Everything Kalen DeBoer said to kick off Alabama's first bye week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer kicked off the Crimson Tide’s first of two bye weeks with a press conference on Monday. Alabama won’t play in a game this weekend before resuming its regular-season schedule against No. 2 Georgia on Sept. 28.

Below is everything DeBoer said during his Monday press conference of bye week No. 1.

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“It was a good weekend for us. Everything’s a first, right? Going on the road, it was our first time together with our staff. I thought the guys did a nice job, I was happy obviously with the outcome but also just the process and everything leading up to it and how the weekend went. I thought they had a great balance of high energy, passion, emotion but not being overemotional and having a businesslike mindset.

“Just knowing that it was going to be a you versus a great crowd there. I thought we did a nice job of just staying the course and made the plays. Got the momentum on our side, especially there in the second quarter. The end of the half especially was a big deal.

“I preach to the guys keep playing, keep believing and things will come your way. We’re athletic enough. We’ve got playmakers. And that’s exactly what happened. Getting the stop, getting the field goal attempt and flipping that around in 36 seconds or whatever it was and getting some points and then doing it again. I thought that was a big piece of what we preach each and every day. And it happened.

“Not having the special teams coordinator up here, I want to highlight also just how James Burnip’s been doing kicking the football. He’s a game changer. He can flip the field really on any kick. We saw that again on Saturday. Just proud of the way he goes about it. He’s just quiet, but man, when he hits the ball, it makes a noise. I mean that in a lot of ways. So it’s fun seeing him do his thing at a high level.

“I thought as far as how we handled the environment and the noise, I thought the offense did a nice job. Did a great job in the week of preparation.  Felt like they were ready for whatever was thrown at them.

“I think the coordinators probably talked about some of the turnovers and takeaways and how we were better there. I thought we were better on third down. We were solid in the red zone again. So a lot of those main things showed up. We were taking the next step, I think, this last week from where we were at against South Florida.

“Always things from an execution standpoint to improve on, areas where a bye week is important to continue to address. Continue to build our depth, develop guys that we know we’re going to need throughout the rest of the season.”

DeBoer on Graham Nicholson…

“We’ve been scoring when we get in the red zone and getting the touchdowns. We haven’t been in too many spots until Saturday when we had the field goal, 46, 47, somewhere in there. I think he hit it good. In pre-game I think we felt like maybe there was a little bit of a breeze coming right to left, probably overcalculated that and it wasn’t something where I felt like, where we all felt like he mishit it or anything. We’ve just got to do a better job of understanding the (wind) direction or how much it’s going to influence the kick. And that’s part of being a kicker, right? Pre-game, during the game, toward the end, it’s gonna change.  So each side of the field changes. I know he expects to make that. We expect him to make it. He’s been solid all fall camp.”

DeBoer on Ryan Williams returning punts…

“With the injury to Cole Adams, that was one guy taken off of that area in our depth. Bak’s been back there doing a good job with his opportunities, and we need to continue to build that. And just getting Ryan one rep out there, I thought was good. He did a nice job. Looked very comfortable back there. There’s some other guys, like Germie Bernard can do that as well. He’s been working on, not just this year but in the past. We just want to make sure guys continue to get that one rep, feel comfortable. And there’s always little things that pop up that guys can learn from. And there were some learning opportunities even with Bak. Just staying away from the football on one of those punts that was rolling. We’ve got to do a better job there of staying away. Everything is again a new experience, especially for some of these younger guys, freshmen like Ryan and Bak. But they’ve done a really nice job so far.”

DeBoer on Germie Bernard’s comments about Jump Around…

“I didn’t realize until yesterday, and actually, Germ did come in and he owned it. I didn’t even bring it up to him. I didn’t even know it happened until yesterday. He’s a first-class guy, and the emotions and the excitement of the game and all that, unfortunately, you sometimes say things you get asked to comment on. And he actually wanted to say something to the team. We want to be first-class, and we slipped up a little bit there.

“He addressed the team yesterday in our team meeting. And everyone knows who Germ is and respect the heck out of him. Something like that is something – it was a great atmosphere. Wisconsin, the environment there, was great. I think our guys enjoyed that transition there in between the third and fourth quarter just as much as anyone. Nothing but respect for what the environment was and who they are as a program.”

