Kalen DeBoer details his benchmarks for Alabama in spring practices

In his first year leading the Alabama Crimson Tide football program, Kalen DeBoer has been wasting little time installing his culture at the program, aligning everyone with his vision.

DeBoer has the next-to-impossible task of filling the void left by legendary head coach Nick Saban. But he is not trying to do so on a whim or by the seat of his pants. No. DeBoer has a set of benchmarks he is applying during the offseason to get the Alabama program where he wants it to be while keeping it a solid fixture in the national championship picture.

“Yeah, I think every year is different, and you have to start over from scratch,” said DeBoer when asked about his benchmarks for the spring. “If this is year two for me here, I would still go back to the bare bones of setting down the expectations because we’re around 30 new players that are here in the program. And with that, you have to talk about, what’s the tempo that we’re operating in practice with when we’re helmets and spider pads. What is it when we’re helmets and shoulder pads [or] what is it when we’re full pads? You have to go back to those detailed conversations and lay out the expectations in a way where everyone’s on the same page.”

As DeBoer mentioned, there are 30+ faces in the program this season, along with a number of individuals who decided to exit via the NFL draft and the NCAA Transfer Portal. And with that being the case, along with him being the new sheriff in town, a new set of expectations must be set. This is not to say that DeBoer has no plans on acknowledging what the individuals have accomplished prior to his arrival, but more so that all players have a clean slate to showcase what they have to offer to their new head coach.

“There’s guys that took their snaps, as a college football player here. I understand some of these guys, a lot of these guys, did do some things during the bowl season as early enrollees. But we would start over from scratch, and we would be again intentional on our communication.”

“As coaches, we will be intentional on what we are asking. The new leaders that are having to step up, they may have been leaders before, but there’s a new dynamic that takes place because there are some guys that are gone that were pretty intricate pieces, not just the production but leading the football team last year. So it all starts over. Whether it’s the first year, second year, or third year, it all starts over.”

With DeBoer’s first spring ball practice as head coach at Alabama now in the rearview mirror, individuals have gotten their first glimpse at what to expect on the field from the program in 2024. As the Crimson Tide continues through the spring program, culminating in the spring game, the benchmarks DeBoer has set will become more transparent, and fans will get an accurate idea of what the new era of Alabama Football will look like.