This is an opinion column.

Travel with me back in time to the mid-2010s.

We’re in Hoover. The Wynfrey hotel lobby is full Beatlemania as Nick Saban and a few All-Americans pull up for SEC Media Days.

Alabama is the center of the college football orbit with no end in sight. It owned SEC Media Days and the intense lobby fight for autographs spoke to the height the program had achieved.

Skip ahead to Wednesday in Atlanta.

The atrium of the College Football Hall of Fame had crowd control ropes containing a handful of crimson-clad fans. No ring hats. Orderly autograph requests.

Mania-free.

Now, that has something to do with moving from the Birmingham suburbs to downtown Atlanta. Crowds were down overall.

But Alabama’s no longer the center of gravity at this annual mid-July bridge to football season.

They were the star.

Now, the Crimson Tide is a cast member.

That’s also fine, and perhaps even the goal as Alabama can play more of the hunter than the tradition.

It’s also indicative of the league’s evolving composition. The feeding frenzy was more focused on Texas quarterback Arch Manning on Tuesday — the star of a media days without the depth of big names as the past.

That’s also true at the coaching level.

Especially at Alabama.

The magnetism of Nick Saban lined the walls of the main media room when he spoke. He arrived with an agenda and the headlines wrote themselves.

Kalen DeBoer is clearly more comfortable avoiding the sound bites. The second-year Alabama coach, a likable guy in every regard, is a game manager at the podium.

Not a bad thing, but a good way to fly under the radar.

And honestly, not a bad strategy considering certain other coaches dug themselves into offseason holes with tone-deaf talking points.

It’s also worth noting the rest of the league upped their game since those mid-2010s when the unquestioned top-heavy nature of the league allowed the power vacuum to form.

Alabama filled those voids, even if Saban didn’t love the perennial expectations.

From 2010 to 2022, the Crimson Tide was picked to win the SEC at media days every year except twice. When that projection is released Friday, they’ll likely be third or fourth.

They were picked third last year and second in 2023.

Hardly a cataclysmic fall, but when the baseline was where it was, even a slight dip is noticeable.

Stemming that highly relative slip is top of mind for the three Alabama players in Atlanta on Wednesday.

“Alabama is not going to change, whoever comes through there,” Tide offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor said. “That’s why we call it the ’Bama Standard.’”

DeBoer was flat out asked Wednesday if his first team met that threshold for success.

“Yeah, I mean, if you internally ask us, no,” DeBoer said. “We fell short of making the Playoffs. It’s as simple as that, right? Giving yourself a chance to go compete for a championship.”

If there were any questions about DeBoer’s understanding of the terror dome he entered with this job, they should be answered by now.

He’s not Saban. Never was, nor did he pretend to be.

Saban was the reluctant star of media days and DeBoer doesn’t seem disappointed to leave Atlanta no more famous than he arrived.

That’s just the state of play of the SEC in 2025.

Alabama’s not the A-list celebrity who’ll carry preseason championship expectations from July into August.

And that’s fine.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.