Kalen DeBoer has a banged-up shin, and Alabama still has a few growing pains to sort out before the beginning of the season. However, the Crimson Tide wrapped up a positive first day of preseason camp on Wednesday.
Following Alabama’s opening practice DeBoer spoke to the media for roughly 15 minutes. Here’s a transcript of what he said.
Opening statement
"I think just like most first practices — great energy," he said in his opening statement. "Guys were excited to get out there. I can't remember many times where we had to coach up the excitement and passion. It was all there. These guys have worked hard. We're excited about practice one. So always going to be far from perfect, but each side had its moments and made plays, and that's what you want. I love being the head coach in those times, right? Because the assistants they want every play to be perfect, and so they win half they lose half the time. I get to win all the time because I just choose a side that wins on that play. But no, it's good having that give and take, and I felt that's what we had.
"And welcome to the south, right? For me in particular, just practice is a little bit warmer than the rest of the summer. It hit us here with practice one. So guys grinding through it. I thought, actually, they kept getting stronger as the day went on, which is what you want to see and they kept their spirits high through the very last rep."
On Ryan Williams’ development
"Yeah, consistently, just in this trajectory, on up. You know, I don't need him day one. I mean, you want every play to be amazing, explosive, but you just want him lining up right, doing the fundamental things, making the easy plays. And then, you know, because of his ability, the big ones will come. So when your routes on air, run a good route, catch the ball, accelerate out with good ball security. And you find those consistent fundamentals, and you stack days and those plays that we know he'll be capable of making will happen."
On Kadyn Proctor and his new leaner physique
"I don't have a huge understanding of what he was a year ago, other than watching on film. But it feels like he's in really good shape and lean. When you ask people who would have an understanding — Coach Ballou and so forth — it'd be nothing but positive about the progress he's made. Strength and explosive numbers, I know are up. That's facts, that's real. And then also just the way his body looks leaner. He's just so dense. He's got so much mass. He's gonna be big, no matter what. So loved his demeanor out there. It's good to have good to have him back, good to have him here."
On conditioning and whether he’ll wear a sweatshirt like Kane Wommack
"No, you won't see me like that. That's his thing. Let him do that. The strength stats, Coach Ballou, he's been doing this year now. He knows what that takes this summer, even going back into winter. For me it's now getting into football shape. You try to replicate that as best you can, and I know he's all over it. But there's still something about putting pads on, having that helmet on, some guys were a mask, breathing through that thing, some of them having a mouthpiece in, all that good stuff. The guys had a good day out there today."
On Alabama’s three spring transfers in the secondary
"I always like to see the film before I make too many comments on missed assignments or anything like that. One or two plays, I think might have happened because of maybe those guys being in there and just not in sync completely. But that's expected, practice one, new faces out there in the field. But I love their energy. I love their attitude. They give great effort. They've really meshed well with the whole team. I think there's a ton of respect by their teammates, and that's what you want.
"We lot of that starts with just their character and the work ethic that follows along. They got ability, now it's just matter of getting those reps so they can be confident themselves and others can be confident, knowing and believing that they'll be in the right spot."
On making knee-jerk reactions during practice
"I mean, you got to be real. That's what I tell our guys. And I'm going to tell our team on a Sunday after a game what it was — Tell the Truth Sunday, and we got to be real. And then when it comes to games, everyone can see if you got to be better or if it was a great day, it's usually pretty obvious. And when it comes to practice, we can't just gloss over things ever. We gotta understand where we're at and we have relationships with each other so we can be real and hold each other accountable.
"Today, I thought was great practice. Anytime, every day there's things to learn from. You learn from the good, you learn from the bad. Learn from others' mistakes and your own. And so a lot of that happened today — the good, the bad, the mistakes. And we get to go watch film. We get to talk about it here in team meeting. I really feel like we've made the most of every practice since I've been here, going back in this spring."
On who is ahead, the offense or defense
"As far as who won or who's ahead, I guess, I don't really feel like there's one side of the ball. I think there's position groups within that continue to rise up, and I think it's pretty balanced across the board with the whole team."
