When the spring transfer portal closed late April, Alabama stood alone, or at least in very rare company: No Crimson Tide player declared for the portal during its spring period. For those who have followed the rocket-powered roller coaster that is college football roster management over the past few years, keeping a roster together – even if it turns out to be just for a few months – has become by far the exception to the chaos that rules the sport. Whether Kalen DeBoer ultimately succeeds as Alabama's coach will depend on more than just keeping his players out of the portal. But regardless of the eventual outcome, DeBoer should feel free to chalk this up as in important short-term win, because that's exactly what it is.

With National Signing Day officially in the books – even though December's Early Signing Day has eclipsed NSD as the real signing day of note – Kalen DeBoer and his staff can finally begin the work of actually getting its roster into fighting shape for the upcoming 2024 season. Alabama's 30-day transfer portal period, which kicked into being following Nick Saban's retirement, will be ending soon, and we do not expect to see any further entries. Alabama was hit hard in the days immediately after Saban's departure, but portal entries quickly dried up over the last two weeks, and Alabama was able to add three former Washington players: QB Austin Mack, WR Germie Bernard and C Parker Brailsford. Still, because of the significant losses to the post-Saban portal – especially a total of eight solely from the ranks of the defensive backs, including three expected starters and four others that were expected to break camp in the two-deep – TideFans.com is bringing you an updated roster analysis. More importantly, this will be our first attempt to project a depth chart using Kalen DeBoer's preferred offensive (Air Raid) and defensive (4-2-5 Swarm) systems.

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