Everything Kalen DeBoer said to kick off Mercer game week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer kicked off Mercer game week with a press conference on Monday afternoon. The No. 9-ranked Crimson Tide will welcome the Bears to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m. CT. The game will stream on ESPN+.

Below is everything DeBoer said during his Monday press conference of game week No. 10.

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“With it being Veteran’s Day, I just want to say a quick thank you to those that have served, those that continue to serve, give us the freedoms that we have. Appreciate all of the veterans.

“With Que’s injury, it is certainly determined now that he will be out for the remainder of the year. Unfortunately. Just a special, special person in every way. You hate to see a guy that pours so much into it go through what he’s going through. The one thing when I think about Que is not just what he is on the field, but pre-practice, he is mentoring, doing things for other guys. He just cares so much about the team. He just cares so much about this place. This is just something that sticks out on top of what you see on game days. Just a great person. He’s poured a lot into this place.

“Recapping LSU, just proud of the way that the guys prepared, proud of the way that they started. The confidence that they showed early on led to the production, led to us playing our most complete game offense, defense and special teams. All these areas that we’ve just seen improve. Probably the biggest thing that I saw is our kickoff team, which has just been rock-solid on top of it all season long, one of the best in the country. I’d put them up against anyone. Just having some times where we lapsed there. A couple of new looks that we need to adjust better and quickly  to. That was one area that we need to be better.

“But moving forward to Mercer. An extremely high-quality football team. Us handling success coming off a game or games that we’ve had here, it’s important for us to do the right things as far as knowing no points carry over from last week. Nothing as far as our stats carry over. We’ve got a team that’s coming in 9-1, very confident team. Pretty much lead their league in most statistical categories on both sides of the ball. Just want to make sure we continue to do what we’ve been doing to take the steps in moving forward as a football program.”

DeBoer on Keanu Koht…

“He wasn’t with us. He’s suspended right now. I’m not going to get into length or anything like that, but he won’t be with us this week.”

DeBoer on Alabama’s pre-snap adjustments compared to previous road games…

“We did a little bit with just the procedure, a little bit of adjustment on just the communication there. We had done it that way. We’ve done it both ways different places I’ve been. Feel good about both procedures. We just did tweak it a small amount.

“I think probably as much as anything it’s just the number of reps we got. This being the second time really after the Tennessee game and then also having a bye week and just really honing in on it and be dialed (in). It helps when you make plays, too. There was less plays where we had as much noise, and so the percentages were more in our favor as far as just the execution piece. But our guys just did a better job handling it from start to finish.”

DeBoer on using a win over Oregon as a catalyst for his culture at Washington; if LSU can be similar…

“Our experiences that we have individually, we always remember them and the learning moments that you go through. For our team, they weren’t through that. But for me, you do take in those times, whether it’s that season or 10 years ago — there’s just things you go through that were part of the process then that you try to remember, try to figure out what worked and what didn’t to keep the team moving in the right direction. Honestly, it’s really simple. You’ve got momentum to build off of, and you make sure you take advantage of it, and then you also continue to keep the pedal down, keep focused on what you believe in, and we’ve been doing that. We were doing that then, that year, and we’re doing that now.

“Just staying the course. Just because all the sudden, you kind of feel like you get over a hump doesn’t mean you can just let off because it’s about the next play. The next one is the most important one, and that’s been our focus really since Day 1. It’s just that now the execution, the number of reps — all of those things — are helping us execute better. The question is probably — Nick [Sheridan] was just up here — how were we able to be more productive? Well, our execution is better. We weren’t behind the chains. The playbook is more available to you. It’s a lot easier to call plays. Just all those things. Those experiences that you’re referring to — yeah, I’m certainly aware of those and it feels a lot like that, but it doesn’t guarantee, right? It doesn’t guarantee us anything. We’ve got to keep moving forward, building the momentum we have right now at this point in the year.”

DeBoer on the development of Alabama’s backup quarterbacks…

“Good question because you don’t see them. We get to see them. This is what I’ll tell you: the work they’re putting in, there’s guys throwing — I guess yesterday would have been Sunday, right? Because I can envision walking outside for a second and seeing one of the guys out there throwing at 9 a.m. in the morning, doing his thing. Others just really paying attention in the meetings, and coming up and meeting individually with Mitch Dahlen, with our offensive staff, Coach Sheridan, myself. Just a lot of opportunities that they’re all taking advantage of to help their growth and then when they get on the football field, you see familiarity with the offense, especially those — Austin [Mack] had a little bit more familiarity — but then you also see growth in fundamental things.

“Guys that are helping out on scout team. I know last week I talked about Austin being heavily involved on the scout team. You see the throws, the accuracy of the throws. Just taking advantage of every rep. These guys are doing that. This season isn’t something that’s just about Jalen and, ‘Oh, I hope I get my time.’ They’re pressing forward and using the resources we have, and then also putting forth the effort to improve any time they can.”

