The formula Alabama football studied to have more explosive runs ahead of 2026 season

Alabama football’s rushing attack was lackluster at best last season.

The Crimson Tide finished the season with a run game that was basically non-existent in its last two losses of the season. Alabama ran for -3 yards against Georgia in the SEC Championship when the Bulldogs defeated the Tide and rushed for 23 yards against Indiana in the Rose Bowl when the Hoosiers beat the Tide en route to winning the National Championship. Last year’s performance on the ground forced Kalen DeBoer and his staff to take action.

DeBoer hinted at a formula Alabama studied during the offseason while attempting to find ways to improve its rushing attack and have more explosive runs during the latest episode of  “Hey Coach.” The Alabama head coach did not go into detail about the formula, but he briefly described the factors that needed to exist to have explosive runs.

“It pretty much showed if you want to have explosive run, you got to have an area where you can get a free run at it,” DeBoer said. “About four yards, and that comes with the offensive line blocking, and then you got to have a missed tackle in order to, at least one missed tackle to have those explosive runs that you want. So it’s both ends of it. The rest of the offense, receivers, tight ends, they got to do their part as well.”

Alabama football has re-built its offensive line ahead of the 2026 season. The Crimson Tide is expected to have four new starters along its offensive front this fall with new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm leading this group in a new direction.

A lot of eyes will be on how effective the Tide runs the football against East Carolina on Saturday to open the season. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on ABC.