Daniel Hill has already seen what life looks like in the SEC alongside a first-year starting quarterback when Alabama's running game isn't good enough.
He experienced that pressure every Saturday in 2025, trying to help Ty Simpson operate behind one of the worst rushing attacks in all of college football. This season, Hill doesn't want his position group to make that same mistake with Keelon Russell.
The junior running back showed that Saturday, rushing for a career-high 104 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries to help Russell settle in after three early turnovers against Kentucky. It marked just the third time that an Alabama running back had surpassed 100 rushing yards from scrimmage in a game under Kalen DeBoer.
100 YARD RUSHER: Running the football has become a polarizing topic during the Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama.
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) September 12, 2026
Today Daniel Hill finished with 104 yards rushing on 18 carries (5.8 YPC), which is only the 3rd Bama RB to rush for 100+ yards under DeBoer. pic.twitter.com/Z6GqOuGWbQ
Hill didn't view the performance as a personal milestone. He viewed it as evidence of what Alabama’s running back room spent the offseason desperately working to resurrect.
Daniel Hill and Alabama's RB know they have to continue to establish themselves to make life easier on Keelon Russell
"That's something as a running back room that we had to get right," Hill said to reporters after Alabama's 45-17 win in Lexington. "We've gotta be able to run the ball. Especially going against SEC teams, you've gotta be able to run the ball to help Keelon open up the passing game. So that's something we've taken this offseason very personally, and we've gotta continually get better. There's always things we can continue to work on and that's what we're gonna continue to do."
Those comments carry more weight than postgame lip service when paired with what Alabama's running backs have actually produced through the first two games. Excluding Russell's rushing output, the Tide's running backs have combined for 289 yards and seven touchdowns on 62 carries — a 4.7-yard average — against East Carolina and Kentucky. Hill is averaging 5.59 yards per carry, E.J Crowell 5.40, and Trea’shawn Brown 3.08.
That sample size is small, but the early returns suggest that Hill and his position group are beginning to consistently form the nucleus of the Crimson Tide offense that didn't have a season ago: a versatile run game its QB can lean on when things aren't going according to plan.
The question now is whether Hill and company can sustain it.
If so, Alabama’s run game has the potential to become more than just an early-season feel-good moment. It could become the foundation Russell grows behind as the season gets tougher and his confidence continues to rise.
Hill has already seen what happens when the foundation isn't there. Now he's rushing to make sure Russell has something to lean on when the SEC starts pushing back.
The more Russell can grow behind it, the more dangerous this young Alabama offense has the potential to become for opportunities remaining further down on its schedule.
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