2014 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

Previous season

In 2013, Alabama came into the season ranked as the number one team in the nation and as two-time, defending national champions. The Crimson Tide opened the season with eleven consecutive victories that included one over Virginia Tech at a neutral site, against Texas A&M in a game that saw many team records broken and a victory over Louisiana State University (LSU) at Bryant–Denny Stadium. In their twelfth game, Alabama was upset by Auburn. The Crimson Tide loss resulted in them not making an appearance in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl, lost to Oklahoma 45–31 and finished the season ranked seventh in the AP poll.

Fall camp

At the start of fall camp on August 1, coach Saban announced Jarran Reed, Brandon Ivory and Tim Williams were suspended indefinitely for violations of team rules. Reed and Ivory returned from suspension on August 4 and Williams returned on August 20. The camp featured several positional battles with incoming freshmen competing for starting spots. Of note were true freshmen Cameron Robinson who landed the starting spot at left tackle over Dominick Jackson and both Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey who secured back-up roles at defensive back. The most anticipated positional battle of camp was for quarterback. Both Blake Sims and Jacob Coker played themselves into position to be named starter through the end of camp when Sims was selected as the starter for the opening game against West Virginia.

By mid-August, Alabama had a combined 26 players on 12 different preseason award watch lists. Landon Collins, Trey DePriest and A'Shawn Robinson for the Chuck Bednarik Award; Amari Cooper for the Fred Biletnikoff Award; Collins, DePriest and Robinson for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy; DePriest and Reggie Ragland for the Butkus Award; Collins, Cooper and T. J. Yeldon for the Walter Camp Award; Arie Kouandjio and Robinson for the Lombardi Award; O. J. Howard for the John Mackey Award; Jacob Coker, Cooper, Derrick Henry and Yeldon for the Maxwell Award; Ryan Kelly, Kouandjio and Robinson for the Outland Trophy; Kelly for the Rimington Trophy; Collins for the Jim Thorpe Award; and Henry and Yeldon for the Doak Walker Award.

Coaching staff

Alabama head coach Nick Saban entered his eighth year as the Crimson Tide's head coach for the 2014 season. During his previous seven years with Alabama, he led the Crimson Tide to an overall record of 74 wins and 15 losses (74–15) and the 2009, 2011 and 2012 national championships. On January 10, 2014, former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and USC head coach Lane Kiffin was hired as the replacement for Doug Nussmeier as offensive coordinator. Nussmeier resigned from Alabama on January 9 to become offensive coordinator at Michigan. Kiffin was working with Alabama in some capacity before the team's 2014 Sugar Bowl game and before taking the offensive coordinator position.

On January 11, defensive line coach Chris Rumph resigned and took a position on the Texas staff under new head coach Charlie Strong to replace former defensive line coach Bo Davis. At that time, Davis had accepted a job at USC. After Rumph left Alabama, Davis resigned as defensive line coach at USC after one week on the job to take Rumph's job at Alabama. Davis previously coached defensive line at Alabama from 2007 to 2010.

On February 12, Greg Brown resigned after only one season at Alabama to become the safeties coach at Louisville. Two days later, Kevin Steele was promoted from Alabama's director of player personnel to inside linebackers coach. Steele previously served as a defensive assistant for Saban at Alabama in 2007 and 2008.

2014 recruiting class

Prior to National Signing Day on February 5, 2014, eight players enrolled for the spring semester in order to participate in spring practice and included six former high school seniors and two junior college transfers. The early enrollments from high school included top-ranked offensive tackle Cameron Robinson, wide receiver Cameron Sims, safety Laurence "Hootie" Jones, cornerback Tony Brown, quarterback David Cornwell and linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton. The junior college transfers enrolled early included defensive end D. J. Pettway and defensive tackle Jarran Reed. All of the players will take part in Alabama's "fourth-quarter" strength and conditioning program in February before spring practice starts in March.

On National Signing Day, Alabama signed 18 additional players out of high school that completed the 2014 recruiting class. The class was highlighted by 19 players from the "ESPN 300": No. 3 Cameron Robinson; No. 6 Da'Shawn Hand; No. 8 Tony Brown; No. 12 Bo Scarbrough; No. 15 Marlon Humphrey; No. 27 Laurence Jones; No. 48 Christian Miller; No. 49 Cameron Sims; No. 52 Rashaan Evans; No. 57 David Cornwell; No. 64 Ross Pierschbacher; No. 71 Ronnie Clark; No. 102 Shaun Dion Hamilton; No. 160 Joshua Frazier; No. 168 Josh Casher; No. 190 J. C. Hassenauer; No. 199 Derek Kief; No. 215 O. J. Smith; and No. 281 Keith Holcombe. Alabama signed the No. 1 recruiting class according to Rivals.com, Scout.com and 247Sports.com. Of the 26 players signed only two failed to qualify to compete in 2014: Montel McBride and Bo Scarbrough. McBride played for Iowa Western Community College in 2014 and Scarbrough is expected to enroll at Alabama in January 2015.