DeBoer on Jalen Milroe changing protections pre-snap…

“I’m trying to think through. I think you get into the situations, probably the latter down and distances, third downs, when you see the pressure, and I think he did a really solid job. There was one time – and it wouldn’t fall necessarily on his lap – where there was a little bit of miscommunication across the board, or it didn’t happen as fluid or as smooth as you would like. I think we got to the point where we needed to by the time the ball was snapped. But just everyone being on the same page. And that’s not just the offensive line and him, that’s everyone. And so we could have done a better job across the board.

“But in regards to Jalen, we are continuing to ask more and more of him as he gets more comfortable with what we do. And we know that that is gonna need to be the case where – he has full rein right now. He knows what the expectations are and what we really prefer him to be doing with the checks, and he’s been really solid. And that’s gonna be important for us going into SEC play, we know that for sure.”

DeBoer on how Justice Haynes…

“Right off the bat, getting him the ball. He can do a lot of things. Catching the ball. Ran through a tackle right off the bat, set the tone there. Just some of the carries where he’d have been involved ended up being throws, RPO plays, keeps by the quarterback. And so all of a sudden, you get to the middle of the third quarter and you hit another explosive there at the beginning of the fourth and we’re pulling all our guys.

“I know we need him to be really a very productive guy for us. And I thought when he was out there, he was exactly that. We trust and believe in him like no other. The guy works his tail off every single day. He’s fun to coach. He’s great in protection. He’s out in the routes. He’s obviously a huge threat when he’s got the ball in his hands. And so just sometimes the flow of the game and the rotation we have, the ball didn’t end up in his hands as much, but the ball will continue to find him because I know Jalen believes in him, our coaching staff believes in him. And so you try to be intentional on some that stuff, and sometimes, it just doesn’t go exactly how you planned as far as who gets the touches and so forth.”

DeBoer on his record in big games…

“Great players, great coaching staff around you is always what makes it all go. People who are comfortable going and being alongside with you in these big games and these big — you get into SEC play and they’re all going to be big. Players make plays. It’s our job to just continue to put them in the best spot, helping them to continue to gain confidence behind them that the preparation is what’s going to lead to their success. And just a belief, a belief in what we do, how we do it — that’s, to me, football. That’s how you’re successful in anything. That’s what we’ll do here with the bye week.

“Using a couple days here just to relax, as far as, kind of, decompress a little bit. Seven weeks now these guys have been going. I know it’s only been three games in the season, but they’ve been going for seven weeks as of tomorrow when it comes to practices. This little time here where they can take care of some school and kind of get caught up, or just make sure they’re on pace and working ahead even in those areas that are away from football, and knock that out, so they can do what they love and not have any distractions. Thursday, Friday, we’ll get back on the practice field. Wednesday we’ll do some things as well. These guys need a physical break as well. I think we’re in an OK spot when it comes to health. We could always be better. That’s what a bye week gets you.”

DeBoer on Jalen Milroe’s touchdown pass to Ryan Williams…

“And both of them I thought he felt comfortable — he looked comfortable throughout the game with our offensive line, starts up front with the protection. I think that he felt that he did a good job really reading the coverage, seeing where the safety help might be and really hitting it in rhythm. Tighter coverage on the first one to E-Man, but Ryan had a step and that was the difference. I think when you kind of look at the trajectory of the ball and having to throw a little flatter, so that helped it get there in time, but also not making it too flat to where he had a little room for error — I thought it was just a great throw. He hit him in stride, Ryan did his thing, secured it, and it was really fun. Especially on a third down, third and long — third and 7, third and 8. So huge point in the game there for us to get the ball in the end zone and not just be something that’s a three- or four-yard gain but a 30-plus yard explosive.”

DeBoer on James Burnip…

“I thought even just even that sequence. I believe we forced a punt right after that. Or it was a takeaway, maybe. Just how the field flipped with a few plays there. James does that for you. As long as we give him what we need from a protection standpoint — you know you’re going to get a good snap with Kneeland. He’s rock solid. James puts everything into it. All his energy and power into that kick. Technically it was just so sound, so consistent. He’s been that way all fall camp and we got a lot of trust in him and it’s something our whole team, when he goes out there, they believe in him. He’s a weapon to have, and like you said, it flips the script and now the defense with a little more field space to work with can set the tone, especially when you get into those backed-up situations. I think it was three times inside the 20 yard line is what James did as far as backing them up. Huge weapon for us.

