With spring football essentially a month or so away, one thing is for sure. There are carries up for grabs in Alabama’s backfield, and one new face is expected to have a big impact on how those carries are distributed.
Sources tell Touchdown Alabama there are many within the Alabama football building who expect freshman running back, Ezavier Crowell, to challenge for starter reps immediately after enrolling in January. This is not groundbreaking news for those who have watched Crowell perform at Jackson High School in Alabama as a five-star prospect.
Kalen DeBoer said he felt the five-star could make an impact as a freshman on National Signing Day.
“He’s got the ability to make you miss and then he ends up in the end zone, and so he’s got that finishing speed too,” DeBoer said. “So as a big kid, I’m just really excited how he’s gonna come in, and it’s really kind of amazing when you think that he should have another year. Then we’re even thinking of him as being a guy that can kind of help us just like a lot of these guys as a freshman.”
Alabama’s offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb recently echoed this statement while talking about Crowell and Cederian Morgan.
“I’m excited to see what they can do this year,” Grubb said. “They’re not gonna have to wait long to get on the field.”
The Crimson Tide lost its primary starter at running back in 2025 Jam Miller to the NFL. Alabama does return Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley and AK Dear. Hill started in three games last season for the Tide, and Riley started in two. Dear did not start in a game, but he did earn meaningful snaps late in the season.
Running the football was a problem for Alabama in 2025 down the stretch. The Tide ran the football for less than a total of 29 yards in each of its last three games. Georgia held Alabama to -3 rushing yards as a team, Oklahoma kept the Tide contained by allowing just 28 total rushing yards and Indiana held Alabama to 23 yards on the ground.
This output played a role in Kalen DeBoer making a change upfront with a split from Chris Kapilovic as Alabama’s offensive line coach. DeBoer and the Tide went on to hire Adrian Klemm. Alabama also brought in a lot of new faces along its offensive line via the transfer portal and high school recruiting.
Alabama’s running backs also left a lot to be desired as a unit. Not one Alabama running back who carried the football more than 20 times averaged more than 3.9 yards a carry. Former Alabama offensive lineman, Mike Johnson recently said he felt there was less talent on Alabama’s roster at running back in 2025.
“I do think that there was less talent this year at the running back stable than we’ve had in some time,” Johnson told Christian Miller on “The Millers’ Edge.” “I did love Jam. I think there is talent there, but I would see a number of times that guys like Damien Harris used to bounce outside and then they’d make a cornerback miss one-on-one, and they’d get up the field for 20 yards. I don’t know that we had that ability with some of the running backs we had this year.”
Alabama lost one running back to the transfer portal, with Richard Young transferring to Colorado. Dre Washington joined Miller as an NFL prospect. Alabama did add Trae’shawn Brown to pair with Crowell as a freshman running back. The Tide also added Khalifa Keith from the transfer portal.
Alabama football’s running back competition is sure to get its fair share of attention this spring.
