Alabama football's biggest question heading into 2024 spring practice

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 01: Jalen Milroe #4 of the Alabama Crimson Tide jogs across the field before the CFP Semifinal Rose Bowl Game against the Michigan Wolverines at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 01, 2024 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Alabama football enters the 2024 season as one of the nation’s biggest unknowns. Last season, the Crimson Tide made it all the way to the College Football Playoffs with a team many thought was not fit to make a late postseason run. Now, some big questions need to be answered.

When legendary head coach Nick Saban retired and the program hired former Washington Coach Kalen DeBoer to fill his shoes, there was fear that the few players that left via the transfer portal would significantly hinder the team’s ability to win. Not just that, there were concerns over DeBoer’s ability to recruit young talent, which was never an issue with Saban.

The biggest question for Alabama, though, has nothing to do with players or positional groups. Chris Low from ESPN is wondering whether or not DeBoer is up for the challenge of the immense amount of pressure he will be under in his first season as the head coach in Tuscaloosa.

“The buy-in process has already started for new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who takes on the kind of challenge in replacing Nick Saban that would send a lot of coaches sprinting in the other direction. Spring practice poses the first chance to get the holdovers and some of the newcomers together on the same field with somebody not named Nick Saban running the show. DeBoer has won everywhere he has been and took Washington to the national championship game last season. But every move he makes and everything he says will be intensely scrutinized, especially by his players.”

Spring practice will be a great benchmark for the program heading into an unprecedented situation. Players need to shift into the DeBoer mindset while not leaving behind the foundation Saban created.

When the spring transfer portal opens, there’s a belief that it will either go well for the Tide, with the program bringing in high-talent players who want to join the team, or that it will be Round 2 of playing leaving Tuscaloosa to continue their collegiate careers elsewhere.

There’s no way to know what the answer is right now, so we are all forced to sit back and wait to see what the future holds for DeBoer and the Crimson Tide.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football as the 2024 offseason progresses.

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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football’s biggest question heading into 2024 spring practice