Everything Kalen DeBoer Said to Kick off Tennessee Week

Full transcript and press conference video from Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer ahead of the Crimson Tide's rivalry game with the Volunteers.

Sep 28, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer on the sideline during the third quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs at Bryant-Denny Stadium. / William McLelland-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and coordinator met with the media Monday morning to wrap up the Crimson Tide's win over South Carolina to improve to 5-1 (2-1 SEC) and look ahead to the rivalry matchup at No. 11 Tennessee.

Here's everything DeBoer had to say as he prepares for his first rivalry game as Alabama's head coach.

Full Transcript

Opening statement

"Rolling from South Carolina to Tennessee, guys start the week as we always do with Sunday and just bringing a good mind-set, putting the work into the workouts, wanting to continue to always learn and get better from the things that happened on a Saturday. A lot of highlights, obviously a lot of things that we've got to continue to clean up. It's in all phases of the game.

"But moving to Tennessee, we're really looking forward to. It's exciting. This game is obviously a big deal to fans and obviously to us, and we understand that's the case for them as well. So looking forward to a really high level, heightened week with preparation and a big game on Saturday."

On what he's been told about the Tennessee rivalry...

"I've been told it's a big deal, and I know it's a big deal. You see it from afar. These are the games, much like we've had on the schedule. As a coach, they're all big and you take one at a time. But certainly understand the significance of the rivalry. Guys are going to be very motivated to go out and do their best and prepare well and be great on Saturday."

Assessing the defense's execution through the halfway point of regular season...

"I think there's every week something a little different that presents itself. I know the last couple of weeks, the big thing that's been focused on has been getting off the field. You look at yards per play, and we're making some teams earn it but we've just got to get off the field. When those drives continue to stack on top of each other and there's more plays that your defense is having to play, it starts to wear you down a little bit more. I think our guys, fortunately we rotate enough in to where we can hang in there for four quarters. But there's always going to be little elements and it's not just defense, but it's offense and areas that are going to pop up and the way people attack and the way some people may view your schemes or your personnel.

"You continue to work on those things that we know we've got to get better at and emphasize but we've also got to be ready for those others things, too, that just are part of the game. And making sure that we've got the answers, whether it's the schematics or just that our guys are confident going out there and playing. This is part of the process. This is part of the progress that's got to be there when you're instituting new systems. I saw this, it must have been South Florida week and I was sitting there watching last year's game -- and I've had this happen every where I've been _ but you look at a play call and I happened to watch the South Florida game of us versus them last year. And the play calls from last year on that play. And the play calls had the same names, right? It's just called something different.

"But there might be play calls that are called something a year ago that are something completely opposite or different in your system. That's just something that's part of the progress, is guys processing. You're throwing something new at our guys to add to our schemes and add to our concepts  and the depth of what we do each and every week. And then they also have to do what we're doing and execute well against whatever we're seeing in front of us. You try to find that fine balance in running what is your identity, what is your DNA of the systems you run. But also continue to build on maybe those families that what you do well. Or just continue to grow your entire offense, defense, special teams. It's just part of it. Been through it many times.

"A lot of the ups and downs that you have, or maybe just execution didn't go as well as you want. Sometimes that's not just the base stuff that you do but it's the stuff that you know you have to continue to incorporate to continue to get to where you want to be, because it's got to be a volume of things over the course of a 12-13-14, whatever the season is and the length of it."

Will the shovel pass keep coming on defense until it gets fixed?

"No question. And it's going to get thrown at you different ways. The personnel or the formations that people line up in, you're going to try to find from an offensive standpoint, putting those shoes on and just trying to understand what that's going to look like in their scheme. It's going to be presented in a different way. Fifteen-20 years ago, I was running that quite a bit myself because it's a play that you have to defend. It might be presentation off of a boot, it might be presented off a sprintout, option. But you've got to identify and everyone's got to fit their gaps and apply your rules is really the significance of it."

"People are going to use different things to really try to challenge your eye discipline as a defense. That's one of the plays that's obviously been used the last two weeks to challenge us in that regard."

On what he heard about the Tennessee rivalry, if he’s a fan of cigars…

“I know that this tradition goes back quite a ways. I know that cigars are a part of it. But I know that what I’m trying to do is just make sure we do our part as a football program and prepare so that people can celebrate and enjoy the rivalry on our end. And a lot of respect for Tennessee, their coaches, their players. But we’re just pouring into the things we can control, what we can focus and want to bring that joy to not just the hard work we put in personally and within this team but also so our fan base can enjoy it, as well.”

On how to balance getting Ryan Williams the ball vs. what the defense gives…

“There was a couple more where it didn’t get to him or get completed. Ones where we were really trying to be intentional, whether it’s a screen or just a matchup one-on-one. There was another one or two where the ball in a progression very well could have got to him. Just like the other plays that he’s had throughout the season where he might not be the No. 1 option, but the progression will a lot of times take you there.

“He’s gotta be a guy that we’re always really paying attention to as far as the number of targets. I think, for the most part, we understand who those guys. A lot of them are in the starting lineup and maybe just the next guys in that you have to be really making sure in the game plan that they’re involved. And so that will always be the case. We’ve gotta continue to emphasize that. It’s something we always look at each and every week as we lay out the whole plan.”

On Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava…

“I think he’s got a live arm, extremely talented. You can tell that they’ve got the skill on the outside to where they can hit the home run and make big plays anytime. I think a lot of it is just trying to disrupt him to where the continuity and the flow is just not consistent, and that’s gonna be any quarterback. Every week, that’s the goal is try to just really cause some chaos and change things up on them.

“They get into their tempo off of positive plays, and that’s the key is try to make sure that they don’t get into that rhythm, just like any offense, that’s what you’re trying to do. He’s talented. You can see it’s there. He’s still, I think, growing and developing, and we’ve just gotta make sure we disrupt him enough and make sure we’re showing pictures and also getting bodies on bodies on the outside to where we make life hard like we would want to any other opponent.”

On how Jalen Milroe put mistakes behind him vs. South Carolina…

“I’m really intentional with him because I know how hard he is on himself. And this is really going back to – I wasn’t with him last year, but I know in spring ball and just how he was and knowing that we are fighting for each other, fighting with each other – that’s not just me and him. That’s our football team. When we’re in those moments, it’s all about moving forward. No regrets when we walk off this football field, knowing we’ve given everything we’ve got, and that’s just what I try to do when it comes to those times, not just with him, with our whole team.

“Those tight game moments, we’re all in this together, and we wanna to continue to learn. And so I’m gonna remind him, coach him up on the situations we’re in, how to apply the things we’ve talked about throughout the course of our time together so far. How to learn what’s happening this game and then just continue to move on. And we just keep stacking these moments on top of these moments. He’ll remember anything that happened this game. He’s gonna remember what happened to him four weeks ago, and that’s what I love about him.

“He is up here, he lives up here pretty much, wanting to be around the coaches. It’s not just me, it’s other staff members. And just from my standpoint, to answer your question, I think it’s just a matter of continuing to move forward, process, go 1-0 – as you’ve heard many of our players say – and what that all means. Learn from it, flush it, play in the present, next-play mindset.”
 

On the role of RBs Jam Miller and Justice Haynes so far...

"I think you want to have two. We were kind of forced to as you referred to Dylan a year ago to have that with some injuries to other guys. That number, I think we would love to see that be higher. Now how come that number is lower? I think it gets taken from some of J-Mil’s carries, which how can you argue with some of that when you’re rattling off some of the runs that he’s had. There’s that fine line of using him and keeping him fresh and using these other guys. I thought Jam and Justice ran very hard. I thought the run game in the Georgia game, I thought we were very close to having some runs that really developed. I thought there was another level of physicality, physicality of our offensive line and an execution that was just, not just in practice but also the game that was close. I thought that would really take the next step in the Vanderbilt game. I felt good about the week of practice. Because of the flow of the game, again, probably not as many carries and touches, but you could see there was an intentionality to what we were doing. It was just maybe in the run game, it’s getting them out and doing different things with them. We’ve seen touchdown catches and balls out on routes to both of them. They’re very critical to our offense. They’re extremely athletic. They can do it all. They’re every down backs in their own right. And we need to continue to grow and I think we took another step this week. I think South Carolina had a very strong defensive front, not just upfront but tying the linebacker corp and how they fit and that was going to be a challenge going in and I thought we took another step in our physicality and our execution. I thought those guys ran hard as well."

On the in-game adjustments and communication with defensive coordinator Kane Wommack...

"I think the key in any game plan is to try to have, really almost everything you have in the plan as far as your adjustments. Now, when you’re on defense there are some things that will pop up that you haven’t seen on film that you’ve got to refer back to something you’ve done with calls in the past. You try to really minimize that as much because the things you practice are the things the guys are comfortable with. Especially, week five, six, still as a new team, with a new defensive scheme. We don’t have a lot of these banked reps from a year ago with all our guys or even 10 or 11 games worth. It’s new things that pop up and we try to make the simplest adjustments to where our guys can still play fast. Down the road, this will all continue to bank as far as the reps that we have, the experiences that we have. We can recall on something that we did as an adjustment in the past, hopefully in the future and execute quicker and better in the games ahead. As far as the process between he and I? We’re just constantly between series talking on the phones real quick, just like I do with the offensive side. Just hearing what the next move is, for offense it’ll be what’re you thinking on the next drive? What’s the starter? What’s your next third and medium, third and short, third and long? Defensively, what are some of those adjustments maybe in those situations or how do we think they’re going to come out based on the flow or the situation of the game."

Is it easier or harder to scout a struggling team?

"Any opponent? Well you know that they’re going through it, and speaking really generally now because that’s the question. Yeah, you know they’re going to continue to try to find the things that really work well for them and you’ve got to be ready for anything and everything. But I think at this point in the year there’s still going to be some kind of basis that you work off of. Those added things, they’ve got to execute them as well too. That’s where we’re at. We’ve got things we want to add in and continue to do but we’ve got to get enough reps at them in practice, on top of the things that are already a part of our identity. Because if you can’t execute it well in an SEC game when things are moving that fast, when there’s so many good players on the football field, that can backfire, that can hurt you. The key is making sure we do what we do, apply our rules in everything that we have whether it’s offense, defense, special teams. And then be disciplined with it. That’s going to be the name of the game this week, every week moving forward."