© Will McLelland/Imagn
It was never going to be easy being the first coach to succeed Nick Saban with the Alabama Crimson Tide. But Kalen DeBoer’s first season in Tuscaloosa was even more difficult than most expected. Sure, the Tide did beat rival Georgia in a game for the ages. But Bama missed out on the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff entirely and finished the season with a disappointing 9-4 record.
A big reason for Alabama’s struggles was the regression of its passing game, which averaged just 236.4 points per game. Quarterback Jalen Milroe took a step back in what was expected to be a monster season, and no Crimson Tide wide receiver had more than 50 catches. Superstar freshman Ryan Williams led the team with 865 yards and eight touchdowns, while senior transfer Germie Bernard hauled in 50 yards passes for 794 yards and two scores.
But no other Bama wideout had more than 11 catches on the year, and that did not sit well with wide receivers coach Jamarcus Shephard. In the first episode of “The Tides That Bind: Inside Alabama Football,” a six-part series from Fox Nation, Shephard was seen dressing down his unit in a meeting.
“I’m tired of sugarcoating s— for people in this room anymore,” Shephard said. “I’m not sugarcoating. It’s a tell-tale sign our two receivers who have the most production in the room are the two taking notes right now. It’s a tell-tale sign that’s how it is. I’m sick of this s—. The ball goes in the air, we’ve got to want it.
The two players taking notes were Williams and Bernard.
“Everybody wanna be cute. All these weak-a– haircuts y’all got. S— all pristine and s—. Ain’t nobody got no dog in them.”
Five Alabama wide receivers – Caleb Odom, Amari Jefferson, Emmanuel Henderson, Kendrick Law and Jaren Hamilton – entered the transfer portal following the 2024 season. So Shephard’s message clearly got through. Although maybe not in the way that he had hoped.
One thing is certain, the Crimson Tide wide receiver room will look much different in 2025.