On Jalen Milroe’s communication
"When I talk about racks, you know, a four or five play sequence or a drive in practice, I just love following up with him and he just takes all the coaching. He knows when I coach him up, that's my job. We talk about teaching and critiquing and demanding excellence and the best. And he takes that every play, looking for it, and working to be better. But he had a really solid day all around. And I know he's far from reaching what he'll be next week, much less the first game."‌
On players having difficulties getting used to morning practices
"Certainly, I think that a few guys — even though we really pushed it hard — I think they underestimate just the fuel they got to get in their bodies and so which leads to cramping and things like that. So they'll learn from it. That's part of this process. That's part of what we talk about them grinding every day, refining everything, whether it's note-taking in the meetings, to their craft and the technique they have, to man I gotta eat more. I gotta get more sleep, I gotta drink more, hydrate and all that.
"So I think there's a couple of guys when you go really follow up on the cramping things like, what did you eat? They didn't eat enough. So that will become a positive, because throughout the week we don't want that cumulative fatigue that can happen. And by practicing and the schedule that we'll be on, I just feel like we got it down to where these guys will understand it and be able to adjust accordingly and take advantage of it, not fall fatigued to it."
On adding transfer cornerback DaShawn Jones
"I mean, he's taken some snaps at the college football level, so we need him out there. I think there's our confidence about him because of that that we need in our program always, but also in that position room. And all those guys, the cool thing is I think they all respect each other and just pushing each other learn it every single day. And Coach Mo doing an awesome job."
On the importance of the offensive line getting reps in camp
"It's huge. It's huge. I mean, that's where it all starts. I think your team is always going to be maximized based on what your offensive line can do. Because it sets the tempo and it forces the defensive line and linebackers to really do a good job of fitting their gaps and run, you can protect the quarterback to where he can go through his reads and receivers have the time to go through their routes, defensive backs now having to make plays because the protection's there. So these guys up front, really a couple of them haven't been there throughout the spring. But like you said, Parker is now back in there. Kadyn is here. Pritchett still took a lot of reps, so he had a nice day. I thought Wilkin did a nice job. So a lot of mix and matching, especially at the tackle position. I guess the interior three was pretty consistent. But their reps are going to be really critical for our success."
On Jeheim Oatis returning from injury
"He was almost ready right at the end of spring ball. And so he's had a good summer and excited about what he'll bring the table for us. So he was right on the verge — if we had one more week of spring ball we would probably made sure he was out there at that time."
On if Alabama will have guest speakers during camp
"The team doesn't know those names, so I can't [say]. But we will certainly have some guys. I think first year especially, it's important to me to try to lay that culture, just make sure it's all right where we want it. And so I eat up a lot of that time for different things that I've either done in the past or, again, just starting over from scratch with us all being new together. You know, the one thing our guys are, they're still finishing summer school here these next couple days. And so they have a big block that I even just blocked off here this afternoon and we did the same thing yesterday and then Friday, there's some finals that are getting taken. It's not the whole team, but it's a pretty good chunk. And graduation here at the end of the week as well for a few guys. So excited about that, but they're finishing summer school.
“There will be a couple weeks where they don't have anything but football, but then they do start fall semester on the 21st. So we'll bring some speakers in. I think it's great to hear from people who have been through it, experienced great things. You know, that's fun. It's been a tradition here, I know something that guys really enjoy. And we'll keep growing that, but this year, just also wanted to dial down a little bit and make sure the right messaging is continually coming from me and our staff."
On moving to different position groups during practices
"I guess if I'm going to expect that I have a relationship with all of them, I need to really be able to get around and they need to see me and and that I care about their progress and coach them up and sit in the meeting rooms with them, knowing exactly the details that they're being taught so I can emphasize it to them as well. And when they come up and see me in my office, it's not just general conversations. We pop on the film and really talk through because I know what's being taught. I know the reps, and we have that relationship. And that's, to me, part of what I feel is a strength of myself and the staff, is us all working together and all the players just feeling like, Coach isn't just caring about this position or that position or that side of the ball."
On if he’ll have an identifying piece of clothing at practice like Nick Saban’s straw hat
"I don't. This is what you get, right here, with a broken shin."
On what he wants to see from the freshmen defensive backs
"Yeah, they had a good spring. They got some of the install again and got some of the technical work in the summer. But now here they get it another time around. And they always say growth from year one to year two; to me, it's from the spring to the fall. It's the second really full install time that they've they've kind of heard the lingo, the language, how they're being taught, the reps. And so what we need to see from them is just taking that next big step. And then, much like the question with Ryan [Williams] also being a younger guy on offense, you just want to see that consistency. You know, consistency builds trust, and that trust, again, is going to be something that, whether old or young, we all got a gel and whoever's on the football field, there's got to be that trust within so we can have confidence to go out there and make plays."
