Beat Everyone: An AL.com Alabama Football Podcast

In a time when the Alabama receiver corps was among the most talented of any group in college football history, Slade Bolden became an unlikely stalwart in the group, providing a string of future NFL quarterbacks with an always-reliable target. Bolden shares some of his stories from his time in Tuscaloosa and tells us what it was like to be on the receiving end of a Nick Saban butt-chewing. Learn...

With a Super Bowl MVP and a ring, Jalen Hurts is on top of the world. Alabama Crimson Tide fans know just how much that means for a player who has overcome adversity many times throughout his remarkable career. Ben Flanagan and Matt Scalici discuss the latest chapter in the incredible story of Jalen Hurts and what this championship means for Hurts in the debate about the greatest Crimson Tide play...

Kalen DeBoer has set the stage for improvement in 2025 with a strong recruiting class and a new offensive coordinator, but it will take more than that for Alabama to win big against one of the toughest schedules in college football. ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic joins us to talk about what Alabama is bringing to the line of scrimmage in 2025 and what DeBoer and his staff need to do if they want the Cr...

Alabama made waves with the hiring of Ryan Grubb as their new offensive coordinator. But despite the upgrade in coaching talent, Grubb will be Alabama's fourth offensive coordinator in four years. We talk with former Alabama wide receiver Mac Hereford who experienced a similar amount of turnover in coaching during his time in Tuscaloosa, to get his perspective on just how much changes when a new O...

NIL has changed college sports dramatically, but how does it really work? Eli Gold returns to the show with his new boss Jacksonville State athletic director Greg Seitz to discuss the inner workings of a Division I athletic department in the age of NIL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Alabama heads toward spring practice with a roster made up of an impressive mix of returning starters and highly-touted newcomers, it's time to start establishing which players will be the keys to the season if the Crimson Tide hope to return to the playoffs in 2025. Alabama beat writer Matt Stahl joins host Ben Flanagan and producer Matt Scalici to take a look at which players will need to com...

With the first season of the 12-team College Football Playoff officially in the books, ratings are down and some fans are calling the new system a dud after its first season. Others wonder if college football no longer resembles the game they came to love. Michael Casagrande and Matt Scalici join host Ben Flanagan to discuss the state of college football one year into its new era and what, if anyt...

Alabama basketball is in the midst of the greatest run of success in the program's history...so why aren't more fans excited about it? We're joined by SEC Network analyst and Alabama basketball legend Richard Hendrix to talk Bama hoops history and what he thinks more fans should understand about this unique time in Alabama basketball history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

How did Bryce Young go from California high school superstar to Alabama football legend? We asked the man who was instrumental in that very transformation: Bryce's father and former coach, Craig Young. Today on the podcast, we go in depth with Craig Young about how Nick Saban landed Bryce's commitment, how the Young family navigated the dawn of NIL, and how Bryce managed to overcome adversity to b...

College football season may be finished for the year for Bama fans but the playoffs are just beginning in the NFL and the Crimson Tide have an important role to play in the pro football postseason. Ben Flanagan and Matt Scalici break down why this year's NFL playoffs might be the best ever for Bama fans and later, they take a deep dive into Nate Oats' Alabama basketball squad, which is off to an i...

One year ago, the unthinkable happened for many Alabama football fans - Nick Saban's legendary tenure as the Crimson Tide head coach came to an end. The year that followed featured new names and faces, some excitement, and plenty of shock as Alabama fans tried to adjust to their new reality. Paul Finebaum joins us to look back at Alabama's first year in the post-Saban era and gives his thoughts on...

Alabama is closing the book on 2024 and looking for wholesale changes to its offense in 2025, from a new quarterback to a more cohesive playcalling philosophy. Whether it's Nick Sheridan or someone else, Alabama's offensive coordinator will need to bring something new to the table if Kalen DeBoer wants to see a more successful season in 2025. Ben Flanagan and Nick Kelly discuss the future of the A...

The 2024 season came to a screeching halt for Alabama and the results of Kalen DeBoer's first season in Tuscaloosa are...well, mixed. Ben Flanagan and Matt Scalici break down the good, the bad, and the ugly from Alabama's 2024 season after an ugly bowl loss and discuss where the Tide will go from here as they try to discover a new identity in a post-Nick Saban world. Learn more about your ad choic...

