Link: 2026 Transfer Portal

[AlexanderFan]

Imo this staff has consistently shown that they won’t change and won’t adapt.

There are Red Flags all over the program that are a legitimate cause for concern.

Many fans keep saying things akin to “Just have faith, Be Patient, Trust the Staff, Trust they know what they are doing and can adapt and improve”

“I trust them”

My question is “Why?”

What have they done to demonstrate fixing problems and fixing flaws and being flexible and adaptable and willing to work harder?

What are the Green Flags?

The team routinely looks unprepared on game day.

The Staff routinely looks flummoxed on the sideline, in the Booth, and in front of a Mic.

There have been 6 losses out of 8 that have been throughly inexcusable.

Whether it’s getting beat as a Multiple TD favorite vs borderline .500 teams or worse or getting Hammered by Multiple TDs in a non competitive fashion.

We had the ‘General Manager’ or whatever his official Bagman title is say “We Struck Out” wrt the Portal.

We had a 1st Round NFL Draft Pick at QB just riding the bench for a year with a 3rd round guy just giving games away.

This staff has not done one thing that instills confidence and/or faith.

They routinely look like absolute buffoons.

I would be inclined to agree with you if you had this same energy when Saban had Bryce Young running for his life and Simpson on the bench for Milroe as well.

Temper your expectations means Alabama is not going to win bidding wars for portal players. They are going to miss on “diamonds in the rough.”

The guys coming back to Alabama is portal work, imagine your sunny disposition if those “I’m coming back” messages were commitment announcements to other schools. How fast do you want them to work exactly? Each kid is a contract renegotiation!

Regarding the talent leaving, this is also the talent that has been blown out and looked unprepared that you’re also crying about.

Can we please just step back from the nonsense and let them work?

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Kalen DeBoer would be laughing out loud, if any of his staffers told him about this very important discussion by TideFans experts.

If I'm CKD there's ZERO probability of ...
... me telling TideFans people what I'm doing in the portal.
... me allowing my staff to post portal updates on TideFans, or any other forum.
... believing I have any control of what 17 - 24 year-old kids post on their SM about their own portal activities.
... me caring at all what Rocky Mtn Bob (or any of his buddies) thinks.

CKD doesn't have to tell us anything. If we get blown out again three times next season like we did this season, again have games where the team doesn't show up ready to play and the OL isn't improved. He wont have to say one word. The results will speak on his behalf. I dont want him to tell me one thing. I want his results to speak.

 

[Bpilktree]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2009760427769536630

I would imagine this kid was asking for too much.....but this is a position of need for us.

I am hearing we pivoted when Ty Haywood entered the portal. He was a former commit but then witched to Michigan after they offered a lot of money last year but now he entered portal and we are favorite.

 

[Cruloc]

I am hearing we pivoted when Ty Haywood entered the portal. He was a former commit but then witched to Michigan after they offered a lot of money last year but now he entered portal and we are favorite.

Getting Haywood would be a win.

 

[Cruloc]

CKD doesn't have to tell us anything. If we get blown out again three times next season like we did this season, again have games where the team doesn't show up ready to play and the OL isn't improved. He wont have to say one word. The results will speak on his behalf. I dont want him to tell me one thing. I want his results to speak.

6 blow outs in 2 years will invite lots of questions from the fan base. Continuing to do the same thing will cause lots of questions as well.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

They do report signings. There are teams already with dozens of players signed. So, I know it's slow moving because that number isn't going up. Alabama, after a very bad portal last year is tied for the second least portal signings right now.


Just so we're clear, throwing money at the problem is being lazy. As I said, Dabo (the most stubborn portal hater in the sport) thus far has added more players in the portal than Alabama has. There is no reason to wait forever to add cheap depth pieces you uncovered via your very hard work.

Edit: It does look like Alabama added a couple more depth pieces, but the total number is still not a lot.

So we're doing a bad job because we haven't signed more players than most?

Maybe Dabo has signed more players, but are they the right ones? Remains to be seen, but I'm sure the Clemson fans aren't beating their chests over getting more players than Bama (or whoever) at this point.

Maybe our staff is being more selective this year than last. If they are being more selective then it stands to reason that we are slower in the process.

Complaining about the Speed and our portal recruiting and then later complaining about the quality and saying we should have been more carful about who we targeted is simply talking out of both sides of your mouth.

You can't have it both ways my friend...

 

[BamaMoon]

CKD doesn't have to tell us anything. If we get blown out again three times next season like we did this season, again have games where the team doesn't show up ready to play and the OL isn't improved. He wont have to say one word. The results will speak on his behalf. I dont want him to tell me one thing. I want his results to speak.

I agree 100%!

But here's the thing, why is a vast majority of fans here so confident CKD and staff aren't doing the work they need to do to be better in '26???

IMO, there is a vacuum of information that is being filled with negativity and doubt with no proof at this point.

 

[KrAzY3]

Which mistakes?

I know that wasn't addressed at me, and I think all of us here want to be hopeful. We want Alabama to succeed, we want things to go well, but it would be absurd to claim things have gone well the past two years.

The loss to Vandy, the loss to Oklahoma, the loss to Michigan in 2024. Those teams were a combined 21-18. You shouldn't be losing those games, but what ever, first season right? Give him a mulligan.

Then there's this year, the four losses by a combined 72 points. That's a problem, and people can say yeah that was a Saban issue. No, it's not. For two reasons. First, things like that didn't happen under Saban.

