What Kalen DeBoer Said after Alabama Beat Mizzou

COLUMBIA, Mo.–– No. 8 Alabama football held on to beat No. 14 Missouri, 27-24 in Columbia on Saturday afternoon. Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer will speak to the media after the victory.

Alabama improves to 5-1 (3-0 SEC) with the win.

Follow along for updates from the press conference with a full transcript and video to follow.

Full Transcript From Head Coach Kalen DeBoer

Opening Statement

"You bet. Great road win for us against a really good football team. A lot of respect for Coach Drinkwitz and what these guys are doing here at Missouri, but we did the job. We got the job done. Proud of just the fight. We give up a touchdown early. We answer the call and just each side of the ball covering for each other. We fumble right away in the second half, short field, I know they scored a touchdown there, but defense came back out their next couple drives and just continued to play ball. Even though we made some plays in critical moments at the end we also could've done a better job, I think, of putting the game away at other times throughout the job. It might not even be in the fourth quarter. It might've been in the third quarter. So, again, that's football. We found a way to win. We got the takeaways. A lot of crazy moments, between balls on the ground that we didn't get ahold of and things like that. A lot of looks from the officials on the calls and the spots and things like that.

"Just giving you guys the update on Jamarion Miller, concussion and Derek [Meadows] got a concussion as well."

What did you see on the game-winning play by Dijon Lee, and what kind of confidence do you have in him?

"I mean, Dijon's in the rotation. He's a playmaker. He's hard to throw around. He tackles well and so we trust him. He came in last spring and you could see he was going to be in the rotation, more than likely. And just has continued to get better and better and this isn't the first game we have obviously felt good with him out there all season long."

What did you see from the rushing defense after the first drive?

"Yeah, some of its just doing your job. I mean the quarterback keeping it around the edge and the contain, eyes got to be in the right spot. Everyone's got to do their job. We emphasize finishing and getting to him and he's a tough back, they both are. Quarterback did a nice job with his legs, I knew that would be a concern, but all in all I'm proud of the way we kept fighting, got off the field throughout the whole game. They went down the field throwing the ball more than anything at the end, but rush defense, I think we took another step in the right direction."

Ryan Williams popped up late in the week on the injury report and wasn't too involved today. What was he dealing with?

"Just something carried over from last week's game. It would've been earlier in the game last week, just took a hit. It would've been earlier in the game last week, just took a hit and so just hobbled. He didn't get to practice much this week. That's why he was on the report, which makes it a little harder to get him out there. Especially when you have the confidence in other guys to go make plays. I haven't gotten the report, exactly, of how he got through. I know he was out there and did help us. I would expect him to continue to make progress. He's not that far away."

What did you see in Ty Simpson's grit down the stretch?

"Just, he's got the ability, there's no question, right? When he stays within himself, he can make amazing plays and we just have to give him a little time. When he does, and the guys run the right routes and they're in the right place. It's more about being in the right place at the right time. He's seeing the defense. It's us putting our scheme against what he sees and the pictures that they're showing, the coverages that they're giving us. We've got all the faith in the world. The first touchdown pass, just love the situation and just how he drilled it in there. Coach Grubb having confidence and obviously, I've got confidence in him too. Fourth down, we're going for it a couple times and he delivered. So there's things that he can keep getting better at, just staying within himself. That's really the key for him is just stay within himself, not trying to do too much. When he does that, he stacks plays, he stacks first downs and sooner or later we end up in the endzone. So I think there's still a lot of room for improvement. The sky's the limit for him."

How important was it to win the time of possession battle against Missouri?

"Huge. Huge. Just not letting them get in a rhythm. Not letting the run game wear you down, open up play action, and our offense also staying on the football field, time after time. That wears on them, too. There's times, I know, we wanted to put more points on the board ourself, but it's part of the game when you play a team like this."

How was Ty Simpson's demeanor on the sideline when dealing with pressure?

"Yeah, I think it's everything. It's not just frustration with pressure, it's frustration with just everything. There's just things that could've been cleaner. It's not bad, but he knows what is perfect and that's what he wants. He wants it perfect. He wants to score every possession. So a little frustration isn't bad, but I think in the end, he does a good job of regrouping himself. Our guys regroup around him and they feed off of his confidence and that's what matters to me is how we come back out the next drive and we're coming back to work."

Talk us through the fourth down convertion to Lotzier Brooks late in the game?

"Yeah, you're just too far out for a field goal, obviously. And just keep swining. I just feel like if wee keep swinging and they put me in a spot to put the pressure on me by converting some yards on third down. When I see the fight and I see us get the ball and I think, was it Kevin [Riley] on the checkdown? And he's knifing through. I just see us battling. There's a feeling you have. There's a belief you have. A lot of it is on the body language and on the execution and just feel when you've got a quarterback with some guys around him that can go make plays. You can't be reckless and a punt in that spot can gain you some yards. It can put them back, but also, we're going to play to win. We've done that quite a bit this season, already and want to continue to play to win."

How have you seen Lotzier Brooks come on as a wide receiver as a freshman?

"Yeah if you saw this guy practice every day, I wish you guys could see him practice. I know you're going to tell me, 'Let us'. I opened myself up there [LAUGHTER]. This guy is just full speed all the time. When he's on the football field, he just loves the game. It's not just when he's out there running routes, it's showing up on special teams week one. Just what he does and he can go down there and tackle when we're on special teams and just getting the ball in his hands, we've got to keep finding ways to do it. He's continued to gradually gain more and more of the offense and without even having to put those reps in and get him in there. Because he's running a lot to make sure his timing is good, because a lot of these plays, you go with older guys, you get a younger guy in there you need to make sure you feel really good about it. He's got a knack for the ball, he's got instincts, he's elusive, he can break tackles, and so you've got to keep putting him out there and letting him go do his thing."

What went into the decision to go for it there on fourth down and what were you saying to Lotzier Brooks after the game?

"Yeah, just the ball isn't neccessarily going to go to him. Ty's got to go through, depending on the coverage and there's other options. We feel good about all those guys. The ball ended up in his hands. When Ty got out in space and got a little extra time, I think that really helped. A great ball on his part in a big moment. Just talking with Lotty afterwards, I told him I'm proud of him for pretty much what I just told you, how hard he works, just the plays he makes. A year ago we were not making the plays in the critical moments to win games. That was a big play to go win a football game and he did it and our team needed him and he came through."

Full Transcript From Head Coach Kalen DeBoer

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