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Alabama RB Richard Young entering 'important' offseason for growth, DeBoer says

63571867_t466o7i5ncby:Blake Byler•04/05/25•

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Alabama RB Richard Young (courtesy UA Athletics)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With starting Alabama running back Jam Miller back from last year’s team and primary backup Justice Haynes moving on in the transfer portal, Richard Young looks like the prime candidate to step up and receive significantly more playing time as Miller’s backup this season.

Young, a former highly-rated high school prospect, found his way on the field sparingly during his sophomore season in 2024. He showed flashes in his limited opportunities, carrying the ball 27 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns across seven in-game appearances.

Now entering a season that should have a much bigger role from him, head coach Kalen DeBoer wants to see him continue to trend in the right direction.

“He’s more physical, a physical back. He got his carries today just like the rest of them,” DeBoer said of Young following the team’s second spring scrimmage on Friday. “I want to continue to see him just grow. The off-season this summer is going to be important for him. He worked through some injuries last year and we worked through that part in the winter phase.”

Miller and Young are the most experienced members in DeBoer’s scheme in a backfield that has plenty of talent. The rest of the backfield consists of Louisiana transfer Dre Washington, sophomore Daniel Hill, redshirt freshman Kevin Riley and true freshman AK Dear.

“I think all the running backs in general breaking some tackles, making more explosive plays,” DeBoer said. “They aren’t always going to have this wide open parting of the seas to create, and not just Rich, but he’s part of the running backs corps.”

DeBoer praised Young’s ability to fight for additional yards even when the blocking on a particular play isn’t perfect, and added that he’d like to see more of that out of the entire unit.

“I think finding times when they can get their yards when they need to, put their heads down. I think that’s a strength of his,” DeBoer said. “I think as a corps, as a group they can all try to do just a little bit more, like maybe when the perfect block isn’t in play, which is going to happen when you’re playing in an SEC game in particular. It’s hard to block those dudes and so you have to make some things happen. Want to see this whole group continue to improve in yards after contact, making people miss out in space, not letting that first guy get you down.”

The Alabama run game is slated to look quite different in 2025 with the departure of quarterback Jalen Milroe, who commanded 168 of the team’s 488 (34 percent) rushing attempts this past season. Milroe carried it more than every single running back on the roster, with Miller coming in as a close second with 145.

While some of those quarterback rushing attempts will be converting into passing opportunities, plenty of them will also turn into opportunities for this running back corps to be significantly more utilized and effective than it was a season ago.

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