Everything Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama's 42-16 win over USF

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 4 Alabama defeated South Florida, 42-16, on Saturday at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After his second win as the Crimson Tide’s coach, Kalen DeBoer spoke to reporters. Below is everything DeBoer said following the Week 2 victory.

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“Going into the fourth quarter, 14-13, and in a fight. And so tip of the cap to USF for fighting. But also, there’s many things that we look at that are things we gotta definitely get cleaned up. We talked down in the locker room about learning the lessons about the things that didn’t go right but also understand that if we just keep fighting, good things can happen. And in the fourth quarter, staying away from the penalties and turnovers, it’s amazing what can happen. 

“And so defense did a nice job forcing some field goals. Just as we went through the game there in the fourth quarter, I think those were key. Us scoring touchdowns and finishing drives, other than the fumble, which was certainly unfortunate – again, a lot of things we need to clean up. Guys gotta do a better job when they make a big play, gotta tuck it away. All the things we work on, all the things we discuss. Gonna be a lot to learn from 

“And so excited about the challenge, the opportunity. Because that’s what this. I think you need games like this. This isn’t a wake-up call or nothing like that. It’s nothing like that. It’s just keep raising the standard. I think this game last year was an important one that propelled them last year, and it will probably the same thing this year. That’s my hope.”

DeBoer on ball security in practice…

“Every day, there’s something, but Tuesdays are a big-time priority. We start to week off with that. There’s other things. We talk about the ball is the program and how important it is taking care of it and also getting it. And so really, we won’t have to raise the level of how much we stress it because we stress it significantly. And so it’s guys just learning that when you make a big play, there’s people behind you, they’re chasing you. They’re coming from all angles, and we gotta do a better job being conscious of that. Guy’s got out of their game a little bit and got a little loose with it. So we’ll watch it on film. I don’t know exactly how the fumbles were created, but a lot of the things we talk about, I think, are what happened.”

DeBoer on Elijah Pritchett not playing until the fourth quarter…

“He got, last game, just a minor ding. We were trying to get through. He didn’t practice much early in the week but practiced Wednesday and Thursday. So was ready to go. Probably worked a little bit more on the left side. We felt good after we had gone through the week that we were just gonna roll with what we had with Book and Geno. But he was ready to go. He could have started the game. We were just trying to hold on as long as possible. Just try to keep him 100 percent healthy. He got through just fine tonight.

“I think we’re gonna be in better shape offensive line-wise going into next week. It was a little touch and go there at some points during the week with a few different guys.”

DeBoer on how the offense shifted in the final six minutes…

“It was just not having penalties. Not being behind the chains. You guys saw it, too. It’s hard to call a game. It’s hard to overcome 2nd and Long, 3rd and Long situations. And so we had to learn some lessons the hard way tonight, there was no doubt about it. Two touchdowns that were called back because of holding calls, and obviously, the turnover inside the 5-yard line. But we didn’t hold and we were moving the ball forward, good things were happening. But we have to be able to do it on consecutive plays over and over and over again and have sustained drives.

“And so last week, we probably didn’t get put in that position to where we had to sustain drives, right? We were explosive. The ball was down the field. Guys from making huge runs. And so that mindset has to kind of carry over from this week to next week, and understanding that we have to grind the ball, grind it out. It can’t just be explosive plays. And with that comes executing. 

“And there’s other things, too, that we certainly can be better on, things we can help Jalen out with. Jalen, I know how he is. He’s going to put it all on himself, and that’s the way he always is. But there’s other things we can do to help him out. Sometimes they’re kind of on the borderline of a missed assignment. It’s just guys not executing and helping him out as well as they could up front, the skill guys. It’s a whole team effort. On offense, every guy’s gotta execute. Everyone’s got to do their job for it to go clean.”

DeBoer on what he saw on penalties that led to him getting heated…

“They obviously saw, and I saw some things, too, on why they called stuff. There’s other things I felt – and when you get into where it’s that tight, and now it’s all of the sudden, everything gets called tight. I get it. I’m trying to make sure, kind of, that everyone is held accountable. I gotta hold my guys accountable when we aren’t executing and doing things. There’s a lot of calls that, I mean, most of them we were holding. We were doing things that you can’t do. We gotta clean up our part of it. Just making sure that the things that I saw, also that I was addressing, that I wanted them to make sure they kept an eye on.”

