2007 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

Before the season

During the 2006 campaign, the Crimson Tide completed a 6–6 regular season record. Following their loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, head coach Mike Shula was subsequently fired on November 27 after four years with the program. At that time athletic director Mal Moore announced defensive coordinator Joe Kines would serve as interim head coach for the Independence Bowl. The Tide went on to lose their final game against Oklahoma State (34–31) in the Independence Bowl to finish with a 6–7 record.

Returning starters

Alabama had 18 returning starters from the previous season, including nine on offense, five on defense, and four on special teams. The most notable departures from the previous year were Kenneth Darby and Le'Ron McClain on offense and Dominic Lee, Jeremy Clark, Juwan Simpson, Terrence Jones, Jeffrey Dukes and Ramzee Robinson on defense.

The Crimson Tide offense returned all three quarterbacks at the top of the depth chart, including starter John Parker Wilson. The entire starting offensive line returned, anchored by freshman All-American Andre Smith, along with reinforcements by the top four tight ends from the 2006 depth chart. Alabama's receiving unit was led by its wide receivers D. J. Hall, who broke nearly every Alabama-receiving record in school history in 2006. The Alabama defense returned five starters in 2007, based on the 3–3–5 scheme that was run in 2006. The Tide in 2007 had a new starting nose tackle, outside linebacker, strongside linebacker, cornerback, and a starting safety.

Recruiting class

Alabama's recruiting class was highlighted by three players from the "ESPN 150": No. 72 Kerry Murphy (DT); No. 80 William Vlachos (OG); and No. 118 Luther Davis (DE). Alabama signed the No. 10 recruiting class according to Rivals and the No. 22 according to Scout.

Schedule

The Sagarin computer ratings calculated Alabama's strength of schedule to be the 31st most difficult out of the 245 Division I teams. The Cosgrove Computer Rankings calculated it as the 55th most difficult out of the 119 Division I FBS teams in its rankings. Alabama's 2007 schedule was officially released on July 24, 2006. It featured six pre-season AP Top 25 teams, eight of which made bowl games in 2006.

In accordance with conference rules, Alabama faced all five Western Division opponents: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss. They also faced three Eastern Division opponents: official SEC rival Tennessee, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. Alabama did not play SEC opponents Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina. Alabama also played four non-conference games. The non-conference schedule included games against Western Carolina of the Southern Conference, Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Houston of Conference USA and Louisiana–Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference. For the 2007 Independence Bowl, Alabama played Colorado of the Big 12 Conference.

Coaching staff

On January 3, 2007, Alabama announced that Nick Saban was hired from the Miami Dolphins to serve as the program's 27th head coach. In the weeks that followed, Saban worked to fill his staff. The first hires came on January 9 with Kirby Smart hired from the Dolphins to serve as defensive coordinator; Kevin Steele from Florida State to serve as head defensive coach; and Lance Thompson from Central Florida to serve as linebackers coach. On January 11, Joe Pendry of the Houston Texans was hired to serve as an assistant head and linebackers coach. On January 12 Saban hired two more assistants. Ron Middleton was hired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to serve as both the tight ends and special teams coach and Bo Davis from the Dolphins was hired as defensive line coach. On January 13 Major Applewhite was hired from Rice to serve as both offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. On January 16 Burton Burns was hired from Clemson to serve as both associate head and running backs coach. On February 19 Curt Cignetti was hired from NC State to serve as both receivers coach and recruiting coordinator to fill the final position on Saban's inaugural coaching staff.

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After the season

In the week following the Independence Bowl victory, several changes were made to the Alabama coaching staff. Alabama lost their tight ends and special teams coach, Ron Middleton, on January 4, 2008, when he was hired as assistant head coach for Duke and their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Major Applewhite, on January 16, 2008, when he was hired as running backs coach for Texas. During the following weeks, Saban named former Michigan State head coach Bobby Williams as his team's new as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, and Jim McElwain from Fresno State as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. As part of the A-Day celebrations on April 12, 2008, the 2007 team captains Antoine Caldwell, Rashad Johnson and Darren Mustin were honored at the Walk of Fame ceremony at the base of Denny Chimes.

