Kalen DeBoer pleased with effort, execution in his first Alabama practice

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama kicked off the Kalen DeBoer era Monday with its first spring practice, a two-hour workout in helmets and shorts on the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields.

DeBoer made his way from the field to the Naylor Stone Media Room for a post-practice press conference to recap his first official practice as the Crimson Tide head football coach.

“It was a great day out there as first practices always are,” DeBoer said. “Full of energy, full of excitement. This came fast, came on fast, and the practice went fast. Really clean. Was proud of our coaches and staff as well as our players just for really understanding the things we were trying to accomplish today. Not just the execution on the football field when it came to running our concepts and our plays but also just the transitions. 

“It’s new for everyone, and the guys, I thought, just did a great job. You can see the want to, the desire was there through the effort that they gave. I really thought it came together in a nice way.”

DeBoer has not been at Alabama for a full two months yet, so Alabama doesn’t have a depth chart at the moment. The Tide welcomes back nine starters from last year’s team, but there are also 30 new guys who joined the program and went through the first official practices. The new head coach said he and his coaching staff are still gathering information every day.

“I’m getting to know them. They’re getting to know myself and the staff,” DeBoer said. “Those first impressions, I know, are important for those guys as they’re out there competing, making plays. The intensity was high, and I would expect it to be that as they have kind of a new slate and everyone is starting from the same point.”

With so much new, there are bound to be hiccups on the first day of spring ball, but DeBoer was pleased with UA’s execution in its return to the field. “It was actually pretty smooth.”

“The guys had a pretty good feel of where to go,” DeBoer said. “What it allows you to do is then have the expectation of hustling and having a bounce in your step up, and the energy never fell off the entire length of practice. I think when it comes to execution, as far as just how smooth things were, I think Practice 1 is pretty easy. It’s your base stuff on each side of the ball. 

“I think where it will get hard is when you get into each continual install, Practice 2 but then especially Practice 3, 4 and 5 as we continue to put more in offensively or defensively and then the other side of the ball is putting something in as well. And that’s when it becomes something where not just what you have to do but also what you’re going against across from you.

“Today was great. I thought it was smooth from transitions to just how hard we competed and guys stayed up. Again, that helps with our health. And I thought the execution actually was pretty good.

He concluded, “It’s gonna be a give and take. That’s what you want from the head coach’s standpoint. The offensive guys, of course, wanna dominate, and the defensive guys wanna dominate each and every play. 

“But from my standpoint, I wanna see that good give and take, and that was certainly the case today.”

Alabama will return to practice Wednesday, March. That workout will be open to reporters.

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