Expectations remain high for Alabama football’s wide receiver room ahead of the 2025 season.
The Crimson Tide rotated the wideout position quite a bit throughout the 2024 season with Germie Bernard and Ryan Williams leading the way. The transfer portal came and left its impact on the Tide’s wide receiver room with Kobe Prentice, Kendrick Law, Emmanuel Henderson and Jaren Hamilton departing from the program.
Former Alabama quarterback, Greg McElroy feels the Tide’s wide receiver room is much improved despite the departures.
“The other thing I’d say, too, is that by all accounts the most improved position on Alabama’s team this upcoming season might be wide receiver,” McElroy said. “There’s a lot of people, there’s a ton of buzz right now that’s out there about what they’ve received from Isaiah Horton, the transfer from Miami. He’s big, he’s physical. They believe that he is a guy that can take the top off the defense and create big plays. He’s been very difficult to defend for a pretty good secondary so far this year, by all accounts. He had a couple touchdowns in the scrimmage against the top team defense. He had a couple of very contested catches there as well. So, I think there’s a lot to like about some of the progress that’s been made at wide receiver because let’s be real, last year, wide receiver was a huge headache for Alabama. They had guys that were undersized. They had guys that really didn’t fit any specific role. If you look at how Alabama likes to structure their team or you look at how Ryan Grubb, their offensive coordinator, how he wants to structure, he wants a guy that is going to play the Z receiver. He wants a guy that can play the X receiver, and they’re going to have a slot guy. We know Ryan Williams is going to be your Z. We know Germie Bernard is going to be your slot. We know Isaiah Horton is going to be your X. That’s a pretty good spot to start. So whoever the quarterback is and at this point, if I had to bet, it’d be Ty Simpson. They’re going to take the field with a really improved supporting cast, by all accounts with what we’ve seen through the first eight practices at spring football.”
Kalen DeBoer feels Alabama’s wide receiver room is coming along at a much better pace than last season.
“I think the group that is coming along and different than what we had last year is the receiving core,” DeBoer said, “I know some of those guys are the same guys, but I think the depth of that group is certainly evident.”
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Justin Smith is the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via @Jdsmith31Smith