The other is what we're discussing here. The transfer portal. As I've been watching and trying to patiently wait for the staff to fix the obvious issues on the team via the portal, what I've been reminded of is how poorly the team used the portal last year. We're now gifted with hindsight, so we know how bad that portal was. But, during the season I kept wondering every time someone said certain players weren't a good fit for DeBoer, or some problems he inherited from Saban, etc...

DeBoer knows he has the portal right? He does understand he can make any roster changes he needs to make, pretty much instantly. He doesn't have to keep anyone, he can replace anyone, it's all there for the taking. So all these inherited problems, these problems the GM supposedly went out and talked about, all of that, and what did they do in the portal last year? Not that much. This year? Pretty slow.

That's the problem, that's the mistake as I see it. It's not using the thing to fix the things.

So we're doing a bad job because we haven't signed more players than most

Yeah, when you can get some players at virtually no cost to your NIL budget, and you need depth and what not, absolutely. Not adding depth pieces while other teams do is a bad job.

 

[BamaMoon]

I am hearing we pivoted when Ty Haywood entered the portal. He was a former commit but then witched to Michigan after they offered a lot of money last year but now he entered portal and we are favorite.

It is obvious CKD wants to have the TE be a bigger part of the offense. I love this. Ceauvos was great this year. Imagine if we have 2 or 3 with his production/talent???

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

There's like 6 more days of the portal and I think many are overreacting way too early.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I agree 100%!

But here's the thing, why is a vast majority of fans here so confident CKD and staff aren't doing the work they need to do to be better in '26???

IMO, there is a vacuum of information that is being filled with negativity and doubt with no proof at this point.

Because they've witnessed in other areas where they couldnt fix things that needed to be fixed. Your results either grow confidence in others or reduces it. For every good thing they've done in two years theyve followed them up with complete disasters. Resulting in very little confidence from the fanbase. Two steps forward three steps back type of progress.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

I am hearing we pivoted when Ty Haywood entered the portal. He was a former commit but then witched to Michigan after they offered a lot of money last year but now he entered portal and we are favorite.

Hope that calculated risk pays off

 

[Bama Shoals]

I've never seen so many Alabama fans so negative.

Seems like some need to become Indy fans because they are love with CC.

I wonder if they noticed that Indy beat Oregon even worse than they beat us?

I think 99% of the negativity about CDK is our fanbase not being able to come to grips with an up-start Indiana program that is being coached by an ex-Saban assistant.

We have come to the point that every time we lose a game it is a fireable offense. Will Oregon fire Dan Lanning after last night's game???

Indiana beat Oregon by 34. They beat us by 35. Oregon had more first downs and total yards than Indiana. Big difference in the game was turnovers. They had a pick 6, lost a fumble at their 5, and had a blocked punt at their 5. They were competitive at the lines of scrimmage. We were not. We weren’t really even competitive at all with Indiana. This is not true.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

Yeah, when you can get some players at virtually no cost to your NIL budget, and you need depth and what not, absolutely. Not adding depth pieces while other teams do is a bad job.

So now its because of the money spent or not spent?!? You do realize that there is a Cap, correct? That that Cap isn't just for football, right?

If we aren't finished yet, how can you say we haven't added depth?

Here's a crazy idea: Why don't we all sit back and see how it shakes out...

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I would just rescind offer to Smothers. I mean the kid from Jackson is the real deal!

 

[BamaHoopsBoi]

I can tell by this thread there was lots of nasty weather this morning in Alabama

 

[CoolBreeze]

Nick's words on Gameday was a clear and obvious "warning" to the Alabama staff, he basically told them "though you maybe trying hard its time to start getting it right." There's no doubt Nick knows the pulse of the boosters, alumni and the overall fans. He coached in it for 16 years. I'm sure in his being out and about being an ambassador for the program he's gotten a good feel on how hot DeBoers seat is. Be it right, wrong or indifferent, if there's not a major improvement in several areas next season his fate is all but sealed. Alabama isn't going to sit around and muddle through the waters of "just be patient " while other teams pass them by. Its just not going to happen.

No, youre wrong. Im ticked because the team made the same mistakes this season as they did last season. The same ones that cost us games. I see flaws that didnt get fixed from year one to year two that are on a foundational level. Those are the worst type of flaws to have and I saw not ONE indication during the season they were getting fixed. Thats whats got me bent up in knots. I see too many foundational cracks in the way this staff runs things.

That is a good post...my sentiments exactly and more than the majority that I have noticed on this board feel the same way.

 

[BamaMoon]

Indiana beat Oregon by 34. They beat us by 35. Oregon had more first downs and total yards than Indiana. Big difference in the game was turnovers. We weren’t even competitive with Indiana. This is not true.

I went to bed sometime in the 3rd quarter. I basing it on the score at halftime. We were down 17-0. Oregon was down 35-7. Game was over at the half for us and them.

I guess Oregon moved the ball and scored some when it didn't matter. On the other hand, our QB couldn't go in the 2nd half.

 

[CoolBreeze]

I would just rescind offer to Smothers. I mean the kid from Jackson is the real deal!

Although I understand the sentiment, I'd let the kid make his own decision and live with it. We need a lot of players from the portal but the trenches are where we need the most work anyway.

 

[Dmac62]

This portal thing is not worth getting worked up over. Hopefully the coaches do a good job of trying to bring in players, but what a complete failure of a business model. Going through this year after year of who is staying or leaving each year is what the powers at be should have thought through before even having a portal. I wish our coaches the best of luck. An NFL coach would be an easier job than this crapshoot.