DeBoer on handling success with players and staff…

“It’s gonna be the same no matter what time of the year. It’s all about the next play. The next play, and then obviously for us now the next game. We talk about handling success before. We won games earlier in the season and talked about handling success. I still felt like the effort and everything poured into the right things was happening then, too. But I also think that now we’ve been tested — we’ve been through adversity, we’re a little more — we’ve been through the battles together.

“And I think we understand better who we are, but we also understand better what we can do. We’re honing in on what our strengths are. We’re continuing to really focus on the weaknesses and areas that people maybe perceive as ways to get after us on both sides of the ball. I think that’s the whole key — is handling success is one thing, but our just continual development and growth and improvement, that’s a big deal for us right now, and that’s what’s happened over the last three or four weeks is that’s finally coming to fruition. You can see it in practice, and unfortunately, there’s been times when you don’t see it in a game. Now you saw it in a game in a lot of different ways.”

DeBoer on how he handles success…

How do you handle success?

“I don’t want to say we learned a lesson, but we understand that that doesn’t matter. We understand that it’s all about building on what we did do last week because it was significant, just like we would learn from the areas that we’re falling short on in a game we’ve lost. It’s all about staying with the process, staying with the preparation. We want the guys to keep an edge because I think there is a little bit of an edge, I think there is a little bit of a, I don’t want to say chip on their shoulder, I think edge is the better word to use that we have. A little bit of a backs against the wall, kind of fighting for your life at times that I think exists. I think every guy has a little different way that they’re driven to go out there and put forth the best effort in practice and bring the best energy that they have.

“What I’ve challenged the guys with is to have more leaders stepping up, I think is said that in here a few weeks back. Our young guys aren’t young guys anymore, our transfers aren’t transfers anymore. We are a full team and we need every guy, because there’s starters that now – we just referred to Que – there’s starters that aren’t with us, aren’t able to be on the football field, due to injury. More and more guys got to step up on Saturdays, but more and more just need to step up as a leader. The more leaders that we can have, that first of all take care of their business, and bring in others that can bring the rest of the team with them. There’s a lot of influence on our football team in a good way. You can see it, you can feel it and that’s where it all starts.”

DeBoer on DeVonta Smith, DaShawn Jones…

“Da’Shawn, just he’s been right there ready to go. We’ve moved him around a little bit with positions just because he’s a very versatile player. He’s got game experience with his past and coming in just kind of learning things and being ready to go. I’m really proud of him for that. I’m excited about his growth that he’s had and the opportunities that he’s taking advantage of, like he did on Saturday. 

“With DeVonta, that would be something that, I think just throughout the week we’re continuing to manage and kind of seeing where he’s at. I haven’t heard the update today, but I think he’ll be fine as the week continues on.”

DeBoer on what he saw from young players late in the LSU game…

“You’re happy for them because they work extremely hard. Those guys, as we said, quarterbacks are working, putting extra time in. Getting our running backs, you alluded to with Rich, getting out there on the football field, all these guys that work extremely hard get a chance to go out there, be rewarded. That’s what it’s all about. We’re a team, it’s not just eleven guys that are out there starting on each side of the ball. I’m happy for them. Glad that we executed well enough to where we were in that spot so those get a chance to go out and perform. When they get their moment they’ve taken advantage of it. They’ve done it a number of times throughout the year.”

DeBoer on Tyler Booker’s leadership…

“There’s been a number of leaders on our team that have really, since day one, been critical for us. The question’s about Book. I can’t give him enough praise. I can say this because I know he handles it. He can handle it well. It’s not something that goes to his head. He is so passionate about this place. He’s so passionate about being the best he can be. He’s got a resiliency that has helped us as a team also have that level of response to adversity that’s been positive. He just keeps pushing. He’s got respect amongst his teammates at the highest level.

“From a leadership standpoint, he’s vocal, but obviously he leads by example all at the same time. The combination, he might be one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around. I know that’s saying a lot because I’ve been around a lot of really good ones. When you put the guys in that category, he’s really special and it’s because he takes care of his business 100-percent of the time and he’s pushing others to make sure that they’re at their best too and I think that’s what great leaders do is they bring the best out of everyone else around them.”

DeBoer what the last two games mean for making a statement…

“I like the progress that we’ve had. Every week’s a new challenge in different ways. Last week just with the passing game and kind of the way we felt they would attack us, rising to the challenge was big. The shutout the week before happened as a combination of stopping the run and the pass, different quarterbacks in and out, but that’s progress. There’s steps forward. There’s confidence that continues to build, a trust that happens between the front and the back halves.

“I just really like the demeanor that they bring. It all starts with what they’re doing here’s going to be tomorrow morning, Tuesday when you step on the football field. That’s really the demeanor that you want and we’ve had and needs to continue for us to do the same thing this Saturday that we did last Saturday and so, again when that mindset’s where it needs to be and the work’s done each and every day that trust, that belief, it just continues to build and you can see that with our defense.”

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