Kalen DeBoer, Alabama's head football coach, tells McElroy & Cubelic why he's already dialed in for the 2024 season, how the WRs look to continue the Bama standard, and what recruiting has been like in the SEC
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Coach, how are you? Great to see you again. Yeah, good to see you guys too. You'll love this moment. You spent a couple minutes with my seven-year-old trying to talk to him about football and whatnot, and we walked away, and I said, son, you realize who that was, right? And he said, yeah, that's Alabama's coach. And I said, son, that's Alabama's head football coach. And he said, and he turned around and walked away. He wanted to go to the pool. And I was like, come on, man.

They're living a good life in the family there. Absolutely. That's good. How are you feeling about this event? You haven't gotten really started yet. We're your first visit, but how do you feel about coming here and being a part of this? Well, I've done a couple of interviews, and I think it's cool to just get back into football talking mode about your team. I mean, I love doing that, so this is fun. Absolutely. I know you get grilled and people try to come after you and stuff, but...

It's actually not that bad. It's gotten nicer in the last couple years. Everyone's so nice now. It's like, goodness gracious, some of the softballs that you'll get up there are off the charts. Is there anyone that you kind of talk to outside of, like, Coach Saban to prepare for –

for what you want to say today and the message you want to send? No, not really. I mean, I've done it a few times, and you kind of follow, you know, you kind of want to follow the lead of what Greg Sankey has when it comes to the conference and echo some of the things that we talk about within, you know, the conference there. But, yeah, it's just me just selling our team. And there's been so much media around our program already, just especially it would be that way, I think, no matter what. But with the transition, you know, there's –

there's been you know so much coverage a lot of the questions that you probably can get thrown at you have already been asked and and answered and just kind of you know two weeks closer to the seat or two weeks away from fall camp you know there's just a little more detail to it probably at this point I want to get detailed with your team we saw Jeremy Bernard in the spring game and obviously you know him well you've coached him you know what he's about looks like he's going to be a great add can

Can you just kind of take us through where you think you are with the rest of that position? Because Alabama fans are looking back at recent memory, and it has been the elite of the elite at that position. And I think just some folks are a little uncertain of exactly what that position is going to look like this year. Yeah, I think that position group has worked extremely hard trying to make sure they live up to the expectations that have been in place in this program. And, yeah.

I don't know if the experience and that superstar that's been there in the past exists at this moment, but I think as the season goes along, there's going to be times where those guys rise to the occasion and can do those type of superstar things. Germ, he's been working his tail off, and he's had a great offseason. He continues to just get stronger, faster. He's the fastest he's ever been. He's the leanest he's ever been.

I think he's really great in the respect of not just that position group, but the guys across the whole entire team. And he's got a humility about him. He's got a competitiveness about him. And then obviously he's super talented. So it's been fun seeing him grow along with a guy like Kendrick Law. Shoot, the guy can run like no other. I feel like he's just really grown in his consistency catching the football here from the spring into the summer.

and uh you know he can i mean he hit 23.6 miles an hour uh in workouts um and so he can absolutely fly and so uh you know on top of being a 450 pound bench guy um he's he's kind of got it all and so um he uh just goes about his business works hard uh continue to lead that position group um there's there's more guys too i think e-man uh henderson uh you know kobe prentice those guys have done a really good job and then um you know there's

a few more upperclassmen that are consistent, but a guy like Ryan Williams, you know, we'll see what he can do here. He's had a couple really good months learning the offense and diving into it, and I think everyone's been consistent

impressed with his commitment level and his just maturity I think maybe is something that just kind of really catches you considering he's supposed to be a senior in high school yeah how do you accelerate I mean I know Caleb Odom was there in the spring I know you want to have a role for him but Ryan just got there and that's a little unique now I mean

Back in our day, you arrive in June and we were early. Now it's like you arrive in June and everybody's there and you barely have a chance. How do you accelerate a guy's development when they arrive that late from high school? Yeah, well, you know, he just –

He just dives in, all in. And, you know, he got here just a couple weeks early in May just to try to get himself settled in, you know, mentally. And he had access to the weight room where there was no workouts that were really formally going on, but with where he was at and his –

enrollment and stuff he could he could come in and be around and you know try to just get caught up and it was a very apparent quickly that he had put a lot of time in getting caught up and then June hits and he's already out there you know not being perfect but you know going out there and really competing and impressing everyone. That's awesome good to hear and I know you get

Sometimes the guys are running open all the time, and there's some who are seven-on-sevens. It's good for the wideouts, not so good for the defensive backs. You kind of get to evaluate those position groups a lot, and I know that was a group that you were keeping a pretty close eye on in the spring. Went out and made a couple additions in the portal, in the second portal window. But you've had some young guys that are probably going to be playing pivotal roles there, at least professionally.

applying pivotal depth. So how do we feel about the secondary right now collectively as a whole heading in now to fall camp in a couple weeks? Yeah, our time here in the summer months, really when we can be with them, we can do some skill instruction. They, of course, have the workouts, and then they do the seven-on-sevens and the team sessions on their own. But, you know, I think it's

It certainly is the position that is going to have more youth to it. I think we have some good upperclassmen bringing in a Keyon Saab along with Malachi makes you really feel good about the safety position. Damani Jackson really had a great spring.

I like his mindset and his mentality. He's ready to go out there and just get after it. And then I think, you know, it's kind of a lot of other youth at the corner position. And, you know, there's talent there. It's just a matter of really trying to, you know,

Zabian Brown impresses every day in spring ball as well as what we have a chance to do with him here in the summer. Jalen Mbakwe, you can go on down the list. But again, those are guys that a lot of fans, unless you follow the recruiting, haven't heard of.

But they're super talented, and it's just a matter of how quickly we've got to bring them along and develop them. And Coach Moe Lindquist is crazy good when it comes to teaching defensive backs, and he's motivated to try to make sure that we continue to grow and develop that depth there. We've got to let you run. What's the most enjoyable thing you've done so far as Alabama's head coach? Like an underrated, low-key, fun thing that you've done that we might not know about. Uh-huh.

Man, I mean, yeah. He's had so much free time. There really hasn't been a lot that's done already. I look at the recruiting, and I'm like, he probably hasn't done anything. It's been really fun recruiting. June was a blur. Four weekends and nine camps, and so...

this week and next week are really the two weeks where I try to step away a little bit. But two weeks from today, we're on the football field practicing. That's what it's crazy about, man. Coach, thanks for the time. Have a fun time today. Have a great time today. We'll catch up with you a little bit more later, but we always enjoy visiting with you. Appreciate you guys. Real time. Absolutely. Kaelin DeBoer, Alabama head football coach, joining us here live at SEC Media Days. Need to get to a break. We'll be back in just a moment on Macaroni Kubelik in the morning.

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