Ryan Williams won’t be 17 anymore when the 2025 Alabama football season begins. The Crimson Tide wide receiver, the most famous minor in college football during his true freshman year, will be facing enormous expectations as a sophomore, with a new quarterback and facing defenses that have plenty of tape on him.

MOBILE, Ala. — Standing outside Hancock Whitney Stadium at the Senior Bowl where former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was getting looked at by NFL scouts, Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer spoke glowingly of what was to come for the Crimson Tide at quarterback.

Kalen DeBoer knows Alabama football has to be better. Standing outside of Hancock Whitney Stadium for the 2025 Senior Bowl, the Alabama football coach harkened back to his expectation for the Crimson Tide when he first took the job: to perform at a championship level.

Kalen DeBoer’s first season as Alabama football’s head coach didn’t meet expectations. There’s plenty of places where a nine-win season and a bowl appearance would be cause for celebration under a new coach, but Tuscaloosa isn’t one of them, especially after Nick Saban’s tenure.

Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer spoke about Ryan Grubb, Jason Jones and many other topics during a visit to the 2025 Senior Bowl.

It wasn't the season Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide were hoping for in the first campaign of the post-Nick Saban era.