How Involved Kalen DeBoer Will Be with Alabama Offense

With his former offensive coordinator heading to the NFL, the new Alabama head coach discussed in a radio interview on WJOX his plans for the Crimson Tide offense.

Washington had one of the best offenses and passing attacks in college football last season with Kalen DeBoer at the helm and Ryan Grubb as the offensive coordinator. Grubb initially followed DeBoer to Alabama for the same role, but took a job in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks last week.

With Grubb's departure, questions arose about who will be calling Alabama's offense in 2024. During an interview on WJOX on Tuesday morning, DeBoer talked about how involved he plans to be in the offense.

DeBoer shared that he called offenses for nearly two decades from 2000-2019 while at Sioux Falls, Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana. When he returned to Fresno State as head coach took over play-calling duties as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

Now, with the Crimson Tide on the offensive ball he has assistants like offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan and co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard.

"Guys that have been with me the last two years, and Nick being with me back in 2019," DeBoer said during the interview. "He ran the offense then after I left Indiana, so he’s been a part of it for five years. And these guys are just such gifted football coaches, amazing people. And we’ll keep that system, what we see. And I think every year it’s a little bit different just based on your personnel– who we had at Washington and who we had at Fresno State. And you go back through the years, it’s been different every place.

“So it’s got that flexibility to be able to adjust around the personnel we have, and we have extremely smart people here in the building that will continue to build on what’s already been established. And so yeah, I’m in and around it. I can’t help but always know exactly what’s going on. I do want them to make it theirs as we go through it, but I’m certainly involved and have a deep passion for making sure of what’s happening on the football field."

So while DeBoer will of course be involved, the new Alabama head coach made it sound like he will leave it up to his assistants to call the offense.

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