Last year, Alabama football exceeded expectations by cruising to the SEC Championship en route to an appearance in the first ever College Football Playoff as the #1 seed. Unfortunately, after a season of defying expectations, the Crimson Tide came up short in their semifinal, losing to the eventual national champions, Ohio State, 42-35.

This year, after losing six offensive players to the draft - not to mention their quarterback to graduation and the Canadian Football League - and a top-tier safety, Alabama will have to defy expectations again to get close to where they were last year.

Alabama lost wide receiver Amari Cooper (round 1, pick 4), safety Landon Collins (round 2, pick 1), running back T.J Yeldon (Round 2, pick 4), fullback Jalston Fowler (round 4, pick 9), offensive guard Arie Kouandjio (round 4, pick 13), offensive tackle Austin Shepherd (round 7, pick 11), and offensive linebacker Xzavier Dickson (round 7, pick 36) to the draft along with quarterback Blake Sims to graduation and the CFL. Those players will be tough to replace but the Crimson Tide hope that they can do just that.

Jacob Coker will hope to replace Sims as quarterback; Coker’s ability under center will be a critical factor in how the Crimson Tide do this year. The offensive line has gaps after the departure of Kouandjio, Shepherd, and Dickson but Cameron Robinson, Ross Pierschbacher, Ryan Kelly, Bradley Bozeman and Dominick Jackson are ready to step in and claim starting jobs for the Tide.

Eddie Jackson could jump in to replace Collins, and young players will be anxious to prove they can replace the spectacular Cooper at wide receiver, or Yeldon at running back.

It’s an Alabama team full of question marks. Much could go right, but much could go wrong. A tough SEC schedule could undo Alabama. Georgia, predicted by many to advance to the SEC Championship, will be a tough game as well as the Ole Miss Rebels, Texas A&M Aggies, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and of course, the Iron Bowl game against in-state archrival, the Auburn Tigers at the season’s end.

In some seasons, that Alabama would represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship game was almost undoubtable. Anything but winning the SEC was a disappointment. It was ‘roll tide’ all the way. But that dominance is long gone and winning the SEC will be incredibly tough for Alabama. Even winning the SEC West will be tough. Two years ago, Auburn uprooted them, defeating them in the Iron Bowl on their way to the National Championship Game. The Tigers can do it again; in fact, there is not a bad team in the SEC West. The worst team may be Arkansas, who the Tide defeated by a single point last year. There is no doubt the SEC is one of the toughest conferences in football and Alabama will have to perform superbly all season long to come out on top. They can do it, but no longer is it ‘roll tide’.

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