Link: 2026 Transfer Portal

[GrayTide]

It should be obvious that our failure thus far in the TP, is either because of an underperforming coaching staff, but there is another possibility (outside of the money aspect) that is alarming. These players are not concerned with Alabama's football history or how great the perception of playing in the SEC is, they see that CNS has retired and his replacement is struggling to keep the ship afloat. The winds of change have realigned what you might call the current blue bloods and folks, Alabama ain't one of them. Alabama was never a truly CFB quality team this year and I have no idea of how or if we make it back.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Alabama was never a truly CFB quality team this year and I have no idea of how or if we make it back.

You just haven't adjusted to the 12 team playoff yet.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

If I understand correctly, the RB that would've started for Oregon tonight entered the portal this week. The 1st RB is injured so #2 would've started.
Absolutely ridiculous. The portal should NOT open before the end of the season. Dump the conf championships and move the playoff games up

So just being in the Portal makes you ineligible??

 

[DzynKingRTR]

If I understand correctly, the RB that would've started for Oregon tonight entered the portal this week. The 1st RB is injured so #2 would've started.
Absolutely ridiculous. The portal should NOT open before the end of the season. Dump the conf championships and move the playoff games up

So the backup RB decided to enter the portal just days before playing in a playoff game? College Football is dead.

 

[CajunCrimson]

So the portal closes when?
And the championship game is when?

I know the answers. But it sure is much harder to take a teams good players when they get their own window after everyone else.

 

[KrAzY3]

It should be obvious that our failure thus far in the TP, is either because of an underperforming coaching staff, but there is another possibility (outside of the money aspect) that is alarming. These players are not concerned with Alabama's football history or how great the perception of playing in the SEC is, they see that CNS has retired and his replacement is struggling to keep the ship afloat. The winds of change have realigned what you might call the current blue bloods and folks, Alabama ain't one of them. Alabama was never a truly CFB quality team this year and I have no idea of how or if we make it back.

We can go on and on about all of that, but I reiterate that there's nothing stopping Alabama from going out and doing their home work, their million dollar GM looking at his big board, which should have hundreds of players on it, and going and snatching up some 3 stars. Many of those 3 stars are basically just waiting for a major program to offer them.

There are literally thousands of players in the portal. Only a handful are truly sought after, the rest are like Indiana's portal class last year. 23 players, ranked below Alabama's 12 portal player class. Guess which one was better? Not because Indiana spent more, not because Indiana has more allure, because Indiana did their homework and evaluated these guys, and didn't stop at "good enough" (they brought in a combined 46 via recruiting and portal, this for a 11-2 team)..

Alabama is just trying to throw money at the top rated guys at this point... honesty it comes off as laziness to me. Try to spend your way out of an evaluation problem. Last year Alabama admittedly missed in the portal, small class, 4 stars that didn't pan out, so what do they do? Well same thing again of course!

 

[gtgilbert]

I don't think this staff is capable of doing the homework to find those guys. Otherwise we'd be seeing many more offers to lower rated guys. But hey, we've got a TE and we offered another. We're gonna TE them to death.

just like last year. brought in a whole bunch of TEs. None saw the field.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

How much are we paying for Morgan? And these are the results? My goodness.

Good grief!

Get a grip!

Judging an adult based on immature kids getting money thrown at them is totally unfair!

 

[TD7]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2009841124282696098

 

[gtgilbert]

So just being in the Portal makes you ineligible??

No, the #3 guy, who played last night, is also in the portal already. he chose to play, but the #2 decided to bail.

So the backup RB decided to enter the portal just days before playing in a playoff game? College Football is dead.

Yep - there is less and less I like about this game as this era evolves.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

No, the #3 guy, who played last night, is also in the portal already. he chose to play, but the #2 decided to bail.



Yep - there is less and less I like about this game as this era evolves.

If the dude bailed before the biggest game (so far) of the season, they should have cleaned out his locker and put his stuff on the curb...

 

[Rocky Mtn Bob]

[TE Miller]

I am not even close to being a football coach, but Miller looks pretty raw in that highlight clip. He's big. He's relatively fast. He appears to be eager to block. (What's that like for a coaching staff?)

But ... he out-classes those Div II boys so much, he appears to be playing against high schoolers. Miller's routes don't appear all that crisp and the *very* little I know about line blocking tells me he'll need some coaching on his technique.

I love how CKD and Morgan appear to be seeking outside the box for talent which can produce(!).

 

[Cruloc]

We can go on and on about all of that, but I reiterate that there's nothing stopping Alabama from going out and doing their home work, their million dollar GM looking at his big board, which should have hundreds of players on it, and going and snatching up some 3 stars. Many of those 3 stars are basically just waiting for a major program to offer them.

