Season by season, the hustle to bring Alabama back to its glory days is getting tougher under Kalen DeBoer. The root cause is the brain drain. Now, a Crimson Tide legend and 2015 Heisman Trophy winner has stepped up to deliver a message to the locker room.

“And I know kids, if you don’t play, you can go to another program,” said ex-Alabama running back Derrick Henry. “But when we were there, we wanted to build our own legacy. We heard about the ones that came before us. 

“You’re going to have growing pains. Coach [Nick] Saban had. Coach DeBoer will have his. But for you to be able to get back to that mountaintop and be the top dog, you’ve got to have that mindset of wanting to do that.”

So, Henry still dreams of Alabama going to the top. All that is needed is a little loyalty from the committed players. It pains the alum’s heart to see his alma mater slide down. After all, he gifted Crimson Tide a single-season record in 2015, running for 2,219 yards. 

Last season, the hype was real for DeBoer’s program, which opened at No.8. With that ranking, SEC title buzz and College Football Playoff dreams followed. However, it took DeBoer’s squad one game against Florida State to wake up from the sweet sleep. The Crimson Tide’s run game never got rolling, ending with just 87 yards. Taking out the sacks, it still came out to a modest 112 yards, far from the standard in Tuscaloosa.

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Already, the critics were ready with the report card for DeBoer and his players. The situation got more intense when the team caught heat for dancing in the locker room right after the loss. It raised real questions about the once-unshakeable Crimson Tide culture built under Saban.

The GOAT strongly believed that the NIL is “unsustainable.” The former Tide coach warned that NIL money adds a psychological layer to the game. It makes it tougher for coaches to keep guys motivated and the locker room aligned, ultimately leading to inconsistency.

The results are already here. When the 2016 Alabama squad started the season with a 14–0 record, an average victory margin of 27.9 points, and dominant wins like 52–6 over LSU, the NIL era did not exist. Walking Saban’s path, Henry also advised DeBoer’s players to sort out their priorities. 

“If you care about it, if it means something to you — not just the money, the market stuff and all that,” said the alum. “It’s already in college football. But as far as you as a man and your integrity, what are you willing to do to get that program to where it once was?”

Many are quick to point fingers at DeBoer, but Alabama’s struggles have more to do with the dip in talent. 

Kalen DeBoer struggles with a talent dip in Tuscaloosa

Alabama’s 31-17 road loss to Florida State snapped the Crimson Tide’s 23-game season-opening win streak. The loss marked the fourth time in 14 games under DeBoer that the Tide fell to an unranked team. Comparing it to the Saban era, it occurred just four times during the former head coach’s 17-year run.

While these findings are already alarming for DeBoer, here comes some more. Player retention is one area in which the Crimson Tide has been struggling the most lately. NFL Draft analyst Cody Carpenter came up with his own “Super Blue Chip Transfer Rates” for 2022-2026. The figures are indeed concerning for DeBoer, as Alabama is the second-highest program to lose blue-chip recruits. 

At the bottom of this is Notre Dame Fighting Irish, whose transfer rate is 0%, showing how their blue-chip players never felt the urge to swap bases. Oklahoma stood at 50% while DeBoer’s program is at 47.6%. Crimson Tide lost wide receiver Jalen Hale, who had hit the transfer portal. He was a four-star prospect in 247Sports’ 2023 listing. 

So, that’s the hard truth that Kalen DeBoer faces. Earlier, Alabama’s name and reputation were enough for them to keep the players locked in. But in the present era, it’s about which program dishes the fattest check. That’s why it’s on the players, as Derrick Henry said, to buckle up.