So the bad news is, Alabama lost its Heisman Trophy running back, its senior quarterback, its most freakishly athletic defensive lineman, its Rimington Trophy center, its Butkus Award-finalist defensive captain, and its defensive coordinator from the 2015 national championship team.
The good news is, the Crimson Tide have clear successors who shouldn’t miss a beat at each of those positions (ok, except maybe one really important one, we’ll get to that shortly) and are favored to once again win the conference and represent the SEC in the playoff.
And the other good news is, Alabama was the 2015 national champion.