{"id":84700,"date":"2025-03-03T16:29:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T22:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/everything-kalen-deboer-said-after-alabamas-first-spring-practice\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T16:29:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T22:29:44","slug":"everything-kalen-deboer-said-after-alabamas-first-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/everything-kalen-deboer-said-after-alabamas-first-spring-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama\u2019s first spring practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2013<\/strong> Alabama held its first practice of the spring on Monday morning. After the Crimson Tide worked out in shorts and helmets, second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer<\/a><\/strong> spoke to local reporters in the Hank Crisp Indoor Practice Facility. Here is everything he said.<\/p>\n

DeBoer on injuries\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cBefore we get into questions and so forth, just want to \u2013 because I know you guys are all wondering on the updates with some guys injury-wise \u2013 so I\u2019ll just read off the ones that will be out for the spring. A couple guys that are limited, too, and a couple that are full-go. Alex Asparuhov, he\u2019ll be out. David Bird will be out \u2013 a long snapper. Bubba Hampton will be out. Kevonte Henry, Domani Jackson, Deontae Lawson, Danny Lewis, Keon Sabb. And then we have some guys that are limited really just to indie only and non-contact \u2013 Justin Jefferson, Kadyn Proctor, James Smith. Pretty much most of those injuries are all just from last season still and expected. Nothing new there from our standpoint. I know it\u2019s probably new for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

DeBoer on Alabama\u2019s first spring practice\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cBut good to get out there Practice 1. It comes and goes fast. Guys did a nice job, workmanlike mentality. Just out there doing what they can, I think, just like they have been the first 6-7 weeks of training. Doing what they can to be their best and bring others with them. Good leadership, accountability from just requiring the maximum effort, maximum strain. And I liked what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on if injuries can\u00a0be blessings in disguise for inexperienced players to get reps\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cWith the list, yeah, there\u2019s a lot of guys that are returners and upperclassmen, so yeah, there\u2019s a chance to build some depth with our guys and get some younger guys a lot of reps.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on who he\u2019s seen leadership from so far\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cI think it\u2019s a bigger group because we do have a lot of guys that are returning. So there\u2019s probably 10 guys that decided to come back, and I think all of those guys, along with any of the returners that were significant contributors \u2013 I mean, I could go on down the list. I just feel like maybe we don\u2019t have someone who\u2019s just over-the-top strong and one who commands all of it, but I think all of them working together and just kind of picking each other up on top of themselves, I think it\u2019s in a good spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I expect it to be a lot better. But I think it\u2019s at a good starting spot at this point of the year. Anything starts over with a team. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s the leadership, the installs, the drill work. It all starts over every single season.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on how he defines a successful spring\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cI think it\u2019s always about just continuing to climb, continue to have progress. Challenged the guys out there. You\u2019re either getting better or getting worse. That\u2019s individually. That\u2019s us collectively. It\u2019s your side of the ball. And so I think that\u2019s a good starting point is which direction did you go? And I expect a great attitude. Energy, effort, all that, it\u2019s always going to be that Practice 1, and I expect that every single practice. But there are some times where a guy maybe is coming back from\u00a0injury or a rep that didn\u2019t go as well. We\u2019ve gotta pick each other up. And that\u2019s, to me, it\u2019s either you\u2019re going up or you\u2019re going down. That\u2019s what I\u2019m always gonna gauge it by. Because in the end goal, it\u2019s to be our best and to your best individually.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on if Ryan Grubb will gravitate more to the offensive line\u2026
<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cI think Coach Grubb will always still be involved with the quarterbacks. I just am a strong believer that your play-caller has to be around the quarterbacks. But on your note, you\u2019re very right. It allows him to just do what you want a coordinator to do, that\u2019s oversee every position, and he certainly has a lot of history and background with the offensive line. So I think there\u2019s eyes that start in certain spots when you\u2019re a coordinator beyond just the quarterback, and I think a lot of times his eyes, yeah, he can see it all. He can see them line up on the perimeter. But he also is really feeling and seeing and has an intuition on what\u2019s going on up front on the offensive line. That\u2019s really good with he and Coach Kap.