Former Alabama safety wants Crimson Tide to ‘win the right way’ again – touchdown Alabama

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Can Kalen DeBoer keep this squad together even if Alabama doesn’t make the 12-team College Football Playoff?

This is a thought that has been floating around regarding the Crimson Tide.

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Alabama has its annual rivalry on Saturday when it takes on Auburn University in the Iron Bowl at 2:30 p.m. CT at Saban Field in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Tigers are hungry to gain eligibility under Alabama’s leadership, while the Tide look to dismantle Auburn and wreak havoc to get into the playoffs. We’ve seen college football players opt out of bowl games in the past to gain access to the NCAA transfer portal when their teams missed the CFP to compete for a national championship.

With a three-loss Tide team, should Alabama fans be worried about this? Roman Harper, a former Tide safety, was on “The Next Round” on WJOX 94.5 FM in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday. The 2009 Super Bowl champion and SEC Network analyst highlighted the most important aspect his alma mater should focus on against Auburn and moving forward.

He hopes DeBoer will keep the squad together.

“I’m not worried about the mass exodus… just win ball games and the guys don’t leave.” @Harp41 pic.twitter.com/qlClSBRCVi

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 29, 2024

“I advocate for everyone to keep that down,” Harper said of minimizing roster moves when it comes to players entering the transfer portal. “But you never know what an 18-, 19-, 20- or 21-year-old boy is thinking or what opportunities he thinks he has out there. I just don’t know. I know Alabama continues to recruit at a high level, but you have to recruit your own people.”

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Harper said talent isn’t a problem for Alabama, but winning the right way is.

“It’s the little things,” Harper said. “It’s the gaps in the defense. It’s like it’s third-and-2 and Oklahoma is 12 players with two tight ends on the field and you have three down linemen. … I’m like, ‘What are we doing?’ Are you really trying to stop them? It’s these little things that make Alabama unattractive. Everything about Alabama is attractive, but if you don’t win, that’s the only thing holding you back as the University of Alabama. When schools like this can’t recruit, can’t get the players, can’t get the guys to stay, it’s because you’re not winning properly. Take care of the little things and everything else will fall into place.”

Harper isn’t worried about a mass exodus in Alabama.

“Just go out there and win ballgames and then the guys won’t go away,” he said.

Winning the right way was a formula that Nick Saban followed for 17 years over a decade as Alabama’s head coach. The discipline, attention to detail, toughness, relentless fight, competitiveness and dedication that Saban instilled in his teams led to nine Southeastern Conference championships and six national championships. The Tide needs to discover its core principles under coach DeBoer, and that’s the most important aspect Harper is referring to. Once Alabama defines who it wants to be as a team, it will thrive under DeBoer. Maybe it will result in some players going through the transfer portal, but we’ll see.

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Stephen M. Smith is the senior author for Landing Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him. Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter via @CoachingMSmith.

Stephen Smith is a 2015 graduate of the University of Alabama. He is a senior writer and reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He has been covering Alabama football for 15 years, and his knowledge and coverage of the Crimson Tide program has made him one of the most respected journalists in his field. Smith has been featured as an analyst on ESPN and several other major networks.