Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer Ready 'To Hit Ground Running' Installing System

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has had a whirlwind few weeks since losing the national championship game in Houston. DeBoer became the replacement for legendary head coach Nick Saban upon his retirement, despite not having any ties to Alabama or the south.

"I think football is also football, no matter where you go. Our stuff will translate to wherever we've been," said DeBoer at the Senior Bowl on Wednesday. "I've been in the midwest and other places in the country. Making the jaunt from the west coast to the southeast I think all the things we do will translate over"

DeBoer was given a monumental task of keeping the Alabama roster together and continuing the momentum that Saban and his staff built on the recruiting trail. For all his efforts through the first month of the job, he's still only spent precious moments in Tuscaloosa. Therefore he and his staff are surely looking forward to next week's signing date in order to start implementing their schematics and process on the current roster.

"From a staff standpoint we're really looking forward to next week. To being around our guys, spending a lot of time with the team back on campus. Those that have gone with us from Washington, there's certainly an understanding of the system. What certain concepts are called and how we teach them," said DeBoer Hopefully back on campus they're picking up on those things, Jalen [Milore], Austin [Mack] as well as having a center like Parker [Brailsford] there who knows all the calls. We can hit the ground running here next week when it comes to installing offensive and defensive systems"

The team, like DeBoer, has stayed busy throughout the month. While the coaching staff has been on the road, getting to know southeastern high school coaches, the current football players have been knee-deep in offseason workouts.

"I think with our own roster management we've done a pretty good job. Initially the uncertainty was there with Coach Saban retiring. We lost some guys, there were some guys who were gone even before that. I feel really good about where the competitive mindset of the team is at. They're into workouts and wanting to uphold the standard. I know they can't wait to get to what our systems are and the playbooks and all of that. I think it's a really good spot. Obviously we've got to work for the '25 class, but we're also making sure the '24 class are still with us, whether they're on campus or even not with us till summer. I think we're in a really good spot," said DeBoer.