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on if the quarterback battle solved itself today\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSolve itself? No. No, it\u2019s something that \u2014 they\u2019re all at different points. Few things procedure-wise that were a little\u00a0different. Good to see those guys all operate through that. They had their times where, of course, they looked really good and times where they got to continue to grow and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on Keelon Russell\u2019s added weight\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him last summer, you know, and I saw him in person for one game last fall. He\u2019s in pads and all that at time, too. He looks good right now. Strong and moves around. He\u2019s just a good all-around athlete. The weight program, certainly for any new guy is going to be critical. It\u2019s good to get that first phase under your belt. That\u2019s why being an early enrollee is so important. Obviously now and through the spring, the reason \u2014 there\u2019s multiple reasons, but one of the reasons why we go every other day and not back-to-back ever is just so we can get big days of lifting in, really, a minimum three times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on the plan for left tackle with Kadyn Proctor out\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be a combination because we don\u2019t want \u2014 we got to have some guys that can move out [from guard] because we\u2019re thin at that position, especially when you look at the experience at that position. We have a couple guys we can move out. Olaus played a little bit of tackle, a couple snaps. But we want to make sure he can focus on guard, too. So as we go through the spring, we just didn\u2019t want to throw a bunch of freshmen out there with the ones or some younger guys. That was kind of one of the rotations we used in one of the team periods today, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on if Michael Carroll will play guard or tackle\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe took some reps there today. You don\u2019t want to \u2014 especially for a young guy \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of, what I call, bullets flying. You don\u2019t want to make it harder than it needs to be for him. But you try to keep him in the same position for multiple practices, but also that flexibility for a guy like Michael does exist. He does have that frame where he could play some tackle, but even though, like you said, he down the road \u2014 end game \u2014 probably more of a guard. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s what I love about some of the guys. They\u2019re athletes. They are versatile. They can play maybe not all five spots because that gets a little confusing, but they can play right side, left side. Right tackle, left tackle. Right guard, left guard. Interior guys you try to get to learn center, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on what he wants to see from the eventual winner of the QB battle\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I mean it\u2019s got to be a guy who can deliver the ball, command the huddle, command everything we do with the team. That presence, that belief and confidence in your signal caller. It starts with a lot of that \u2014 just the belief. The belief comes because you\u2019re making the throws and you\u2019re getting the ball in a fashion where they can go make their plays and reap the rewards of all the work they\u2019ve put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on Keelon Russell\u2019s readiness compared to other freshmen QBs\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s up there. He certainly is. He\u2019s got a long way to go because I think that\u2019s the way he looks at it. He\u2019s excited about what this growth\u2019s going to be even during this spring. But his ceiling and what he accomplished through what you can see on the high school film, he\u2019s a pretty elite quarterback coming in as a high school senior, current freshman for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on how the bowl prep benefited Alabama\u2019s young linebackers\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cReally those guys being here for the pre-bowl practices, that was really good. Abduall, Luke, Duke\u2014 all three of those guys really got a feel. It\u2019s a social thing, too, just getting comfortable with some of the relationships. And then they get here, and they\u2019re already kind of off and rolling. In some ways it ain\u2019t gonna be long, and we\u2019re not going to think of all of these early enrollees, not as freshmen any more. We\u2019re going to think of them as almost sophomores.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on a thin tight room with Danny Lewis out\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right. Certainly are. We\u2019ve got some belief, and we love what Josh Cuevas can do. As far as numbers and guys that have a lot of experience, we certainly are thin there. We expect Danny by the summer to be back and rolling. He knows our system, it\u2019s just a matter of the progress we want to see him make. Getting the reps that would\u2019ve been his. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that he has his injury, something again going back to last fall during the season, but there\u2019s some other guys who are going to hop in there. You\u2019ve got J, and you\u2019ve got Peter who came in and just some other guys who are taking a good chance to take advantage, and they get to develop, too. We\u2019re going to need them this fall when the season hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on in-helmet communication at linebacker with veterans sidelined\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re not concerned about how many are on the field, so multiple guys can hear the communication. We\u2019re not under those regulations in practice. It\u2019s good for all of them to get that experience. We\u2019ll go with the veteran guys. Deontae this fall will probably be the primary guy. Justin will be the No. 2. Both of those guys are out, so there\u2019s a lot of stuff being thrown at some new faces on the defense when it comes to communication and the green dot.