Alabama Football News

What Alabama RB Daniel Hill feels led to uptick in his production vs. Vanderbilt

by
Justin Smith
November 15, 2026

Photo via Alabama Athletics

Daniel Hill rushed for more than 80 yards for the second time this season against Vanderbilt.

Hill ran the football 14 times and picked up 89 yards in the Tide’s 21-6 win over the Commodores. The only game he rushed for more yards than that was against Kentucky in the second game of the season, when he rushed for 104 yards. The 234-pound back feels his solid day on the ground started up front.

“Just the O-line during the job, moving people around, just being physical at the point of attack,” Hill said when asked what led to his explosive runs.

Kalen DeBoer shone a light on Hill after the game.

“Some good performances,” DeBoer said. “Thought Daniel ran really hard, did a nice job there. That was important for us.”

Hill echoed DeBoer’s statement and said there was a big emphasis on running the football while discussing the play of Alabama’s offensive line after the week.

“Big emphasis this week, just running the ball, just doing what we’re supposed to do,” Hilll tolde reporters. “They came out and did what they was supposed to do, and we had a good day running the ball.”

Alabama entered last week wanting to run the football more effectively. Alabama’s offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb made this clear last Monday.

“In the offensive staff meeting, I said no media line bullshit, but we got to focus more on the run game, and it’s got to get fixed,” Grubb said. “We had such a good groove happening, and I thought LSU took us out of a couple things that we had early in the football game that we popped a couple runs early and got behind the sticks and too many third and longs, too many second and longs to be able to be out there. And then that helped put us in a position of 3rd and XL that you don’t want to be in, especially against a pass rush like that. I think for us one of the huge focuses is how do we get the run game back and what do we got to do to get the ball in the right people’s hands.”

More big performances by Hill are something Alabama would welcome with open arms.

Justin Smith( Managing Editor, Director of Recruiting )

Justin Smith is the Managing Editor and Lead Writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with over 10 years of writing experience & expertise. Smith has consistently delivered high quality, extensively researched information on the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team that fans can trust. Smith is official credentialed media with the University of Alabama under Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He is also the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Enterprises, specializing in scouting and analyzing high school recruits around the nation, specifically focusing on recruits within the state of Alabama.