What Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said before facing Michigan: 'A lot of respect' for Sherrone Moore, Wolverines

TAMPA, Fla. — Michigan Wolverines football ended Alabama’s season in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl. It did the same to Kalen DeBoer and Washington in the Jan. 8 national championship game. The Wolverines will take on DeBoer, who went from Washington to become Alabama’s head coach, to conclude 2024 in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore and DeBoer have known each other for years, dating back to when both were coaching in the MAC — Moore at CMU and DeBoer at EMU. The two coaches who are in the first year of their current jobs hold each other in high regard.

“We’ve known each other for a while, and a lot of respect for him, know some of the staff, and also just the program there at Michigan in general,” DeBoer said of Moore and Michigan.

Alabama finished the regular season 9-3, with losses to Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Tennessee. While the Crimson Tide is in a similar situation to Michigan, missing the College Football Playoff for the first time in years, all of DeBoer’s NFL-bound players are set to suit up for the ReliaQuest Bowl. Michigan, meanwhile, has nine who have declared for the NFL Draft before the end of the season.

“Really proud of the way they’ve gone about their work, going back not just this week but all the way through the month,” DeBoer said. “Just always looking for opportunities to continue to get better individually, collectively as a team, and ready to go out and play tomorrow.”

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DeBoer was asked if it was a concerted effort by the Alabama staff to make sure players on the fence finished the season with their team.

“We didn’t have a big meeting, but I think the leaders … that’s always the key is what’s your leadership, and the leaders just understanding the precedent that’s been set here in this program when it comes to bowl games, opting out, and just kind of setting the tone on how important every opportunity when you get to put the crimson on is, and these guys get that one last chance here this year,” DeBoer said.

“Guys like [left guard] Tyler Booker really stepping up and [quarterback Jalen] Milroe, as well, and others, just really saying, hey, we get one more chance as a brotherhood to go out on that football field together, we get a chance to be better as football players, and we want to set the program off continuing in the right direction going into next year and leave it at the best possible place that we can.

“They’ve poured everything into it, all these guys. Just couldn’t be more proud of the mindset and how that’s trickled throughout the team and really led us to have some really good practices here all the way through the bowl practice here, even today.”

Alabama is looking to extend its streak of 10-win seasons to 17 straight years, and that possibility was a factor in motivating players.

“It’s something that’s really important to the guys,” the Alabama coach said. “There’s no question. They want to keep the streak alive there with 10-win seasons.

“We always talk in terms of really trying to even simplify it down beyond that and just the most important game is the next one, just like the next play is the most important one. That’s where we’re focused.

“But there is a piece, too, with the tradition and just everything. You don’t do it to put added pressure on yourself, you just make the game what it is, and this is an important game because it’s the one that’s in front of us.”

Just like for Moore at Michigan, DeBoer has gone through a 2024 of change, filling big shoes left behind by a legend. Closing out the year on the right note for his team against the Wolverines is important.

“Finishing this year off with a positive would be big for just the direction, for this team to kind of put an end to it, but also to help us just moving forward and the trajectory,” DeBoer said. I” think that’s what bowl games are in general. But yeah, certainly after finishing up the first year, it’s been a whirlwind of 11 months.”