Alabama OC Ryan Grubb Sees Sophomore RB Daniel Hill's Role Expanding

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Over Alabama football's past two games, one of the key offensive producers out of the backfield for the No. 4 Crimson Tide has been sophomore Daniel Hill. Hill had a career-high 34 rushing yards and one touchdown on Saturday in a 37-20 win over Tennessee.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was asked earlier this week if he sees Hill's role expanding. He answered in the affirmative; Hill has reached the end zone twice in as many weeks after not playing at Georgia and not recording any stats against Vanderbilt.

"We’re in a production-based business. Daniel certainly did that at the end of the game [against Tennessee], I thought," Grubb said on Monday. "He brought a spark to the run game, some broken tackles, good vision and patience in the screen game. Daniel’s a talented kid."

Previously, Grubb mentioned that Hill had not been fully healthy through the earliest stages of the regular season. The Crimson Tide (6-1, 4-0 SEC) was without senior starter Jam Miller for the first three games of the 2025 campaign, during which redshirt freshman Kevin Riley featured most prominently among the other running backs in that span.

"We’ve kind of been waiting for him to get healthy and show out some of the things he did this spring for us," Grubb added on Monday. "So, it was exciting to see him step up in that spot.” 

How well did Hill perform this past spring? Well enough that he turned heads on Alabama's coaching staff with his performance.

"I don’t know if there’s a guy we were more optimistic about out of spring ball than Daniel," Grubb said Oct. 13 after the Crimson Tide defeated Missouri 27-24. Hill had the game-winning touchdown catch in that contest from one yard out.

Miller had suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter in Columbia, making him unavailable on the series where Hill brought in the final Alabama score of the game. The veteran cleared protocol in time to play the next weekend against the Volunteers, but finished the Third Saturday in October with 19 fewer rushing yards than Hill.

Riley's carries have been decreasing since that Georgia game, in which he had 10. Hill had the same number of carries as Riley opposite Missouri and four more against Tennessee. Riley finished last weekend's matchup in the red by two yards on his three attempts.

The big-bodied Hill, who is listed at an official weight of 244 pounds on the team's online roster, can be effective in more areas than just the running game. He has 19 carries for 73 yards (an average of 3.8 yards per attempt) this season, along with 29 receiving yards on four catches, two of which were against Florida State in the season opener.