The best things about Alabama in 2025 ...Middle East

Even as Alabama closed out its worst season since Year 1 of the Nick Saban era, there were positives in Year 1 of the Kalen DeBoer era. Look past the 4 losses — 3 of which were to unranked teams — and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Alabama beat No. 1 Georgia in one of the best games of the year, which continued Kirby Smart‘s woes against the Tide. That was part of an undefeated home slate. We also watched Alabama post its best scoring defense in 7 years. On top of that, Alabama signed the No. 4 recruiting class in the country in DeBoer’s first full cycle, and a few months later, the Tide had their 9th consecutive year with multiple first-round NFL Draft picks.

See, positives!

There’s no better time to be positive than talkin’ season. That’s what I always say. Each of the next 16 days, we’ll look at the best things about each SEC team. This daily series will align with the SEC Network Takeover, which runs from Saturday, June 28, until July 13, AKA just before talkin’ season officially kicks off at SEC Media Days on July 14.

Mark your calendars! ?️The @SECNetwork Takeover returns June 28-July 13Each of the 16 @SEC schools will takeover the network for a day of school-centric programming with 24 hours of the year's best momentsMore on #SECNTakeover ➡️ t.co/LJHK4ml6wk pic.twitter.com/WScfaJo7Tp

For those keeping track at home, that’s alphabetical order.

So let’s kick things off with the best things about Alabama in 2025:

Best offensive player: Ryan Williams, WR

For the first time since 2020 DeVonta Smith, Alabama returns the best receiver in the SEC. Williams is that dude. He’s no longer 17 years old, but something tells me that an 18-year-old Williams will be better for experiencing a lead role in 2024. That included some absurd highs — that Georgia catch and run is still one of the best displays of body control that you’ll ever see on any level of sports — and some freshman-like lows. After that UGA performance, he did have 7 drops compared to 3 touchdown catches, and he failed to hit 90 receiving yards in a game.

But nah, we’re all positive today.

Positive was watching Williams have as many receiving touchdowns as any SEC true freshman wide receiver since Amari Cooper. It was seeing him line up out wide and warrant top-of-the-scouting-report treatment from opposing defenses. It was seeing him finish with the most receiving yards by an SEC true freshman wide receiver since Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in 2015. There’s a reason why he’s the youngest player to ever grace the cover of EA Sports’ college football video game.

If you’re not a fan of Williams, you’re likely just not a fan of Alabama or fun.

Still can’t stop thinking about Ryan Williams TD vs Georgia to win the game pic.twitter.com/0kdo3JY0KY

Best defensive player: Deontae Lawson, LB

This is a bit tougher to settle on than Alabama’s best offensive player, but Lawson narrowly wins this title — don’t sleep on Bray Hubbard being the guy by season’s end — even though he’s coming off a season-ending knee injury that he suffered against Oklahoma. That first-half injury was also a big reason why Alabama struggled to stop the run in Norman against a 1-dimensional attack.

As long as he’s healthy, he’s the straw that stirs the drink for the Tide. While I certainly don’t want to discount the possibility that Lawson could have a steep, Dylan Moses-like climb in his return to the middle linebacker spot after a devastating knee injury, Lawson was excellent in 2024. He was 2nd on the team with 76 tackles (36 solo), and he was tied for 3rd with 7 tackles for loss.

Alabama usually doesn’t return a middle linebacker with 3 years of experience under his belt like Lawson. Even if he’s more of a work in progress in coverage, Lawson is still Alabama’s most consistently impactful defensive player. Much like Tyler Booker was last year, Lawson will be the heart and soul of the Tide in 2025.

Best freshman: Keelon Russell, QB

OK, this might be the obvious choice, but it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong choice. Russell, who graced the cover of Men’s Health Magazine before ever taking a college snap, was The Elite 11 MVP and came in as one of the top recruits in the country. Much like DJ Lagway a year earlier, he was named the National Gatorade Player of the Year coming out of Texas. But unlike Lagway, Russell’s path to immediate playing time could have a few more roadblocks. Ty Simpson has 3 years on him while Austin Mack is entering Year 3 in the DeBoer offense.

Based on offseason comments from Grubb, I’d expect a redshirt to be in play for Russell. One could say then he shouldn’t be considered “best freshman” when guys like corner Dijon Lee Jr. and Ivan Taylor figure to play more snaps in 2025. But I still expect to see some of the flashes from Russell as either the backup or the 3rd-string guy. Alabama would be wise to give Russell more than hand-off duty in this era of the sport, wherein tampering is virtually ungoverned (I’ll believe that until punishments are handed out).

Something tells me that a guy who Grubb is already comparing to Michael Penix Jr. will get opportunities to sling it as a true freshman.

"Keelon Russell's vision reminds me of Michael Penix Jr.," said Ryan GrubbFull interview t.co/65oOGRV77p pic.twitter.com/jNZdKYpQLI

Best game on the schedule: Week 5, Alabama at Georgia

Come on. You knew the answer to this one. As tempting as it is to say that the revenge game vs. Diego Pavia is No. 1 on that list, we’ve gotta go with Alabama-Georgia.

When these teams match up, it’s appointment viewing. Outside of the 2021 SEC Championship Game and the 2020 regular season game, the other 5 matchups during the Smart era have been thrillers. Last year was the best of them all. Will that be the case at Georgia? On one hand, Smart is 1-6 vs. Alabama. On the other hand, the last time that UGA lost a home game at night was in 2009, which was before Saban won his first title at Alabama. DeBoer is 6-1 vs. AP top-10 teams and UGA is the only team that hasn’t lost a home game in the 2020s.

Something’s gotta give? One would think.

This will be one of the most pivotal games of the entire 2025 season, just as it was last year. Then again, Alabama won this game and still missed the Playoff while Georgia overcame it en route to an SEC Championship.

But hey, this is a place of pure positivity. I’m positive that I’ll be glued to my TV when Alabama travels to Athens for the first time in a decade.

Best reason for improvement: The Ryan Grubb-Kalen DeBoer reunion

Stop me if you’ve heard this before — this might be the obvious choice, but it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong choice. Grubb returning to work with DeBoer was the most important development of the offseason for the Tide. It’s the reason why a “sky is falling” vibe hasn’t taken over the Alabama offense with 0 career FBS starts in that quarterback room. At least not yet.

It’s not just that Grubb and DeBoer worked wonders together at Washington. Their time together at Fresno State, Eastern Michigan and NAIA Sioux Falls goes back nearly 2 decades. They’ve risen through the ranks together, and history suggests that they’re the best versions of themselves when they’re teamed up. Last year, Grubb’s presence on DeBoer’s staff was missed during those inexplicable offensive showings. Besides just being a play-caller, it’ll be Grubb’s job to troubleshoot better than Alabama did last year.

There’s no guarantee that Alabama’s inconsistent offensive ways left when Jalen Milroe left for the NFL, but with Grubb back with DeBoer, Alabama has a much better shot at overcoming its fatal flaw from a year ago.

The best things about Alabama in 2025 Saturday Down South.

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