Alabama Football Minimizes Penalties in First Fall Scrimmage

Head coach Kalen DeBoer remarked multiple times about the lack of penalties in the Crimson Tide's first scrimmage of fall camp.

The Crimson Tide football team continued practice Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, as they prepare for the season opener and the first game under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. Alabama offensive lineman Wilkin Formby (75) works against Alabama offensive lineman Jackson Howell (71). / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Penalties are a surefire way for a football team to drive both fans and coaches mad, and in the last few seasons, Alabama has been one of the more heavily penalized teams in the SEC.

That trend may be changing in 2024, if the team's first scrimmage of fall camp is any indication. After running a 102-play scrimmage in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday morning, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke glowlingly about the lack of penalties his team committed during the scrimmage.

"One thing I’ve seen over the last few practices, we’ve had the officials there. You know, it’s always going to be that way early in camp, some penalties and things like that," DeBoer said. "I thought we did a lot better job today, really did a really good job actually when I think about it. I don’t know the number, but very few. So guys were out there playing ball and just understand the rhythm, tempo. Really trying to take advantage of being in here."

DeBoer continued, citing specific, common penalties that consistently plague a variety of teams and said they were non-issues during Saturday's scrimmage.

"The offense maybe drew the defense off one time. So just procedure-wise, I don’t know if there was any false starts offensively, no illegal formations, no movements. If there was, maybe it was one that I can’t remember, but that’s where I think we were pretty clean," DeBoer said. "So the mental mistakes, or what I would call a foolish penalty where we’re just not sharp, really kind of honed in on that here. So I think we took the next step with the other penalties too. Really not much from a holding, I don’t know if we got any holding calls out there. We had one kind of illegal block back, crackback block that was really good for us to actually have happen because we can learn from that and talk through that. Maybe one pass interference. The penalties were really down and minimal. So I like the way we’re having some urgency and we’ll move around offensively. The guys are all getting set, so all the processes that we have in place, the guys are doing a really good job."

Installing a new offensive and defensive system is a challenging aspect of a coaching change, but a lack of mental mistakes will make the adjustment much easier as the season approaches in just three weeks.