Who is the frontrunner to start for Alabama at running back ahead of spring football?

Photo by Kent Gidley - Alabama Athletics

Alabama football will strive to have a much-improved rushing attack in 2026, with three running backs returning to its backfield.

The Crimson Tide is returning Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley and AK Dear. Alabama will be welcoming three running backs to the practice field this spring after signing Ezavier Crowell and Trae’shawn Brown from the high school ranks. Khalifa Keith is the sole transfer running back joining the Tide’s roster.

Hill secures the frontrunner spot for this position group ahead of the spring after starting for Alabama at running back during its last three games of the 2025 football season. The Mississippi native rushed for 284 yards and six touchdowns on the ground and pulled in 28 receptions for 203 yards as a sophomore last fall. At 6-foot-1 and 244 pounds, Hill flashed an ability to be a tough runner out of the back field and a solid target in the passing game in 2025, but he also showed he lacked some explosiveness.

This possible inability to be a complete back may have Hill’s frontrunner’s status in jeopardy by the end of the spring. Dear, Riley, Crowell and Brown are considered to be explosive talents, but Crowell and Brown have not proven it on the collegiate level. Riley has flashed this trait, but his lack of power is evident at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, despite him being a tough runner at times.

While Hill is deserving of frontrunner status at the moment, the competition to be Alabama’s starting running back at the moment appears to be wide open, and Hill’s biggest threat to not be the Tide’s lead back is Crowell in many people’s eyes.

Former Alabama quarterback and ESPN college football commentator Greg McElroy recently expressed he is hearing great things about the former five-star in his early days in Tuscaloosa.

“They have one of the top true freshman running backs in the country in Crowell,” McElroy said on “Everything College Football.” “So, people in Tuscaloosa are already saying that Crowell is one of the most talented and explosive backs that they’ve had in crimson and white since Jahmyr Gibbs.”

Whoever is named the Crimson Tide’s starting running back in the fall will be a leader of a group many will be looking to show a lot of improvement.