Alabama fans will get a look behind the curtain from Kalen DeBoer’s first season. The Crimson Tide’s 2024 campaign is the subject of a new documentary from Fox Nation titled, ‘The Tides That Bind: Inside Alabama Football. The six-part series released its first episode Wednesday and will air weekly on Wednesdays over the next six weeks.

For those who aren’t subscribed to Fox Nation, don’t worry. Tide Illustrated will be providing takeaways from all six episodes moving forward. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the debut episode.

The episode begins with an animated look inside Alabama’s locker room before the Georgia game. Here are some of the soundbites from different players.

Offensive lineman Jaeden Roberts: “I’m gonna kill one, bro. I swear to God.”

Wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard: “We’re going to have to make them feel us today. I know they gon’ feel you.”

Quarterback Jalen Milroe: Be a killer tonight. Be an assassin.”

However, the best moment came from DeBoer, who dropped in a rare cuss word… well, if you count saying “hell” as swearing.

“Be who we are,” DeBoer said. “When we’re at our best, we’re aggressive, we’re fundamental, we’re disciplined. We’re tough as hell.”

It wasn’t much, but the episode provided a few audio clips of Alabama’s in-game communication through headsets. Most of the snippets involved congratulations after big plays or basic checks on timeouts and possession. Still, it will be interesting to see if something juicy gets caught through the headphones later on in the series.

Ryan Williams was highlighted several times during the episode. One of the best moments regarding the star receiver occurred when he was shown opening his own trading card for the first time.

“That’s like my whole childhood, just going to the store,” Williams said looking at the card. “I have friends that collect the cards like this … to see myself, I don’t even feel like it’s real. That’s me.”

Alabama won’t announce next season’s permanent team captains until the fall, but it will be a major surprise if Tim Keenan III isn’t one of them. The veteran defensive lineman was shown rallying teammates several times throughout the episode, including a memorable huddle-up before practice.

“I had faith in us when nobody else did,” Keenan said in the clip. “I had faith in myself when nobody else did. God had faith in us when nobody else did, baby. But with faith comes work. You gotta work like you know you’re gonna be the best. You gotta work like you’re going to have the victory. Hey man, I’ve got faith in all of us, baby.”

Keenan also showed off his leadership during halftime of the Georgia game, scalding his teammates for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on offensive lineman Miles McVay.

“Everybody stop right now,” Keenan said in the locker room. “We got a dumbass 15-yard penalty baby. Get this s— right.”

Along with his motivation on the field, Keenan was shown reading scripture with his teammates throughout the episode.

The first episode touches on name image and likeness, as Williams and fellow five-star freshman Jaylen Mbakwe were presented with a NIL deal giving them diamond chain necklaces. The duo was also given necklaces to pass out to the rest of the team and set out across the facility distributing them.

Offensive lineman Tyler Booker was the first player shown receiving the bling. Next came receiver Germie Bernard. Williams and Mbakwe didn’t stop there, though. They also passed out a necklace to DeBoer and Shephard.

The episode cut directly from Shephard smiling after receiving a chain to a clip of the assistant delivering a fiery message to Alabama’s receiving corps.

“I’m tired of sugarcoating s— for people in this room anymore,” Shephard said. “I’m not sugarcoating. It’s a tell-tale sign our two receivers who have the most production in the room are the two taking notes right now. It’s a tell-tale sign that’s how it is. I’m sick of this s—. The ball goes in the air, we’ve got to want it.

“Everybody wanna be cute. All these weak-ass haircuts y’all got. S— all pristine and s—. Ain’t nobody got no dog in them.”

The two players Shephard referenced taking notes were Williams and Germie Bernard. It looked like Cole Adams was also jotting things down in the meeting.

By now, we’re used to seeing Williams put up big numbers. After reclassifying and joining Alabama at 17 years old last season, the five-star talent led the team with 865 yards and eight touchdowns through the air. He also added a pair of rushing touchdowns and averaged 10.0 yards on 12 punt return attempts.

During the filmed receivers meeting, Shephard shared some more impressive stats from his star receiver, revealing that Williams ran a position-high 8,037 yards in that day’s practice while also leading the unit by reaching a top speed of 21.9 miles per hour.

According to Shephard, only two other players on the team ran faster than 20 mph. However, he did not list those who achieved the feat.

Milroe’s ability to break down defenses at the line of scrimmage has been questioned over the past few months. However, the episode highlighted the quarterback breaking down film and describing the pressure the defense was showing.

“I come in here at 4, 4:15. I go through everything,” Milroe said of his game-week preparation. “I go through the script cut-up, I go through base-down pressures, third-down pressures. I watch everything in here.”

One of the biggest moments of the first episode didn’t have anything to do with football.

The documentary highlighted a practice visit from Tim and Marianne Esco, who lost their 14-year-old son to Leukemia last August. Following a practice, Tim spoke with the team about how much they inspired his son during his nine-year fight with cancer. He also reminded Alabama players about the impact they have on the community.

“I want to tell y’all, to whom much is given, much is required,” Tim told the players. “Y’all have been given a lot. Y’all are representing every little kid that can’t come out. Look, y’all do not know how much y’all mean to people. Y’all have the ability to change lives. You did with my son.”

Fox might be set to reveal a new story on Alabama’s biggest star.

This week’s episode closed with Williams’ game-winning touchdown catch against Georgia. Before showing the play, Fox played a clip of the receiver explaining his mindset before big moments.

“There’s pretty much no situation that I’m uncomfortable in,” Williams said. “Cause I’ve been in a life-or-death situation. I know how to deal with stuff. Because if I ain’t died, I know I’m going to be OK. That’s why now whenever people are like, ‘Do you feel pressure?’ I’m like ‘No, the pressure I felt was 10 times worse than this.' Like, this ain’t nothing.

But like I need my people to be OK. Like I keep in the back of my head that I’m here for a reason.”

It’s unclear what Williams is referencing, but it seems like we might find out sometime over the next five episodes.