In addition to those signed as part of the 2014 class, on January 26 Florida State quarterback Jacob Coker announced his intention to transfer to Alabama. After he graduated in May 2014, Coker officially enrolled at Alabama on May 5. Based on NCAA transfer rules for student athletes who graduate, Coker had two years of eligibility remaining to compete with the Crimson Tide.

Departed players

Notable departures from the 2013 squad included juniors, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Adrian Hubbard, Cyrus Kouandjio, Jeoffrey Pagan, and Vinnie Sunseri who declared their eligibility for the 2014 NFL Draft. Senior starters from the 2013 squad who exhausted their eligibility included AJ McCarron, Kevin Norwood, and Anthony Steen on offense; Deion Belue, C. J. Mosley, and Ed Stinson on defense; and Cody Mandell, McCarron, and Cade Foster on special teams. Other notable departures from the 2013 squad included several players who transferred to another school. These transfers included quarterback Luke Del Rio to Oregon State, running back Dee Hart to Colorado State, and center Chad Lindsay to Ohio State.

Returning starters

Alabama had seven returning players on offense, five on defense and five on special teams that started games in 2013.

Depth chart

The depth chart listed below shows starters and backups as announced in August 2014.

Schedule

The 2014 schedule was officially released on August 21, 2013. Alabama faced all six Western Division opponents: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. They also faced two Eastern Division opponents: official SEC rival Tennessee and Florida. Alabama was not scheduled to play SEC opponents Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina or Vanderbilt during the regular season. They played four non-conference games: West Virginia of the Big 12 Conference, Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss of Conference USA and Western Carolina of the Southern Conference. On the final weekend of the regular season, a Missouri victory over Arkansas, coupled with a Mississippi State loss set up a SEC Championship Game against the Tigers for the Crimson Tide. On December 7, the selection committee for the College Football Playoff ranked Alabama as the top seed for the inaugural playoff. For their semifinal match-up, Alabama played Ohio State of the Big Ten Conference in the Sugar Bowl.

Ohio State (Sugar Bowl – CFP Semifinal)

The day after their victory in the SEC Championship Game, Alabama was selected as the No. 1 seed for the inaugural College Football Playoff and played Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, January 1, 2015, for their semi-final match-up. Alabama defeated Ohio State in their previous meeting 24–17 in the 1995 Florida Citrus Bowl and led the all-time series 3–0 before this game. Ohio State was ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll and No. 4 in the College Football Playoff. In the 2015 Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal Game), Alabama was defeated by the Ohio State Buckeyes by a score of 42–35.

Rankings

Entering the 2014 football season, the Crimson Tide were ranked No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches' Preseason Polls.

Awards

After the SEC Championship Game, multiple Alabama players were recognized for their on-field performances with a variety of awards and recognitions. At the team awards banquet on December 7, Landon Collins, Amari Cooper, Jalston Fowler and Blake Sims were each named the permanent captains of the 2014 squad. At that time Cooper was also named the 2014 most valuable player with Collins and Trey DePriest named defensive players of the year and Cooper and Sims named offensive players of the year.

Conference

The SEC recognized several players for their individual performances with various awards. Amari Cooper was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press. On December 8, Cooper, Landon Collins, Arie Kouandjio, Jonathan Allen, Reggie Ragland and JK Scott were named to the AP All-SEC First Team. Blake Sims, Austin Shepherd and Cyrus Jones were named to the AP All-SEC Second Team; Trey DePriest, Ryan Kelly, Jarran Reed and A'Shawn Robinson were named to the AP All-SEC Honorable Mention Team. Kouandjio, Cooper, DePriest, Collins and Scott were named to the Coaches' All-SEC First Team. Sims and T. J. Yeldon were named to the Coaches' All-SEC Second Team.

National

After the season, a number of Alabama players both won and were named as national award winners and finalists. Finalists for major awards from the Crimson Tide included: Amari Cooper won the Fred Biletnikoff Award, finished third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and was a finalist for the Walter Camp Award; JK Scott was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award; and Landon Collins was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

For their individual performances during the regular season, several players were named to various national All-American Teams. Amari Cooper and Landon Collins were named to the Walter Camp All-America First Team (WC). Cooper and Collins were named to the Associated Press All-American First Team; Arie Kouandjio and JK Scott were named to the Associated Press All-American Second Team. Cooper, Collins and Scott were named to the Sporting News (TSN) All-America Team. Cooper and Collins were named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) All-America Team. Cooper, Collins, Trey DePriest and Kouandjio were named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America Team.

The NCAA recognizes five All-America lists in the determination of both consensus and unanimous All-America selections: the AP, AFCA, the FWAA, TSN and the WC. In order for an honoree to earn a consensus selection, he must be selected as first team in three of the five lists recognized by the NCAA, and unanimous selections must be selected as first team in all five lists. As such, for the 2014 season both Cooper and Collins were unanimous selections.