There are literally thousands of players in the portal. Only a handful are truly sought after, the rest are like Indiana's portal class last year. 23 players, ranked below Alabama's 12 portal player class. Guess which one was better? Not because Indiana spent more, not because Indiana has more allure, because Indiana did their homework and evaluated these guys, and didn't stop at "good enough" (they brought in a combined 46 via recruiting and portal, this for a 11-2 team)..

Alabama is just trying to throw money at the top rated guys at this point... honesty it comes off as laziness to me. Try to spend your way out of an evaluation problem. Last year Alabama admittedly missed in the portal, small class, 4 stars that didn't pan out, so what do they do? Well same thing again of course!

Laziness, thats exactly what it seems.

You sit and watch film and evaluate everybody you possibly can. This is where your money is earned.

You don't win at this level doing this as a 9 to 5. You better be in there grinding at all hours during this period especially....because everyone else is.

Im shocked honestly, that there appears to be no urgency......like we aren't prepared.....which seems to be a theme with this group.

 

[Rocky Mtn Bob]

So just being in the Portal makes you ineligible??

No. Last night the announcers highlighted a Duck (Can't recall who.) who was in the portal ... and still playing in that game.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

Laziness, thats exactly what it seems.

You sit and watch film and evaluate everybody you possibly can. This is where your money is earned.

You don't win at this level doing this as a 9 to 5. You better be in there grinding at all ours during this period especially....because everyone else is.

Im shocked honestly, that there appears to be no urgency......like we aren't prepared.....which seems to be a theme with this group.

I’m shocked and not shocked at the same time.

This staff shows time and time again they’ll just keep doing the same old same old.

Imo they are arrogant and seem convinced that what worked on the West Coast works everywhere.

I don’t see a lot of change happening.

We are trending towards a couple more seasons in the 8-4 to 10-2 range at best and then needing to make some tough choices.

 

[RollTide-YNWA]

Im shocked honestly, that there appears to be no urgency......like we aren't prepared.....which seems to be a theme with this group.

My fear is that it's because they still believe they can "out-scheme the opponent," which is an arrogant mindset and hasn't proved to be the case.

 

[AlexanderFan]

Laziness, thats exactly what it seems.

You sit and watch film and evaluate everybody you possibly can. This is where your money is earned.

You don't win at this level doing this as a 9 to 5. You better be in there grinding at all ours during this period especially....because everyone else is.

Im shocked honestly, that there appears to be no urgency......like we aren't prepared.....which seems to be a theme with this group.

You could be right, but Alabama is not at the top of this mess anymore. Even if CNS was DeBoer’s age Alabama would not be at the top of this mess.

Alabama is going to strike out a lot because Alabama is in the position of having to take chances on guys, unless you want the repeat scenario of what’s happening with this running back? Get the guy, woo the guy, get a verbal non binding commitment, and then lose him to a school with bigger pockets. Same thing with the edge guy from Tennessee, maybe even Cam Coleman.

You got to give them a chance to get things done.

 

[Bama9001]

My fear is that it's because they still believe they can "out-scheme the opponent," which is an arrogant mindset and hasn't proved to be the case.

They can probably out-scheme everyone and don't even need to block anybody to do it.

 

[KrAzY3]

Laziness, thats exactly what it seems.

You sit and watch film and evaluate everybody you possibly can. This is where your money is earned.

You don't win at this level doing this as a 9 to 5. You better be in there grinding at all ours during this period especially....because everyone else is.

Im shocked honestly, that there appears to be no urgency......like we aren't prepared.....which seems to be a theme with this group.

I want to be wrong about the situation, but Alabama is still sitting at 6.5 players via the portal basically, which means they have 29.5 slots available.

People keep fixating on the handful of four stars and making excuses, but it's a problem if that's their entire plan. Where's the depth? Where are the hidden gems? Where's the evaluation finds? Everyone knows who those guys are that they're targeting, you don't need a GM, you or I can go oh hey let's get one of the top rated RBs, or one of the top WRs or what ever out of the portal and write checks with someone else's money. That's not earning your keep, that's just checking on a forum or a recruiting site and going oh hey that's one of the top guys, let's go try to get them.

Without going further, there's a team in the playoff whose staff seems hungry (making almost half what Alabama's staff makes) while the Alabama staff seems well fed.

 

[Bpilktree]

Y

I think people need to chill on Smothers… there are sources that are saying that he is enrolled in classes and that the Texas visit isn’t a certainty. There is also speculation about Bama and Texas practically swapping backs if he does indeed flip to Texas because there is practically zero chance that Ralek and him coexist in that backfield.

Yeah I don’t see any reason why both Smothers and Ralek would sign at the same place. Unless they were both offered an insane amount of money and if that is the case there not much you can do.