Final statistics

After their victory over Colorado in the Independence Bowl, Alabama's final team statistics were released. On the defensive side of the ball, of the 119 FBS schools Alabama ranked 28th in rushing defense (124.15 yards per game), 27th in scoring defense (22.00 points per game), 31st in total defense (345.46 yards per game) and 48th in passing defense (221.31 yards per game). Individually, Rashad Johnson led the team with 94 total tackles, 57 solo tackles and 37 assisted tackles. Wallace Gilberry was 23rd nationally, third in conference and first on the team with 10 quarterback sacks. Gilberry was also third nationally, first in conference and first on the team with 22 tackles for loss. Rashad Johnson led the team with six of Alabama's nineteen total interceptions of the season.

On offense, of the 119 FBS teams, Alabama ranked 59th in passing offense (224.54 yards per game), 60th in rushing offense (149.23 yards per game), 64th in scoring offense (27.08 points per game) and 75th in total offense (373.77 yards per game). In conference, they ranked sixth in passing offense, seventh in total offense and scoring offense and eighth in rushing offense. Individually, Terry Grant led the team offensively with 891 total yards rushing for an average of 81 rushing yards per game and 8 rushing touchdowns. John Parker Wilson led the team in passing offense and completed 255 of 462 passes for 2,846 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. D. J. Hall led the team with 67 receptions for 1,005 yards and six touchdown receptions.

Awards

Following the SEC Championship Game, the conference named its award winners. Four players were named to the Coaches' All-SEC First Team, including Andre Smith, Wallace Gilberry, Simeon Castille and Rashad Johnson. D. J. Hall and Antoine Caldwell were named to the Coaches' All-SEC Second Team. Terry Grant, Rolando McClain and Kareem Jackson were named to the 2007 Freshman All-SEC Team. McClain was also named to the 2007 Freshman All-America team by the Football Writers Association of America.

NCAA sanctions

In October 2007, the athletic department discovered a potential NCAA-violation present throughout the athletics program. The violations stemmed from athletes from several sports, including football, receiving improper benefits as a result of a failure in the distribution system of textbooks to student athletes from the university. As a result of this discovery, Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Glen Coffee, Marquis Johnson and Chris Rogers were suspended from the team prior to the Tennessee game on October 20. After a prolonged investigation, in June 2009 the NCAA ruled all athletes that received improper benefits related to the textbook distribution system were deemed ineligible. As such, as part of the penalties imposed on the football program, all victories which those included in the inquiry participated, were officially vacated from the all-time record. The penalty to vacate victories does not result in a loss (or forfeiture) of the affected contests or award a victory to the opponent. As such, all five victories from the 2007 season prior to the suspension of the ineligible players on October 20 (Western Carolina, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Houston and Ole Miss) were vacated making the official record for the season two wins and six losses (2–6).

NFL Draft

After not having any players selected in the 2008 NFL Draft, in the 2009 NFL Draft, Alabama had four players that competed as part of the 2007 team selected. The first round selection was Andre Smith (6th Cincinnati Bengals); and the third round picks were Coffee (74th San Francisco 49ers), Caldwell (77th Houston Texans) and Rashad Johnson (95th Arizona Cardinals). John Parker Wilson with the Atlanta Falcons, Bobby Greenwood with the Kansas City Chiefs, Marlon Davis with the Cleveland Browns, Nick Walker with the Minnesota Vikings and Travis McCall with the Buffalo Bills each signed as undrafted free agents.

In the 2010 NFL Draft, Alabama had six players selected that competed as part of the 2007 team. The first round selections were McClain (8th Oakland Raiders) and Jackson (20th Houston Texans); the second round pick was Arenas (50th Kansas City Chiefs); the third round pick was Mike Johnson (98th Atlanta Falcons); and the seventh round picks were Marquis Johnson (211th St. Louis Rams) and Deaderick (247th New England Patriots). Both Peek and Washington, with the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys respectively, signed as undrafted free agents.

Following the 2010 season, Alabama had two players selected that competed as part of the 2007 team in the 2011 NFL Draft. James Carpenter was selected in the first round (25th Seattle Seahawks) and Greg McElroy was selected in the seventh round (208th New York Jets).