Unlike some former Alabama running backs who are using negative Crimson Tide talking points to try to build a media career, it's never hard to know where Mark Ingram's allegiances lie.
Even when he's critical of Alabama, as he was in the aftermath of the Crimson Tide's blowout loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, Ingram's place as "King Gump" has never been in question. Cut him open, and see what colors he bleeds, to borrow a recent line from Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key.
Ingram is all Alabama, all the time.
That didn't stop Kalen DeBoer from calling out the former Heisman Trophy winner and 2009 National Champion in a funny interaction on the Triple Option Podcast on Tuesday.
According to Ingram, DeBoer had a couple of stipulations for joining the show. The biggest one was an "apology" from Ingram for saying the Crimson Tide didn't deserve to be in the College Football Playoff after the Georgia loss.
"I was throwing the rat poison out there, and clearly ya'll heard me because we went out to Norman and we did the job," Ingram said to DeBoer.
"I go harder for Alabama than anybody in the nation. ...At the end of the day, I root for 'Bama, I want 'Bama in the playoff, I want 'Bama to win the Natty, I want 'Bama to ball every single time we on the field."
“I was throwing the rat poison out there.”@markingramII and @KalenDeBoer
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) December 23, 2025
discuss Mark saying the committee could have left @AlabamaFTBL out of the #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/3smOh6Wss9
Damien Harris could learn a lot from Mark Ingram about Alabama loyalty
There's a stark difference in Mark Ingram's reaction to Alabama's win over Oklahoma and Harris'. Ingram celebrated it as a fan, despite having a media platform of his own on Fox.
Harris, in the immediate aftermath, couldn't help but immediately question whether the Crimson Tide's win was fool's gold. There's a reason that the cinematic recap from the official Alabama football Twitter account begins with a sound bite of Harris being negative. It was absolutely used as fuel in the lead-up to Friday night's playoff opener.
Ingram is able to maintain his own media career without stepping all over the program that helped build him up. Harris has turned his back on Alabama and is quickly turning into the worst part of sports media: a hot-take merchant who doesn't believe half the stuff that comes out of his own mouth.
Because Harris fought and bled for the University of Alabama. Deep down, his loyalties haven't changed. He's just doing what he feels like he has to do to advance his own career.
He should take his cues from a great that came before him on the gridiron, and one who maintains his platform while being beloved by Tide fans everywhere.