DeBoer on the approach to an early bye week…

“That’s good, because I think every bye week is a little different. Early bye weeks — again, there’s been seven weeks of football that these guys have been going as far as hitting each other. But it is early in the season still. For us, we’ll take a few of these days here and like I said, just to let the coaching staff start working ahead on the schematics, game plan. There’s obviously some recruiting, there’s other parts of the program where coaches focus their attention as well. For players, we’re just trying to get them a little bit of a mental break here for a second. It’s only a couple days. But let them be students here for a few days as well, not just the athletic part. Later on, you kind of got to adapt, even not just when you practice, but how long you practice. We’ll have some really good solid practices here in the latter part of the week, Thursday, Friday, Sunday — give us a jump on the next game with Georgia.”

DeBoer on the aggressive approach at the end of the first half…

“Thirty-six seconds, you got a kicker you believe in, and I think three timeouts, if I remember right. So you got a lot working for you. We get any type of gain at all and we’re in balance, we’re gonna use the time out there and see if we can get a first down or two. The guys just went out and made a play. Great time in the pocket and Jalen got hit a little bit as he was making the throw. But anticipation, I think you saw, not to break down the play because I know that’s not the question, but I think you saw a trust and anticipation that Jalen on that throw as Ryan is just taking off, the throw is being made. Good read of the defense and Ryan doing his thing again, set us up for another explosive.

“Germ is the first read on the play. There’s other guys that I think were coming into windows that we could have hit as well. But it all started with protection on both those plays. And when you have confidence in the guys up front and protect your quarterback and the quarterback is going to make smart decisions — I’ve been over-coaching those probably early on with Jalen to take care of it in this situation or that and more and more, it’s just these little small blurbs that I know I’m giving him and he’s on the same page. And so that’s part of the progression of us working together, more and more of the progression of now you take that to the film room and talk about why we were aggressive in that moment and then seeing it pay off.

“It just gives your team a lot of conference, because the defense knows that anytime you know, if we just give the ball to the offense, whether it’s off a takeaway and we got red zone, you know, or two-minute drill, just a lot of confidence that goes back and forth playing good team football.”

DeBoer on Ryan Williams…

“Ryan, the thing that impresses me so much about him is the business-like mentality he has when it comes to football, but the way he’s able to balance it with a personality that is just fun to be around, loose when you have that time to be loose. It just happened probably an hour ago, a chance to just be around him and smiling and enjoying being who he is, and then turning into this beast on the football field through these first three games. And, you know, there’s going to be ups and downs, just like anyone for him to come, but I’m confident that his maturity well beyond his years, being only 17. I don’t feel like I’m pumping him up too much because I think he’s getting the job done on the football field, and he’s making it happen there. But it’s fun seeing that balance and just let him be him. That’s what I want all our players to be. But he’s a joy to be around, because when he gets on the football field and he’s in the weight room, and there’s a lot of focus. I know he prioritizes things, even like sleep. You know, he’s just really locked in on what needs to be done.”

DeBoer on Alabama’s injured players…

“Cole (Adams), this is a good time with the bye week. I would expect that area, as we get to the latter part of the week, he’s continuing to move forward. We can kind of see where we’ll push him too hard here the end of the week with physicality and things like that and make him vulnerable. But I think it’s positive steps that we’re seeing.

“Qua (Russaw) with the evaluation of him, I think the bye week is huge. I think he probably, later in the week will, will be able to do some things for us, and we’ll certainly be careful with him. We don’t want to have any setbacks. But I would feel like it’s a positive progression for him already here, just the last couple days.

“Malachi Moore, got kind of hit to the head, blow to the head, he popped up and ran off the field. But I also know that there’s a protocol we kind of go through it. So a lot of positive signs there with him already here in his first couple of days. We just got to go through that progression that needs to be done when it comes to those type of injuries.

“And Richard (Young), you know, I’m not sure on Richard a little bit, I think he’s kind of got to continue to evaluate here and probably have some follow-up here, maybe, towards the end of the week.

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