Nick Saban's Biggest Concerns for Alabama Football in 2024

The former Alabama head coach shared the Crimson Tide position group he has the most questions about heading into the season.

Jul 12, 2017; Hoover, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban talks with SEC Network personality Paul Finebaum during SEC Media Days at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham-The Winfrey Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports / Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

Alabama's turn at SEC Media Days isn't until Wednesday, but there was still plenty of chatter about the Crimson Tide as the annual event kicked off on Monday.

After 17 years as the Alabama head coach, Nick Saban now works as an analyst for the ESPN family of networks and spent the first session of Monday's event on the set of SEC Network responding and reacting to what was said at the main podium and also interviewing coaches when they visited the set.

The preseason media picks for the SEC champion will come out later in the week. Alabama has been picked as the preseason favorite in 11 of the last 14 seasons since 2010. Under Saban, the Crimson Tide won nine SEC championships from 2009-2023.

Since there are no divisions in the conference this season with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, there will no longer be an East and West champion, but instead the top two teams in the standings will get to play in Atlanta for the conference crown.

Saban was asked on SEC Network his preseason prediction for the SEC Championship on Monday, and he picked Georgia and Texas citing the Longhorns' depth at quarterback and Georgia as a "really good team." Saban isn't ruling out his former squad either though.

"I believe in our Alabama team, too. I believe in Jalen Milroe," Saban said on SEC Now. "I just think the question marks in the secondary, until those get resolved, it's hard to, sort of, jump on that bandwagon."

When discussing potential College Football Playoff teams in the SEC with the expanded 12-team format, Alabama was also talked about. Saban thinks the Crimson Tide can be in the playoff hunt, but it also prompted him to bring up his biggest concerns with the 2024 Alabama team.

"I think Bama has really got a lot of good players," Saban said. "I think they've got question marks in the secondary, especially at corner. Getting [Kadyn] Proctor back probably was important because they were a little bit weak at tackle. That's going to help them.

"I think depth of the team would be the biggest question. If Alabama can stay healthy, I think they have enough good first-line players to compete against anybody."

Clearly, secondary is an area of concern for Saban. It is the position group he worked most closely with at Alabama. The only returning defensive back with starting experience at Alabama is Malachi Moore. The Crimson Tide got some help in the transfer portal with USC cornerback Domani Jackson (who committed when Saban was still the head coach) and Wake Forest cornerback DaShawn Jones alongside safeties Keon Sabb from Michigan, King Mack from Penn State and Kameron Howard from Charlotte.

Outside of the transfers, Alabama will be relying a lot on freshmen at the cornerback position with guys like Zavier Mincey, Zabien Brown and Jaylen Mbakwe.

Even though Saban had done some media work for ESPN at the NFL draft, Monday was really the first opportunity for him to publicly analyze the Crimson Tide now that he's no longer the head coach. And even though he's no longer in the building every day, Saban is familiar with the roster as someone who helped develop or recruit over half the current team.

There will be plenty more discussion surrounding the Crimson Tide throughout the week, and especially on Alabama's day at the podium with Kalen DeBoer, Jalen Milroe, Malachi Moore and Tyler Booker on Wednesday morning.

SEC Media Days continues on Tuesday with Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri.