We can talk until we’re blue in the face about the importance of defense or the offensive line, but, in the end, everyone will always gravitate towards the offensive backfield. The team goes as the QB goes, and Alabama fans love nothing more than a dominant running back.
With QB Jalen Milroe off to the NFL and RB Justice Haynes transferring away, there is space on the team for any of these new players to step up and contribute.
AK Dear
The #2 running back in the country, Dear possesses a physically imposing 6’1” frame and has already bulked up to a svelte 210 pounds after enrolling in Tuscaloosa this spring. Alabama recruited him hard for the entire cycle before Dear finally committed late last August, despite many thinking it would be impossible to pull him from Mississippi. ESPN even had him as the #38 overall player, a borderline 5-star prospect.
He was a three-year starter in high school, rushing for nearly 4000 yards in that time frame and becoming one of the top running backs in the country.
Playstyle
Dear is a very crafty runner, particularly right around the line of scrimmage. Whether he’s picking a hole on a zone block or pulling off a counter, he has an almost unteachable feel for his offensive line when to plant to hit the open crease. He’s got excellent short area acceleration once he does, and the power to drive right through arm tackles as he goes. Once he hits open field, he doesn’t have the scary track speed or open field moves that some guys do, but instead is more of a Shaun Alexander type – he’s a big glider that just hits the running lanes right to keep things blocked, and if a safety does close on him, he’ll often run right through them at the end.
There’s a lot to like about Dear – he’s a more polished and natural runner than many you’ll watch in high school, and there’s no wasted steps. He’s not going to waste time going for a highlight juke – he’s just getting upfield. The only real question for him at the college level is going to be his breakaway speed.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Assuming Ryan Grubb does actually call run plays, then I think Dear can excel in his counter-heavy scheme that will allow him to start with some horizontal movement before choosing his moment to cut upfield. As the only true freshman in a group of 6 runners, he’d have to have an amazing spring and summer to find some real playing time this year. I think it’s likely we don’t see much of him this season, but he’ll be at the top of the competition to take over for Jam Miller in 2026.
Dre Washington
A former track star with a 10.83 100m dash to his name (highly impressive for someone as short and stout as he is), Dre Washington put up 478 rushing yards at an impressive 6.5 yards per carry last year at Louisiana, and had a total of about 1500 yards for the Ragin Cajuns the last few years.
Playstyle
Washington doesn’t have a whole lot of mileage on him over the course of his college career thus far. He’s mostly been a rotational role for the Ragin Cajuns, and has mostly been used as a change of pace big-play threat. Give him an off-tackle run with a little room to get going, and he can blow past everyone on the field in a blink.
That said, he doesn’t have elite quickness or short area skills, and doesn’t tend to play as big as his size would indicate, and that combination has held him back from ever becoming a starter.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
This transfer is one that I don’t fully understand. With Jam Miller returning, the first thought is that Washington should be competing with Richard Young for the #2 RB. But Young’s potential is so much higher than what Washington brings, and then I’m not sure why the staff would want to bring in a senior #3 RB to take away some possible carries from the three young players in Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley, and AK Dear.
Ultimately, I think Washington slots in as a rotational #3 that the Tide tries to occasionally use as a guy to pick up a big play when the offense needs a shot of juice, and he winds up with 30 or so rushing attempts.
Keelon Russell
The crown jewel of Alabama’s recruiting class, Keelon Russell originally was a 3-star that flipped his commitment from SMU to Alabama. He started his first game as a sophomore, and led his high school to back-to-back state championships with a couple of really impressive seasons. Then he REALLY blew up as a senior, passing for 4177 yards, 55 touchdowns, only 4 interceptions, and another 321 rushing yards and winning Gatorade Player of the Year.
Rivals wound up ranking him the #1 overall player in the country, and ESPN also viewed him as the class’s top QB. On3 and 247 both slotted him at #2 overall. 247 ranks Russell as the highest rated recruit to ever sign with Alabama, just edging out Bryce Young and Andre Smith.
Playstyle
Russell is a top all-time recruit for a reason. He’s got elite accuracy and touch on his throws— he can whip one in low and to the outside for a 5 yard out before the corner has time to react, he can feather a fade pass over the head of a defender, or he can launch a moonball bomb and watch his WR run under it. If you like improvisation, Russell is adept at throwing on the run and will make some of those Mahomes-like throws that everyone loves, throwing at weird arm angles while avoiding a defender and still being laser-accurate.
More impressively, to me, though, is how smoothly he operates an offense. He takes the snap, drops back, and takes easy throws. If pressure comes, he’s patient and will wait for his slant to come open before making the throw despite staring down a free rusher. Or he’ll step up past an edge rusher and make a downfield throw. Or he’ll just take off running to an area vacated after a rusher loses discipline.
It’s a lot of small things that Russell not only has the arm/legs to take advantage of, but he makes the right decisions so effortlessly that everything looks so easy and simple. If anything, Russell is the ultimate game manager who developed the athletic ability and arm to make the big plays when they need them.
And there’s not much more you can ask from a QB than that.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Russell is the kind of player that you fit your scheme to, and not the other way around. If he becomes the starter, the offense will become his offense, and it’ll be one that has him being a point guard distributor type of player.
Will he win the job as a true freshman? A week ago, I’d have said no, I still expect that to be Ty Simpson. After sitting down and watching him… I’m not so sure. If Russell can show that kind of command of an offense and poise in a pocket, it’s going to be very, very difficult to keep him off the field.
This is going to be one interesting QB battle this spring and summer.
If I’m staking my RBR credentials on the prediction… then I will say now that I am predicting Russell ends the 2025 season as the starter for Alabama.
