When life hits hard, you gotta pull a “Rocky”—fall, rise, and hit back stronger. Steve Sarkisian did just that, going from fired Falcons offensive coordinator to reviving his career and taking Bama to the top. Now, it seems that Ryan Grubb could be the next one in line to have his own redemption arc. After Bama’s crushing defeat against Michigan, the Tide is desperate for a change. However, the question remains: will Kalen DeBoer and his team allow it to happen? Or is it simply another “what if”?
Now if there is one thing that holds responsibility for Bama’s miserable season, it has to be their weak offense. It’s not like their offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan is bad at what he does, but some of his decisions really made things worse for Kalen DeBoer’s team. Remember their game against Vandy, where he limited Milroe’s run game, plus that early interception by him almost set the stage for Vanderbilt. This surely calls for a change or new addition, but for now that’s not the case, as Bama’s insider says,
“Of course the easy connection is that, okay, yes, this was Kalen’s guy. This is his OC at Washington. He’s been with Kalen on many stops. They know each other well. But the problem and the question—there’s not an offensive coordinator opening right now in Tuscaloosa. So that’s where things get complicated. It’s not just as simple as, Hey, Kalen knows this guy; it’s his buddy; bring him on in.”
See Kalen DeBoer and his Washington’s offensive right hand. Ryan Grubb was supposed to enter Alabama together before the start of the season, but then Ryan joined hands with the Seattle Seahawks and ended that dream for DeBoer. But things didn’t go well for him as he got fired, and now he is back in the job market. But there is a catch: Bama doesn’t have an offensive coordinator’s spot open to fill, but they sure have a drowning offense to save.
So the insider believes that even if Kalen DeBoer wants Ryan Grubb back, Nick Sheridan has to pay a big price for that. “And so, again, if you want to make it happen, you can make it happen, but it would require Kalen either demoting Nick Sheridan, changing his role, or firing him potentially.” This year Bama did things like never before. During their game against Oklahoma, it was the first time the team didn’t score a single touchdown since 2011. God knows if change doesn’t come right away, what might happen in the future?
What’s next for Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama?
See, this past 9-4 season is a reality check served cold for Kalen DeBoer’s Bama, with stinging slaps courtesy of Oklahoma, Vandy, and Michigan. And why not losing against unranked teams is not something fans expect from a national title-winning team like Alabama. Plus those games screamed one thing loud and clear: DeBoer’s offense had serious gaps to fill. As Bama had become a one-trick pony, living and dying by their quarterback performance. Spoiler alert: most of the time, it was a train wreck.
Now it’s not like Jalen Milroe is terrible, but let’s be real—this season, he was dragging the whole squad down with 11 interceptions, nearly doubling last year’s six. That’s just preposterous. It’s not just his pocket presence but also wasting precious time before chucking last-second throws that almost always fell incomplete. See, it’s not like they were bad altogether. Tide’ did manage massive wins over Georgia and LSU, but at what cost? Kalen DeBoer’s track record with the Huskies and Michael Penix Jr. proves he can coach QBs, but the Milroe-DeBoer combo? It just wasn’t it—like pineapple on pizza. Now you can also not blame it totally on Nick Sheridan, but then problems were there.
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