When the run fails, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer’s focus moves to space, timing, and execution in the passing game. That is where the receiver corps still sits at the center of the No. 9 Tide’s offensive ceiling, and the staff knows it. And the urgency is real with the CFP first round vs. No. 8 Oklahoma looming Friday. That pressure led to a revealing moment when Alabama’s Director of Sports Medicine offered a look into how the program is trying to sharpen its WRs. 

“I’ve had a couple of receivers tell me they’re wearing these special glasses,” Jeff Allen told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “These are strobe goggles from a company called Senaptec and the theory behind it is that you obstruct the visual field to really make them focus more on the mechanics of the catch.”

The explanation was blunt and deliberate. The goggles flash between clear and opaque, forcing the receiver to track the football longer and more intentionally. The goal is to eliminate anticipation errors that lead to drops.

“So the glasses will flash and obstruct their visual field,” he added. “What we’re trying to get them to do is to watch the ball all the way in and watch it all the way into their arm.”

Holly Rowe tried the goggles herself including the hardest level. Her response sums up the difficulty. 

“This one was really hard because I could barely even see the ball for two seconds,” she said, after securing the catch anyway.

The strobe goggles technology is not experimental. Senaptec Strobe goggles use liquid crystal lenses to disrupt vision during drills, training the brain to process visual information faster. They are controlled through a smartphone app and have been adopted across professional sports. NFL teams including the Raiders, Seahawks, Steelers, Jaguars, and Lions use them. Major League Baseball organizations like the Yankees and Cubs do as well.

Former NFL receiver Andre Holmes has publicly credited the goggles for sharpening his visual focus. His reasoning was straightforward as he said you cannot catch what you cannot see. Even Michael Jordan famously used early strobe-light technology. Alabama is simply applying a refined version to a modern problem.

That problem shows up clearly in the numbers. Ryan Williams had three catches for 45 yards against Oklahoma on November 15. Since then, he had one catch for 25 yards against Eastern Illinois, zero targets against Auburn, and two catches for 33 yards against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. He has not recorded more than three receptions in a game since October.

That reality places even more weight on the receiving corps as a whole. Germie Bernard has been Alabama’s most productive WR, finishing the 2025 season with 762 receiving yards and seven TDs. Williams followed with 631 yards and four TDs and Isaiah Horton trailing with 430 yards and the highest TDs at eight. OC Ryan Grubb has made it clear that the receiver room remains essential to Alabama’s best version. And that’s because he’s running out of answers elsewhere.

Ryan Grubb shifts focus from run game

Alabama enters the playoff ranked 117th nationally in rushing yards at 116.2 per game. They are 23rd in passing yards. The imbalance is not theoretical. Jam Miller, Kevin Riley, and Daniel Hill have struggled to generate explosive runs. Left tackle Kadyn Proctor has acknowledged issues exploiting gaps. Against LSU on Nov. 8, Alabama rushed for 56 yards on 2.2 yards per carry, its worst output of the season.

Ryan Grubb has tried everything.

“I’ve used them all,” he told reporters during his Thursday press conference. “I’ve used the throw, the deep ball early and run later, run early, throw the deep ball after… But for us, whether the ball’s going down the field or running the football, we just have to be more consistent with the ball moving forward, period.”

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That reality puts pressure on the receiver room against Oklahoma on Friday night in Norman. Alabama lost 23-21 to the Sooners during the regular season but enters the playoff rematch as a 1.5-point favorite. 

Now, there’s some slight changes on the coaching side. WR coach JaMarcus Shephard has been largely absent after accepting the Oregon State head coaching job. Analysts Torrey Gill and Bret Bowlin have helped fill the gap. Kalen DeBoer himself has stepped into meetings.

“He was in the meeting Friday morning,” Williams said. “It’s cool having your head coach back there, just serving some detail because he played the position.”

Kalen DeBoer did play wide receiver at Western Washington (1992) and Sioux Falls (1993-1996). He set a program record for the latter with 3,400 career receiving yards on 234 catches. That experience matters now, because Alabama’s margin for error is thin.