Alabama football fans have enjoyed more thrilling post-season moments than any other fanbase in college sports and we're here to ruminate on our favorites. Host Ben Flanagan and producer Matt Scalici rank their 10 favorite post-season moments in Alabama football history, and not all of them come from national championship games! Presented by Broadway Joe's Fantasy Sports. Learn more about your ad...

The presents are under the tree for this year's Christmas but because we're Bama fans, we're always thinking about what's next. Host Ben Flanagan and producer Matt Scalici have put together their wish lists for Alabama football in 2025 and they're hoping that Santa has room in his bag for what the Crimson Tide will need to get back on top in college football. Presented by Broadway Joe's Fantasy Sp...

College football is in the midst of a chaotic transition and many schools are taking advantage of that chaos at the expense of more traditional powers like Alabama. This week, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne pleaded with fans to help the Crimson Tide fight back against schools attempting to lure away players with big paychecks, but should that responsibility fall to fans? We dig into the comp...

Alabama and Michigan will face off for the third time in the last six seasons when they meet in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year's Eve, which each having won one of the last two meetings. This time around, however, Alabama may hold a distinct advantage when it comes to the talent level on the field and on the sidelines. To explain why, we're joined by MLive Michigan beat writer Aaron McMann who bre...

It didn't take long after Alabama's exclusion from the College Football Playoff before Crimson Tide players started entering the transfer portal, marking the beginning of another shift in the makeup of the roster in Tuscaloosa under Kalen DeBoer. But while some players are leaving, can DeBoer and his staff use the portal to bring in new talent that might fit their scheme better? Alabama beat write...

The Playoffs are set and this time Alabama did not get the benefit of the doubt. The Crimson Tide will be watching the playoffs from home this year and Kalen DeBoer and his staff are left to wonder what they must do differently next year to avoid the same fate again. Kevin Scarbinsky joins Beat Everyone to break down Alabama's disappointing conclusion to a somewhat baffling season and take a look...

The College Football Playoff rankings are out and Alabama is in position to make it into the 12-team playoff...and everyone is furious about it! Everyone except Bama fans, that is. USA Today's Dan Wolken joins us this week to talk about Bama's chances of making the field, whether he thinks the committee got it right, and why he thinks Alabama continues to get the benefit of the doubt from college...

After a rocky, up-and-down 2024 season, Alabama must now wait while its fate is decided by a room full of committee members. Will Jalen Milroe and the 2024 Crimson Tide get another chance at the newly-expanded College Football Playoff? If not, what will be their legacy for Tide fans? Host Ben Flanagan is joined by Alabama beat writer Nick Kelly and producer Matt Scalici to break down the past, pre...

This Thanksgiving, Eli Gold is joined by his wife, Claudette, to share stories with Beat Everyone host Ben Flanagan about their lifetime together. After meeting in New York, Claudette has been with Eli since the very beginning. She describes his weekend routines, her thoughts on his departure from Alabama and what it was like being his main advocate throughout his battle against cancer. It's a fra...

Alabama's showing against Oklahoma was nothing short of a disaster. Today, we've got CNN's primetime anchor, and Alabama super fan, Kaitlan Collins, to help us sort through the wreckage, talks about how she is learning to cope with Alabama's losses, and tries to make sense of Kalen DeBoer's first season as Alabama's head coach. Collins also shares behind the scenes stories of Alabama's visits to t...

Some of the most iconic calls in sports history belong to Verne Lundquist. The longtime voice of the SEC on CBS, Verne has seen just about every major rivalry in college football. But he says no fanbases hate each other like Alabama and Auburn (and few fanbases like to accuse him of rooting against their team as they do). And as beloved as he is for his football announcing, Verne's calls for The M...

The field remains very crowded in the race to the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff. Does Alabama control its own destiny at this point? Not quite. Alabama can win out but will still need Mizzou to win at least one more game or for Texas A&M to beat Texas in their revived rivalry matchup. But that begs the question: does making the SEC championship help or hurt the Tide's chances to ma...