How Expanded CFP is Impacting Alabama Depth Chart Decisions in Week 1

With the potential for a longer season with more games, figuring out the depth of the roster early on is critical.

The Crimson Tide football team continued practice Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, as they prepare for the season opener and the first game under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. Alabama defensive back Jaylen Mbakwe (9) backpedals during a defensive drill. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  With the College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12 and two extra rounds of games added to the postseason, the college football season is becoming more and more similar to the NFL.

Maurice Linguist most recently was the head coach at Buffalo before joining Kalen DeBoer's staff at Alabama this offseason. But before that, Linguist spent one season in the NFL working under Mike McCarthy as the defensive backs coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

Linguist learned an important lesson from the Super Bowl-winning head coach–– you can never have too much depth.

"We’ve got to continue to build depth all the way through the season," Linguist said Wednesday. "I learned this from Mike McCarthy when we were in Dallas with the Cowboys, and he talked about his Super Bowl experience when he was in Green Bay and how many players he had to use. You go into a season and you may have a starting guy, you may have a backup guy. You may have guys that have certain roles on the team, but things are always moving and changing. And what you’re always trying to do is raise the floor of your roster, raise the ceiling of your roster and improve every single guy in the room."

The defensive backfield has the least returning experience of any position on the Crimson Tide team. Malachi Moore is the only returning starter, and there is not a single cornerback on the roster that has taken a snap at Alabama.

The Crimson Tide addressed some of needs at the position in the transfer portal over the summer, but a few freshmen like Zabien Brown and Jaylen Mbakwe are also expected to see playing time this season.

"We’re very aware, we’re going into a game with a depth chart. We’re going into a game with a rotation of maybe who we’d like to get in, but as the season goes and continues, we don’t know who’s going to be called upon in the moment to go in for a certain moment in the game or even an entire game," Linguist said. Maybe a guy you think is a backup guy right now, you’re gonna have to have that guy ready to go win in October, November, December.

"The way College Football Playoffs are kind of laid out now, they’re long seasons. I mean, this really likens the NFL season where training camp’s in late July, you’ve got August training camp and then you’re playing football all the way from August through potentially January. So it’s a long year. You’ve got to have a lot of guys ready to go, a lot of depth built. We’re constantly thinking about how we can continue to improve and develop younger guys on the roster.”

In the four-team format from 2014-2023, the semifinals were played on New Years Eve or New Years Day, and the championship game usually happening the second Monday of January. So teams had a few weeks off in December between the conference championship games the first weekend of the month and the semifinals at the end of the month.

Now with the expanded playoff, the first round of CFP games in 2024 will be on Dec. 20 and 21. The quarterfinals will be on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. The semifinals are on Jan. 9 (Orange Bowl) and Jan. 10 (Cotton Bowl) with the 2025 CFP Championship Game taking place on Jan. 20, 2025 in Atlanta.

With the potential of more games and a longer season, figuring out depth early on will be very important. More games means more chances for injury and fatigue. Alabama's early-season schedule wtih games against Western Kentucky and USF will likely create more opportunities to test that depth before entering the grind of the schedule in mid-September.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer said Alabama would have a depth chart for the season opener, but it has not been made public as of Thursday morning. At offensive line, Alabama is planning on rotating at the right tackle position on Saturday. Offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic said he's always worried about depth.

DeBoer said there are five to seven guys the staff is confident in at wide receiver. Depending on the flow of the game against Western Kentucky, they will play more or less than that number.

"I think early in the season, you want to give as many guys as you think can be in the mix a chance,” DeBoer said on Wednesday's SEC Coaches Teleconference. “That being said, you’ve got to make sure you can execute and guys can get into a rhythm as well.”

DeBoer and his staff will finally get to see and test the depth of the roster with the Crimson Tide's opener against Western Kentucky at 6 p.m. on Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

See also: Alabama Football Projected 2024 Depth Chart After Fall Camp