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on Alabama\u2019s wide receiver room, Miami transfer Isaiah Horton\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a room that got longer. Jalen Hale coming back, he was here, but just not with us because of his injury, Isaiah and even a young guy in Derek Meadows. The room in general when you look at them is longer, taller.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIsaiah, in particular, since you asked, just a lot of production. He\u2019s been out there. The lights aren\u2019t going to be too bright for him. You can see just his focus in the phase of workouts that we had. It\u2019s important to him. He came here for a reason because he wanted to be pushed. He wanted to be challenged. He wanted to come around here. He wasn\u2019t scared of competition\u2014 some guys that are in the program like Germ and Ryan that had a lot of production themselves. He added to the room, and we\u2019re excited about his personality, his attitude he brings. It\u2019s been nothing but positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on what A-Day might look like\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I would consider last year\u2019s spring game, A-Day, probably a modified game. We didn\u2019t split teams up. We talked about the O-line depth, talked about the tight end depth and we\u2019ll see how the spring goes. To me it\u2019s just something where we want to have controlled reps, so lining up and getting something out of the practice. Because I think all 15 practices that we get are really important, getting something out of that. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as we go through the spring, we\u2019ll continue to figure out where we\u2019re at, to see what we want to do when it comes to the day itself. So we want to make it a great celebration for our fan base. We want to put some football out there because we know everyone associated with our program can\u2019t wait for April 12, but we also gotta do what\u2019s right for us. So that\u2019s kind of something as we get closer that I can probably give you more info on.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on what his mindset after bowl game, what he wants to build on from last season\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt first just starts with work. Just put in the work and just show up and focus only on the day. I barely even wanted to give the guys the schedule of March and what it looked like, other than that I just needed to tell them what day they need to be back from spring break. We\u2019ve been so focused just on that day and that day only, not getting ahead of ourselves. They definitely don\u2019t know anything about what the spring game would look like, because really, we focused on today, and tomorrow we\u2019ll have a team meeting just to focus on learning from today and taking from that. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not getting ahead of ourselves. It\u2019s just coming in and working. And example of just even our winter workouts, our fourth quarter, it\u2019s never focusing on, and it\u2019s kind of related to this same topic, it\u2019s never about trying to see or wonder, what\u2019s this workout all going to involve? Or, can I make it through it? It\u2019s about going as hard as you can that rep. And you might not make it through the whole thing because there\u2019s no gas left in the tank. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can see this competitive stamina continue to build throughout the fourth quarter workouts, because guys just gave it everything they had that rep, then they focused on the next one. And I really love the mindset and that\u2019s one example of how we\u2019re trying to approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeBoer on the FOX Nation documentary on Alabama\u2019s 2024 season\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good. There\u2019s just so many people who don\u2019t understand these guys and their stories. I think that\u2019s what you really want to come out and what I think we wanted, I know we wanted in a documentary was, there\u2019s so many really neat personalities, characters on our team. Just learning their journey, you know they all have a story. There\u2019s football, right? In order to have something around Alabama Crimson Tide football, there\u2019s got to be some shots of games, locker room, I know people like to see that because you\u2019re not in there with us. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it really was actually not much of a distraction. There was one camera around practice really the entire time. So, I love that maybe there\u2019s some interviews or the camera went home with some guys and we get to learn more about their families. We know a lot about them, but I think there\u2019s probably been something here or there that I\u2019ve actually learned, even watching it, that\u2019s really deep and something I didn\u2019t know going back to their childhood days, especially only being here one year. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it\u2019s been cool. Share with everyone the journey, but also get a chance to be in the facilities and the program maybe a little bit more than most would have the chance to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeBoer on his daughter, Alexis, hitter home run vs. Alabama\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a cool moment. Proud of her. I think when it comes to your kids, you want what they want. You want them to be happy. I\u2019m that dad coach, so I love seeing the response to adversity, but you also want your kid to enjoy those moments that you work so hard for. So I\u2019m really proud of her and everything she does. It\u2019s not just being a softball player, but being a person. It\u2019s not easy being a coach\u2019s kid sometimes, so the way she handles it along with the rest of my family, my other daughter as well, certainly proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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