Alabama is in for a rough offseason after its humiliating defeat in the Rose Bowl. The wounds of the Indiana thrashing are still fresh, and on top of that, Bama’s players are leaving the program. Kalen DeBoer just lost his fourth player to the portal in running back Richard Young.

Young struggled to get playing time in Tuscaloosa as a reserve in his three years with the program. He will leave Alabama with 59 carries, 234 yards, and 4 TDs. This season, he only played 4 games with the Tide, producing 64 yards in 23 carries and 2 scores. Young also has one reception for 6 yards. He has two years of eligibility left.

DeBoer is losing a talented player in Young. He was an elite prospect of the 2023 cycle, coming in as a 4-star prospect and the 4th-best RB. According to MaxPreps, he finished his prep career with 4,693 rushing yards and 42 TDs. He was also among the top 10 players in Florida at the time of his recruitment. He and former Alabama RB Justice Haynes joined Alabama together as top recruits.

Richard Young found himself in an extremely crowded room in his first season. He found some room in the 2024 roster, coming up to third in the depth. But he lost time due to injury, and the duo of Jam Miller and Haynes led the rushing attack. The latter transferred to Michigan, but Young got buried in the depth yet again in 2025. Kalen DeBoer backed Miller with Daniel Brown, Kevin Riley, and AK Dear instead.

DeBoer’s RB room strategy did no good for Alabama. It became a problem that lasted all season long, ultimately handing the Tide a humiliating 3-35 defeat to Indiana. Miller couldn’t contribute at all, leaving QB Ty Simpson to do most of the work. He brought in 17 yards to Alabama’s total rushing yardage of 23. Simpson even ended up fumbling the ball on a rushing drive.

Richard Young’s exit now puts Alabama in a tough spot in RB depth. His departure, along with the Rose Bowl loss, suggests that DeBoer needs to increase his efforts in the transfer portal.

Richard Young’s exit leaves Alabama’s RB room with little experience

Kalen DeBoer now has no RB with formidable experience for 2026. Miller has exhausted his eligibility, and so has reserve RB Dre Washington. Hill, Riley, and Dear are the remaining rushers, who account for a total of 739 yards. Incoming this year as freshmen are Ezavier Crowell—the No. 2 RB of the cycle—and Traeshawn Brown. DeBoer has no option but to hit the portal to bring in experience.

Alabama chose to rely on in-house talent instead of the portal last year, having recruited only 11 players from it. That agenda cannot be the case in DeBoer’s third year as head coach. After the Rose Bowl loss, he spoke about his perspective on building the future team.

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“[Because] I’ve been doing this long enough, and I have experiences that I can fall back on, that the fine line between what we had out there today and being at the very top is such a fine line,” DeBoer said after the game.

“You’ve got to go back to starting over from scratch with putting the people around you, the right people, committing to something, a common goal together and the actions following it.”

How Kalen DeBoer builds the 2026 roster will play a hand in the continuation of his Alabama tenure. Richard Young’s departure is yet another sign of its instability, which has been a big talking point in the 2025 season.