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Podcast: Cover 3 College Football Episode: Early 2026 Alabama Season Preview | Cover 3 Summer School Segment: Alabama podcast segment **Actionable Picks / Plays Mentioned** - They have a lot of young players that have stuck around now in the program for two or three years and they're really betting on those guys being able to step into bigger roles. - so, um, you know, corner, you feel great about Xavian Brown, who's a potential first round pick next year. - They were an underdog, but they did. **Top Betting/Intel Takeaways** - Um, you can do three hours of local radio every day on on, you know, the college football team and and have like a viable business. - 11 and four, you know, lost in the playoff. - you can say they made the SEC championship game and they made the playoff which was an improvement from Kaylin Dbor's first year and those are steps forward and I think that's really the the line that you know Dbor is trying to sell right now or you can look at the way the SEC ch - Um, but it's also not a situation where having just made the playoff and having just made the SEC championship game, like should there be a, you know, hot seat mentality around Kaylin Debor? - uh that was kind of reuniting, you know, those two pieces of the puzzle that had that great offense at Washington for two years in particular um in 22 and 23. - you know, I think because of that, there was pretty high expectations for this offense last year. - there's definitely some pressure on Ryan Grub um you know going into the second year um as as coordinator and I think the running game is is really the biggest area where people look at Alabama last year and even the year before and say that's not Alabama you know to have a runni - um you know, I think that's a a big thing where Grub needs to prove that he's able to have an offense that's able to have balance and be able to run the ball. **Game / Team Breakdowns** - **Episode:** Um, you can do three hours of local radio every day on on, you know, the college football team and and have like a viable business. - **Episode:** 11 and four, you know, lost in the playoff. - **Episode:** you can say they made the SEC championship game and they made the playoff which was an improvement from Kaylin Dbor's first year and those are steps forward and I think that's really the the line that you know Dbor is trying to sell right now or you can look at the way the SEC ch - **Episode:** Um, but it's also not a situation where having just made the playoff and having just made the SEC championship game, like should there be a, you know, hot seat mentality around Kaylin Debor? - **Episode:** uh that was kind of reuniting, you know, those two pieces of the puzzle that had that great offense at Washington for two years in particular um in 22 and 23. - **Episode:** you know, I think because of that, there was pretty high expectations for this offense last year. - **Episode:** there's definitely some pressure on Ryan Grub um you know going into the second year um as as coordinator and I think the running game is is really the biggest area where people look at Alabama last year and even the year before and say that's not Alabama you know to have a runni - **Episode:** um you know, I think that's a a big thing where Grub needs to prove that he's able to have an offense that's able to have balance and be able to run the ball. - **Episode:** they were effective at running the ball at Washington, but they were known as a pass first offense. - **Episode:** Tai Simpson was banged up, Ryan Williams had drops through the offensive line was a problem. Transcript excerpt: >> Dante Moa, he he showed improvement, better command. >> What's going on y'all? I'm Bud Elliot and welcome back to Summer School. It is in session here on the Cover 3 podcast with Mike Rodak, your Alabama expert today. That's right, it's Alabama. Let's have fun with this. >> Yeah, it's going to be fun. So, last year, you know, tied pretty good year. Obviously, Alabama fans expectations are are always skyhigh. Um, you can do three hours of local radio every day on on, you know, the college football team and and have like a viable business. Obviously, y'all absolutely crushed with what you're doing for 247 sports. 11 and four, you know, lost in the playoff. Uh, six-2 in the SEC. you lost the SC title game to Georgia. What's the general vibe right now around where this program is under Kaylin Deborah? >> Yeah, I mean it was kind of an interesting year in that it started off very [snorts] badly um in a very kind of shocking way, you know, with the Florida State game and losing that when a lot of people just weren't expecting that at all. And that kind of really put Kaylin debour behind the eightball and there was you know stories about booster discontent and just a lot of uh bad vibes and you know they kind of pulled it together and they were able to go to Georgia and win. They were able to beat Tennessee and they kind of had that that winning streak in the middle of the season. Um you know they they did lose that game to Oklahoma in November but it was really the end of the season that I think um you either have to take it one way or the other. you can say they made the SEC championship game and they made the playoff which was an improvement from Kaylin Dbor's first year and those are steps forward and I think that's really the the line that you know Dbor is trying to sell right now or you can look at the way the SEC championship game unfolded um which was a pretty resounding win for Georgia um and then you can look at the way the Rose Bowl happened for Alabama which was you know probably their most embarrassing bowl game loss in quite some time And um you know there's a lot of people that just have a very sour taste in their mouth about that. So um there's there's a lot of ups and a lot of downs. I mean there to go to Georgia and win was a huge win. To lose the way that they did against Indiana was bad. To lose the way they did against Florida State was bad. So whatever direction you want to take it. Um that's kind of where it's at. And I think they're, you know, fans certainly are looking for more consistency, you know, going into year three. And um you know it's it's it's always going to be a very high standard around here and people [clears throat] aren't going to change. You know that's that's the way it is. And I think there were probably some areas that like maybe the only blind spot Nick had was not being ahead of the curve on on NIL and what was coming with with player comp, you know, with the new way uh to compensate players. Like I kind of think D'Vor is doing okay in most areas, I guess, relative to like what the resources being spended are and how everybody else has kind of be able to bridge that resource gap in in some ways. But I I get why Bama fans expectations are are that high. um changes on this team like independent of personnel like how are things going to look different from like a coaching or schematic standpoint if we know >> I mean it's it's pretty similar to last year you know coaching staff wise um there's no changes among their coordinators which was you know the first time in a while even going back to you know the end of the saving era where they haven't had any changes so um you know you have Ryan Grub coming back you know at offensive coordinator and that was I think viewed as a pretty big move last year when he got fired by the Seahawks um and then came back to Alabama where he was supposed to, you know, come with with Kayla Debor directly from Washington. And uh that was kind of reuniting, you know, those two pieces of the puzzle that had that great offense at Washington for two years in particular um in 22 and 23. And you know, I think because of that, there was pretty high expectations for this offense last year. I don't think they ever lived up to those. I think again there was that period in October where Tai Simpson was just slinging the ball and they looked great, but over totality you look at the offensive numbers they put up, it was actually a little bit worse than what they had the year before with Nick Sheridan and um you know Jaylen Milro as the quarterback. So there's definitely some pressure on Ryan Grub um you know going into the second year um as as coordinator and I think the running game is is really the biggest area where people look at Alabama last year and even the year before and say that's not Alabama you know to have a running game averaged I think it was 3.4 four yards a carry. Um they're third worst in the last I think 50 something years. Um that's that's not the Alabama identity. And um you know, I think that's a a big thing where Grub needs to prove that he's able to have an offense that's able to have balance and be able to run the ball. You know, they were effective at running the ball at Washington, but they were known as a pass first offense. That was kind of how they made their name with Michael Penn. And um if you can't run the ball at Alabama, then you need to be able to replicate, you know, kind of the passing game. And just consistently, they weren't able to do that enough um last year. And there's a lot of things that go into that. You know, Tai Simpson was banged up, Ryan Williams had drops through the offensive line was a problem. Um we'll have to see what they're able to do this year, you know, with the passing game, but I think it's really the running game and um people kind of rebuilding confidence and hope in Ryan Grub. And then, you know, defensively now it's three years in a row that you've had Kane Wamik and