As Kalen DeBoer watched Alabama football practice in front of a sparse Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd at A-Day on Saturday, he gave an idea of where the Crimson Tide team stood ahead of the summer.
In an in-practice interview with the Crimson Tide Sports Network, DeBoer spoke about the A-Day workout, going from year one to year two and a status report on the Alabama quarterback battle.
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Here's what he told CTSN.
Kalen DeBoer on A-Day weather and crowd
"There’s some things I’m in control of here today, and the weather ain’t one of them, so we nailed this. It’s beautiful. Appreciate everyone coming out and supporting our guys, just the energy and passion; it’s going to be a great day for us here."
Kalen DeBoer on A-Day format
"I already see some guys like ‘Oh, there’s people here,’ you know, and new things that pop up that they’re a little bit distracted by. So it’s really good experience for these guys to feel this here, even if it’s not even close to what we’ll have on a normal game day.
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"We’re going to run a lot of plays. We already ran 11 (at the point of the interview). You know, normal A-Day scrimmage (last year) I only ran probably 90 last year. We’re going to get probably 45 to 50 team plays, 24 or so 7-on-7, some inside runs, one-on-ones. In the end, I think a lot of plays are going to still get run today so fans get a chance to see ‘em."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football depth
"Probably one position in particular, just the tight end position – you know, one guy, one scholarship guy, and a couple of others kind of in the rotation including an offensive lineman, Will Sanders has moved in there and taken some reps the last few weeks now. We can control it with this type of set-up and make sure we get something out of every play and it’s not just an exhibition. We talk about getting better every moment an opportunity comes up and this is an opportunity, so this is the best way we thought we could get better."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football coaching staff carryover
"We really do. That starts with the coaches, just their relationships and us not having to re-teach things to guys. Even Jason Jones coming in had a lot of familiarity with our system having worked with Kane Womack at Indiana back quite a few years ago. Yeah, the continuity leads to us taking those next steps, evolving. You’re always going to evolve, you’re always going to adjust year to year – it’s really critical year one to year two to take big steps, and the continuity helps.
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"And then the relationships have formed now, not just among the staff but have trickled down to the players. They feel that.
"We had a women’s clinic (Friday) and those introductions for that women’s clinic, you can see that. It was a comedy hour, these guys digging on each other, the coaches, introducing themselves. But also maybe making a comment or two. And that’s what you have to have. You want to have an environment where I know how competitive these guys are, how serious they take it, but also one where they’re having fun doing it. The more fun it is, the more you want to hang around, and the more you hang around, our guys are in the facility early in the morning and they stay around late at night because they want to be there. There’s work getting done at all times of the day."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football now vs. 2024
"I think when you’re in it, you don’t really realize it. I don’t think Tyler would mind me saying this but Book – Tyler Booker – this morning when we were at Denny Chimes there, he just said, ‘I saw practice the other day and it’s crazy,’ he’s like you guys look like you’re in mid-season as far as just movements, transitions, you know, execution too. I don’t know – you know you’re getting better, but him saying that kind of stuck out because he knows what it felt like when he was in it. For him to recognize that after just 14 practices here (this spring), it says a lot. That makes you feel good about the progress you’re making, the things that are happening, even if they’re subtle, every single day."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football year two
"We have experiences together now. I know there’s probably going to be 30 new faces at least that are on the team when you think of the high schools guys and a couple of transfers coming in, so that’s a big part of your squad again with the turnover. For the most part, the core has experiences together, and those experiences are year-around, but in particular in the course of the season when you’re in the fire. We got a chance to dissect all those critical moments, the things we need to do better, those winter workouts, and created the adversity that we’re in as best we could and then we also just sat and watched the film as a team and went back and relived those moments, about how we’ve got to be better when those times come up, because some one-score games could have gone the other way if we’re just better in the big-time moments."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football quarterback battle
"I think all three are doing a really good job of leading, and it’s harder to lead when you’re not named the starter, so they’re all three trying to – they’re just great guys, they’re extremely competitive, it’s a healthy competition to have, and they do a good of leading and, because they’re good people away from the competition, everyone is good with it including their peers, you know, the other quarterbacks.
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"I appreciate what they’re doing. They hold themselves and each other accountable in that room. They also are doing the same for the rest of the team, and the team respects them for it, because these guys are all about, you know, they’re take whoever they can out there to win games from the quarterback spot but they also love and appreciate, you know, and have a respect for those guys that are doing the work, and all three guys are doing that."
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer talks at Alabama football A-Day at Bryant-Denny Stadium
