC champions and winning a playoff game on the road against Oklahoma after losing to the Sooners in their prior matchup and being down 17.
Beyond that, however, Alabama boasted one of the best recruiting classes in the country for 2026, and they continue to dominate the recruiting grounds when it comes to the quarterback position.
So if you want to say that Alabama is not as dominant as it once was, or that the Crimson Tide hasn’t met expectations in recent seasons, that’s fine, but to say that Alabama has regressed and is only on a downward trajectory, well, that’s flat out wrong.