Hello and Roll Tide!

For this first time since Week1 in 2008, the Alabama Crimson Tide are ranked in the 20’s of the AP Poll. The program is facing extreme criticism after the embarrassing loss to open the season. DeBoer and staff now turn their focus to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. Alabama needs to silence the outside noise and just focus on the opponent ahead of them. Below are injury notes, a Louisiana-Monroe preview, and week 1 storylines. Let’s go!

Injury Notes:

• Ryan Williams is in concussion protocol • Jah-Marien Latham is “doing better than we expected” and is probable for Saturday • Isaiah Horton is expected to play on Saturday • Tim Keenan and Jam remain OUT • Jeremiah Beaman suffered a lower-body injury and will miss the remainder of the season • Jaeden Roberts remains Probable to play on Saturday

Week 2 Preview: Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks

Alabama’s home opener will be against the WarHawks of Louisiana-Monroe. These two teams have met 4 times and Alabama leads the series 3-1. The loss came in 2007 during Saban’s first season at Alabama. Most recently Alabama won 63-7 in 2022. After a disappointing loss to FSU, Tide fans would love to see a game like that. Still Bama should not treat them as a “tune up” game but rather prepare as they do for any other opponent.

UL-Monroe is led by head coach Byrant Vincent. He is in his second season at UL Monroe after going 5-7 in year one. Vincent spent most of his coaching career in the state of Alabama. He is an alumnus of West Alabama and coached 7 years of High School football in the state from 2003-2010. From 2011-2022 Vincent flip-flopped from UAB to South Alabama serving as a tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach, and then offensive coordinator at both. Vincent’s offensive identity is running the football. In his 11 years as an OC or Head coach, Vincent’s teams have been top-50 in rushing six times and he’s had six 1,000-yard rushers. Notably Jordan Howard and Jacory Croskey-Merritt had 1,000-yard seasons under Vincent’s offense. This season, UL-Monroe’s offense follows that same identity. In week 1, ULM rushed for 311-yards on 43 attempts (7.2 avg). Vincent brought in a slew of transfers, all who led the team in rushing: Braylon McReynolds from South Alabama rushed for 113 yards; Tyrell Reed Jr. from Arkansas rushed for 47 yards; Dorian Lewis from New Mexico rushed for 43 yards. Even starting QB Aidan Armenta rushed for 39 yards. Aidan started in 2024 and returns to lead the 2025 offense. Armenta’s stats were not flashy a season ago: 54.7% completion percentage with 1,292 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Armenta did struggle in week 1 against Saint Francis completing 12 of 23 passes for 95 yards, 1 touchdown, and an interception. If he struggles against Alabama, they may turn to Monroe native Hunter Herring who transferred to ULM in 2022.

Vincent built the roster the past two seasons primarily out of the transfer portal. Vincent brought in 17 transfers in 2024 and 18 for the 2025 season. Of those 18 transfers, 9 are starting for the Warhawks and another 6 are in backup positions. Every starter on offense and defense transferred in over that last two seasons. Vincent rebuilt the defense in particular, adding 6 starters in the 2025 portal. Their presence was felt in week 1 as the top 3 tacklers were all transfers: D’Arco Perkins Mcallister from New Mexico, Korian Wilson from South Alabama, and Noah Flemmings out of JUCO. Perkins-McAllister added 2 sacks and Navarro College transfer Cliff Mosley recorded an interception. This defense is rebuilt and full of players taking advantage of their new opportunity at UL-Monroe.

Week 2 Storylines:

Strength vs Weakness - ULM head coach Bryant Vincent has made a career off of running the football. After Alabama’s poor display on Saturday, Vincent will certainly look to take advantage of Alabama’s weak spot. They have plenty of capable runners who can pound the rock all night. Florida State gave ULM plenty of tape to work with. Alabama needs to play with high effort and intensity to take away ULM’s strength and force them to throw the football.

Defensive line depth – Tim Keenan remains out against Louisiana-Monroe and in shocking news, freshman Jeremiah Beaman suffered a season ending injury. Kane rotated 8 different players along the defensive line as he tried to stop the FSU rushing attack, to no avail. Now down Beaman, Keenan’s primary backup, where will he turn? Does he move LT or Kelby inside? Will he play more linebackers in run support? The defensive line is in shambles and Kane needs to figure out how to fix it fast.

Control the line of scrimmage – Both the offensive and defensive line lost the battle up front against Florida State. Outside of the first offensive possession, Alabama was unable to establish the run. DeBoer noted that they did not make enough “explosive plays” in the run game, likely due to the offensive line getting pushed back. Establishing the run is an important part of DeBoer/Grubb’s offensive system. As mentioned above, the defensive line struggled to defend the run against FSU. In 49 rushing attempts, Alabama only recorded 3 tackles for a loss. Similarly, they did not impact the quarterback much, recording one sack. The defensive line needs to control the line of scrimmage and make life difficult on the opposing offense.

Can the offense find a rhythm? – Outside of the first drive of the game, Alabama’s offense was unable to sustain drives. Alabama established the run and had a good mix of rush/pass plays in the opening drive, then seemingly went completely away from that the rest of the game. DeBoer said that they went away from the run due to a lack of “explosives”. Long sustained drives help the defense so it is odd that they would give up on the run game so quickly. It seemed that DeBoer/Grubb panicked and went for chunk plays when they were down. Will the offense come out and establish an identity? Or will we see more knee-jerk reactions from the coaching staff? As always, reach out with any questions or comments. If you know of anyone who’d like to join the newsletter, send their email my way!

Roll Tide! -Jake