DeBoer on Jam Miller…

“He’s just really quiet. He doesn’t like to say too much. But when he gets a chance to touch the ball, we see what can happen. You don’t get to see it a lot in practice because it’s different tempos. The scrimmages, we’ve seen times where, what you saw tonight, him getting loose and making those guys miss. I love the cutback. He did it early enough to where, really, there wasn’t a lot of chance for the defender to make a play. So he’s explosive. He can run inside, he can run outside. Just did a nice job all around. And I know he’ll take it super hard, too, with the one turnover he had there, too. So he’s got a fire in his eyes, and he came back, wanted the ball, and that’s what I love about him. That’s what I love about a lot of our guys. They want to get back in there, they want to get back in the fight and go help the team.”

DeBoer on Ryan Williams, Jaylen Mbakwe…

“A lot of lot of new faces, young and even some just guys coming into this program that have really helped us out. And the foundation is still all the guys that have been here. They understand the standard. They understand that and the leadership down in the locker room, whether it’s halftime, whether it’s the end of the game, just holding each other accountable, including themselves, but also showing that, ‘Hey, we can be better. Look what would happen if we just played our game and did our job and did it the right way.’ 

“And Ryan and the catch that he had, I love that Jalen has enough confidence in him to rip it out there and let him go make a play because there’s a lot of options on that one play for Jalen. He can hand ball off, he can throw a little perimeter throw and he can also throw a hitch out there. And he chose to go to Ryan with the hitch, and identification being on the same page. I love that he trusts Ryan in that moment when we gotta keep the chains moving. We’re looking to score, of course, but Ryan coming through. He’s done that a few times now, obviously, and those are just the steps that I love seeing.

“Bak stepping in when we needed a return and doing what he did, that was really key. He just, unfazed, hopped in there. He’s very confident. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him. Unfortunately, obviously, Cole went down, and he was ready to go.”

DeBoer on Tyler Booker playing left tackle…

“I think wherever he’s at, we’re really good. I’m sure he’s gonna look at it and learn a lot about playing tackle, just with the number of snaps he’s played in his career versus guard. Didn’t worry too much about him at all. I think a lot of it just the number of reps that they’ve had together, and it was just pretty much this week for a couple, few practices, and it showed. It showed that we weren’t on the same page with different things and different calls. They’ve gotta tighten that up. 

“But Book certainly provides a punch and impact wherever he’s at. When he’s inside, just the firmness of the pocket, the run blocking, the push off the line of scrimmage, it’s strong. And when he was outside today, I didn’t really worry too much about a rush on a one-on-one. I thought he looked really good in practice. I was excited on Tuesday when he took some reps there. We rotated a lot of different groups or multiple groups with guys at different spots throughout the week. But he looked good there, and I was very confident going into tonight with him at left tackle.”

DeBoer on Cole Adams…

“He just had an arm injury. I would say we’ll have to see exactly where that’s at, just to the extent of that. I didn’t necessarily see and I didn’t even realize it was his arm until he kind of got up. I thought it was something lower leg. But we’ll kind of see where he’s at throughout the week. But unfortunate. I think he was more just frustrated that he got hurt than it was maybe even the pain he was going through, but I’m sure it didn’t feel good.”

DeBoer on the team’s ability to finish…

“I told them this: I’m never going to question the want-to. The way they practice, they practice hard. The energy in the locker room before the game – I mean, they wanted to go out there and I felt like there was a lot of guys straining out there – that’s a word we use a lot – to make plays, to finish. Sometimes we were straining too much and we gotta understand that you can’t make that push in the back, or you can’t tug the jersey in that split-second of a hold, and those moments were things that cost us a lot of momentum, a lot of big plays. 

“In the locker room we just talked about, again, learning from it, and there’s some great lessons on learning that. If we just stay in the fight and we just keep playing and live to see another down, it’s amazing what this team can accomplish. Remember this time when it was 14-13 – I believe that’s what it was – and you just kept swinging, you just kept playing. And I’m proud of that. That’s what it’s going to take to win some close games, even if they’re not pretty, because all wins aren’t going to be that way.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!