AJ McCarron questions whether Alabama has enough in-state players to maintain culture

It was a major upset when the Alabama Crimson Tide dropped their opening game of the 2025 season to the Florida State Seminoles. Unsurprisingly, that’s led to a passionate response from the fanbase and former players as head coach Kalen DeBoer is facing increased criticism.

One former player who has major concerns about the direction of the Alabama program is AJ McCarron. He recently shared on The Dynasty that he has major concerns about the roster construction at Alabama. In particular, that there aren’t enough local players on the team.

“For our guys, I don’t know if we have enough guys from the state of Alabama,” AJ McCarron said. “Or close to the state of Alabama that understand the tradition of it. During our time, we had a ton of guys from Alabama that knew what Alabama football — even Trent [Richardson] being from Pensacola — you know what a win on a Saturday means for the state and for the people in Alabama. So, you play for that. It’s not just your teammates, but there’s a little bit of that in you that gives you an extra fire to you, and passion about playing and going out and winning.”

In the opener, Alabama lost 31-17 and was never particularly competitive against Florida State. Going back to last season, when DeBoer took over the program, the Crimson Tide have now lost two games in a row and are 5-5 in their last 10 games.

“Because you grow up, I know in my area, I know in Trent’s area,” McCarron said. “In areas of poverty that you know people don’t have sh*t to live for. They don’t have a ton of nice things. It’s nothing like that. They live and sleep and breathe Alabama football. An Alabama win on a Saturday gives them hope. It gives them an extra day, whether it’s in their life, in their relationships, their friendships, whatever it is. It gives them an extra day because you know what Alabama football means to these people. There’s not enough of that on this team.”

There has been plenty of concern around the sport that some players are playing for the wrong reasons in the modern day. After all, NIL and the Transfer Portal have made the college game more transactional than ever before and led to, seemingly, less loyalty between a player and school. So, the idea that McCarron has that more local players would have a stronger culture for the program is not completely unheard of.

“I’m just being upfront about it. It’s kids that are there right now that it seems like we only care about ourselves. I hope it fires some guys up, or it pisses some guys off. Maybe it helps them play better,” McCarron said. “But play with some damn passion and some pride, not only for the university and the tradition of the university and all the teams before you. Coach [Sylvester] Croom said it a long time ago. When you put the crimson jersey on, you become a Bama man. It’s the same pride for the state. Carry yourselves that way. But go out inside the white lines and you’re a different personality. You’re a different animal inside those white lines. We’ve got to do that. There’s no passion, there’s no fight, there’s no dog right now.”

If there has been a strength for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama it’s his recent recruiting success. In the 2026 cycle, Alabama currently has the seventh-ranked recruiting class. That includes five players from the state of Alabama. It also comes a year after DeBoer landed a high school class with another five players from the state.

Ultimately, the loss to Florida State is one game, and Alabama has time to turn things around. Still, they’re already feeling the pressure to do so quickly. That starts this next week against ULM.