Doesnt strike me as arrogance, but definitely dont think you can qualify it as a rebuild year.
I agree that if they won they wpuldnt call it a rebuild year. It was definitely a year they built on, but not a rebuild.
IIRC it was a year of relatively little staff turnover. Cant think of any big transfers out before the season. They lost their WRs during the season, and one in the final game, hard to claim that as a rebuild. Not sure what other injuries they dealt with but it certainly wasnt as bad as what some teams faced. LSU had fewer scholarship players than an NFL roster by the end of the season. In years past it seems like we have lost 5 or 6 players from one position group, including the starters. Or we were converting LBs into DTs or something ridiculous. Bama didnt face that.
I think they just faced a normal year after being good/lucky/stable for so long. But that's not a rebuild.