Unfortunately he will have SEC/Bama talent, unless he slips in his recruiting duties. Hopefully they will be easier to beat.
They have already slipped and will continue to do so.
I only learned this by listening to local talk radio here in Huntsville near the end of the season but Bama lost SIX OL to the portal. Well...5 OL and a TE who mostly blocked.
I didn't believe it, so I looked it up and it was true. 2 starters from 2022 left, and one backup projected to be a starter. Of the other two, one had played a lot and the other not much.
But. They lost 3 starters and likely a 2nd stringer off their OL, plus two more that were depth I suppose.
Their OL struggled all year, at least by bama standards, and in fact you can see it was an OL mistake that likely cost them in the playoffs.
The NIL and portal have really leveled the playing field talent wise. Don't get me wrong, bama talent still at the top with uga, but its a lot less of a gap than it was a few years ago, and ut definitely showed this year. They were very lucky to beat Auburn . Lost to Texas at home. Trailed us by 13 at the half.etc.
So I don't see DeBoer stepping in and winning the naty next year.
I think he's a great coach, and will be very competitive, but is it enough?
The one thing that gives me pause is that Saban will be around in an advisory role, but that could also backfire if he meddles too much.
One takeaway is, I think Saban knew when to get out. It's not going to be easy for DeBoer. IMO.
