Kalen DeBoer evaluates Alabama running backs without Jam Miller ahead of ULM

Kalen DeBoer evaluated Alabama football’s running backs on “Hey Coach and The Kalen DeBoer Show” on Wednesday when he was asked about the Tide’s performance against Florida State.

Alabama’s run game was a strength in its first drive of the season when the Tide picked up 55 yards on the ground to open the game. Unfortunately for Alabama, it finished the matchup with just 87 rushing yards.

DeBoer reflected back on this performance and gave insight into how Alabama would like to run the football on Wednesday

“I think there were times where we ran hard,”  DeBoer said. “The first drive of the game, and it’s just a simple thing, but it was a third down and medium call, and we’re in their territory. We’re in a mindset that if we get this thing close, we’re going for it and Rich (Richard Young) hit that thing downhill, put his head down. That’s what he’s going to be best at. That’s his strength. And he did that. And as the game went on, the score gets away from you. As it started coming back, we got to run it again, and there in the fourth quarter, I thought we had a couple nice runs there on the drive where we scored a touchdown. I think that was Kevin (Riley), just knifing up in there, moving the chains a couple times. And then, you know, Ty is an added piece to that, too. Not the piece where you’re calling runs for him, but the added dimension of a threat, both in our read game stuff that we do a little bit, and then also as a runner when the pass lanes or pass game breaks down.”

An effective run game could be a major weapon for Alabama in the future if it can gain some consistency on the ground.