How Alabama's Coaches Are Approaching Early Bye Week

The Crimson Tide is not scheduled to compete on Saturday after three weeks of victories.

Aug 31, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer watches his team warm up before a game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be the first with DeBoer as head coach of the Crimson Tide. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images / Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

After the first three games of the Kalen DeBoer era, the Alabama football team won't be competing on Saturday, as the 3-0 Crimson Tide begins its first bye week.

The lack of stress from not focusing on an upcoming opponent also gives Alabama time to reflect on its start to the season, especially since morning practices won't be as often as the typical game week.

During Monday's media session, DeBoer, who is starting his first bye week at Alabama since being hired on Jan. 12, detailed his goals of the open frame system through the perspective of the coaching staff.

"It's our job to just continue to put them in the best spot, helping them to continue to gain confidence behind them that the preparation is what's going to lead to their success," DeBoer said. "And just a belief, a belief in what we do, how we do it — that's, to me, football. That's how you're successful in anything. That's what we'll do here with the bye week."

"We'll take a few of these days here just to let the coaching staff start working ahead on the schematics and game plan. There's obviously some recruiting, there's other parts of the program where coaches focus their attention as well."

Of course, the ideology of the bye week revolves around rest in this nonstop and exhausting sport of football. DeBoer assured that the team will use "a couple of days to relax and decompress a little bit," as the Crimson Tide has been extremely active long before Week 1 against Western Kentucky.

"I know it's only been three games in the season, but they've been going for seven weeks as of tomorrow when it comes to practices," DeBoer said. "This little time here where they can take care of some school and kind of get caught up, or just make sure they're on pace and working ahead even in those areas that are away from football, and knock that out, so they can do what they love and not have any distractions."

Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan also spoke to the media about bye week goals on Monday, and used the "go 1-0 every day" angle for his phase of the ball.

"That’s gonna show up each and every week, where you have good moments and then things that you’ve got to improve on, so this group is one that’s focused, that’s hungry, that cares a whole bunch, that loves football, so I’m not concerned about the engagement of the group," Sheridan said. "I would expect them to be fully, we use the word 'intentional' about a week like this. Whether it’s your rest, your recovery, your preparation, fundamentals, whatever it may be. Each player may be a little bit different. Each player can best maximize this week a little bit different. And so, I think the challenge to them is to be intentional with whatever they need to improve on."

DeBoer explained that the team will return to the field and have some "really solid practices" on Thursday, Friday and Sunday to "give [Alabama] a jump on the next game with Georgia."

Alabama's heavyweight matchup against Georgia has been circled on the calendar by the college football world since the schedule came out. The Crimson Tide currently sit at the No. 4 spot in the AP Poll while the Bulldogs landed at No. 2 in Sunday's rankings after holding the top spot since the initial Preseason Poll. The Sept. 28 game is slated for a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff time at the newly named Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, who also spoke to the media on Monday, reflected on his defense through the first three weeks. He said that the unit has to be more consistent with blitz techniques and blitz patterns, but they've had the good problem of not getting enough reps against early opponents. However, Wommack understood that there will be plenty of reps against the upcoming SEC part of the schedule, especially against Georgia, and he illustrated how he plans to have these issues corrected ahead of these matchups.

"For us, you want to get a jump on your next opponent from a schematic standpoint," Wommack said. "From a coaching standpoint, we'll get some of those things prepared. But also, if there are things we're going to see in the next few weeks that we do not see in practice or we have not seen yet this season, we may use a walk-through or a scout team period to probably get a jump on some of those things as well, based off the schematics we'll see from our opponents the next three to four weeks. There's a number of different layers to how you handle a bye week."

In short: DeBoer aims to keep motivating and for the team to relax and reflect, Sheridan is looking to improve his offense in multiple facets and Wommack is looking forward to correcting mistakes on defense well ahead of every game for the rest of the season.