Kalen DeBoer calls Alabama 'the standard' in college football

The success that Alabama football enjoyed under Nick Saban — and throughout the history of the program — set the Crimson Tide apart as the team to match and beat during much of Saban’s tenure. And new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer wasn’t shy about where Alabama stands in college football.

DeBoer, who was the head coach at Division II Sioux Falls when Saban took the Alabama job, looked at the Crimson Tide as the standard. And more than a decade later, it’s up to DeBoer to maintain that level.

“Well it’s always been what we refer to as the standard,” DeBoer said on the Always College Football show with ESPN analyst and former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy. “And I know you’re biased of course and you should be because you’ve poured a lot into this program and made into what it is and made it a place, along with the many other alumni and great coaches that have been here — to make it a special place and one that brings in the championships but the way it’s done, being first class in all those areas, not just on the field but off the field. It’s what I’ve always seen from afar, I’ve always admired just everything about the program.”

As he worked his way from Sioux Falls through the coaching ranks to eventually replacing Saban, DeBoer wasn’t shy in nabbing an idea or two from the Crimson Tide.

“And the recent 15 to 20 years under coach Saban there, I stole a lot of things,” DeBoer said. “It could be the Xs and Os of an offensive or defensive play or just kind of those quotes, those sayings, those things that get uploaded to social media all the time that you take from that you can use with your own football team.”

Given that Saban is likely to greatest college coach of all time, it wasn’t a bad place to look.

DeBoer shared his thoughts on roster sizes in college football

Proposals to put caps on college football roster spots have made the rounds this offseason, and many have voiced their opinions for and against the idea in the weeks since the news made rounds on social media.

In the case of DeBoer, his perspective is based on experience coaching at every level of college football.

“When I think back over the years — and I’ve been at a lot of different levels when it comes to putting a team together — the crazy thing is people always look and say, ‘Only 11 are on the field at a time,’” DeBoer said at the SEC spring meetings. “But there’s a lot that goes into development, there’s a lot that goes into putting together a practice that [makes it] efficient. There’s a health and safety piece, for sure, that comes into play when it comes to roster size.”

When DeBoer was moving through the coaching ranks, schools had around 100 players on a roster each season but saw that number inflate to about 135 on occasion. The Crimson Tide headman believes that’s right around the perfect size to manage a roster throughout a season.

Currently, the NCAA allows 70 athletes to appear for each team in any given football game. With only 85 scholarship spots allowed for each FBS college football program, the number of walk-ons could shrink if the new proposal is eventually enforced.

“I think there are other pieces too, especially in the latter years here,” DeBoer continued. “Having legacy players, those that maybe are walk-ons that come onto your program and grow into being a scholarship player. There are a lot of variables that come into play.

“So first and foremost, it comes to health and safety and efficiency and have a successful practice that I think you want to execute each and every day. That’s important with the number that’s on your roster. So we’ve operated with 110, back about four or five years ago. 120 last year, and we’ll have few more than that with the way and direction we’re at with Alabama this fall.”

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.