Alabama Focusing on Process, Not Revenge in 2025

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Every team across the country has national championship aspirations, but not every program has to live up to the type of championship expectations that come with a place like Alabama.

When the previous head coach won six national championships and nine SEC titles, and there is still a slight debate among some fans about whether or not he's the best coach in program history, it shows the championship-level prestige surrounding the Crimson Tide.

Alabama fell well short of any championship in Year 1 under Kalen DeBoer. The Crimson Tide missed out on the College Football Playoffs and failed to reach double-digit wins for the first time since Nick Saban's first season in 2007. The four losses was also the most since that year.

Saban went 7-6 his first year in Tuscaloosa before going undefeated the next regular season and a perfect 14-0 capped by a national title the next year in 2009. The word "process" became synonymous with how Saban ran his program at Alabama. "The process begins again" would flash inside the video boards inside Bryant-Denny Stadium at the start of new seasons.

Alabama defensive line coach Freddie Roach, who had three different stints as an assistant under Saban, said he is making sure the players are focused on being process-oriented instead of outcome-oriented this fall camp.

"We are working towards what we want to do and just focusing on improvement day in and day out," Roach said Monday. "That’s what’s important. Being process-oriented instead of outcome oriented, which allows you to be able in having a long-term goal in mind, but also focus on what it takes to get there.”

“In order for you to have success, those are the steps you have to take to do so. I think all our guys are bought in— offensively, defensively and special teams. That’s what we’re focused on, getting better every day, and when the season comes, we put in the work that we need to do to be successful.”

Senior defensive lineman LT Overton says it is a popular refrain not just with Roach, but also DeBoer.

"What are we doing in the now to make sure we get to that national championship goal?" Overton said. "Because a lot of guys focused on, ‘Oh, we’re about to play Georgia. We’re gonna play Florida State.’ We gotta focus on the now. How we gonna get better today and make sure that they don’t even have a chance against us?”

The way last season went with the losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Michigan was a learning opportunity for the players and drills home the idea that things have to be handled the right way in the offseason in order to have success during the season.

"Now we know what we’ve got to work on, what we fell short at, what went wrong," defensive lineman James Smith said. "Really taking it one game at a time. Not looking ahead. Not looking at the opponent. Like Coach DeBoer says, play every game like it’s your last game.”

Alabama isn't shying away from championship goals or expectations heading into DeBoer's second season.

"When you go back to Nick Saban was here, he didn’t win his first year here," Overton said. "It’s more so how are we going to respond to that? We’re not gonna look at every game as, ‘We’ve got to get back at these guys.’ No. We’re treating every single game like it’s a national championship game. We want to compete like it’s a national championship game. Efforts got to be there in every situation— doesn’t matter if it’s offense, defense or special teams.”

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