After just over a month on the job, Kalen DeBoer, the new head coach of Alabama football, has finally had time to establish a schedule. Just a few days after losing the national championship game in Houston, the former head coach of Washington was thrown into the task of succeeding the famous Nick Saban.
After Nick Saban retired, DeBoer’s main responsibility was to oversee the Alabama team, as many of the Crimson Tide players travelled to the Capstone to play for the legendary signal caller.
Several of Alabama’s finest players chose to use the transfer portal despite head coach DeBoer’s best attempts. However, the new coach stated internally that the roster change didn’t feel as dramatic as the national narrative portrayed when he joined Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic on WJOX on Tuesday.
“I believe that a significant portion of that turnover occurred prior to our arrival on campus. I believe that at one point, perhaps eighteen of the guys were in the portal before Coach ever retired. The numbers may have varied, maybe one or two guys here and there. It’s exactly what you mentioned about the current state of college athletics and football. However, there might have been a few others who had added their names but weren’t yet included. And it only takes one or two days for that to occur. Thus, out of the four or five males that I actually had the opportunity to interact with, they chose to move on and put.
Through the transfer portal, Alabama was able to acquire players such as safety Keon Sabb, receiver Germie Bernard, cornerback Domani Jackson, edge LT Overton, and centre Parker Brailsford, while also losing players like Isaiah
Bond, Caleb Downs, and Kadyn Proctor.
Now that recruiting has at a standstill, DeBoer told the Birmingham radio show he’s been eager to spend time in the facility and get ready for spring practice. The beloved “Fourth Quarter” training programme, which the Alabama Crimson Tide football team uses every spring to prepare for the season, got underway.
