Everything Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama's first spring scrimmage

Alabama Football held its first spring scrimmage on Friday, March 27, on the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields. Head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to reporters in the indoor practice facility after it ended. Here’s everything DeBoer said about the Crimson Tide’s seventh spring practice.

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“What we want to talk about is basketball, right? (How’s your bracket?) You know I can’t do that, right? There’s only one team that matters, one team that matters. So, I wish Coach Oats the best of luck tonight, and his team, they’re fun to watch and excited about the run they’re on. So, I want to see them keep it going. 

“But good scrimmage today. Getting what you want out of the first scrimmage in particular, seven practices down. A lot of new faces, as we know, getting a lot of good reps. First time really seeing them tackle. And just the way the setup of the days work, coming off the spring break. So, today was really good. A lot of evaluation that we can take from practice today and get better. We’ll turn around and make sure we’re improving on those areas on Monday.”

DeBoer on the quarterbacks…

“Well, Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa, they’re doing a great job. No, they did a great job today, really, talking about Austin and Keelon. I know that’s what the question’s about. I love the aggressiveness that they have. They’re not gun-shy. They go and make plays attacking whenever they can get the right opportunities with the throws, and they’re making the throws. And the guys are coming through, making the plays for them and catching it. I think they’re gaining more confidence in the offensive line each and every day. That’s going to take time. We know there’s a lot of faces up front, but they’re clear with their communication. There’s not a lot that’s catching them off guard, and so they can go out and let their skills speak for themselves and make the plays.”

DeBoer on who he likes at the guard position…

“You guys know that Will Sanders isn’t in there right now. Obviously, he would be thrown into the mix with his experience and ability. Different guys, we have Nick Brooks. We’ve rotated Michael Carroll in there some. Michael is so diverse; he can play guard and tackle, and it’s been great allowing him to see what he does best, but also get some guys some reps. We need tackles. Mike’s going to be one of our three to four, three main tackles, no matter what. You know that. Jackson and Jayvin’s done a nice job, too. So, it gives us a little bit of work that we can kind of figure out on the right side there. And then, Ethan (Fields) has done a nice job coming along. I thought this week has been really a consistent step in the right direction for him. Mal (Waldrep) has been with the twos, rotated with the ones. At the end of the year, he had an injury, and so, it’s good to see him really picking up every single day and getting more and more confidence each and every practice.”

DeBoer on offensive tackle Jayvin James…

“I think this week was a good week for him. Consistency. I think there’s areas, he’s pretty solid in pass pro. Can get better in the run game. Just getting used to our offensive style and things like that, I think, but has started to pick things up and been consistent. That’s what you’re looking for right now. You just don’t want the highs and lows and just missed assignments that come out of nowhere and, all of the sudden, the quarterbacks caught surprised in the backfield with a guy in his face. And so, it starts with that, making sure the communication from center on out is there. And Racin (Delgatty)’s is doing a nice job getting that started. And so, Jayvin outside has just done a pretty consistent job, and that’s what we want. Now, we need to see him keep taking the next steps and become a dominant player for us.”

DeBoer on if Jackson Lloyd is still the starting left tackle…

“I think it’s always in our program gonna be day to day. He’s done a great job to deserve the notoriety, I guess that’s been given to him. It’s happened because every single day he brings his best. That was last fall, that was this winter and spring. He’s become very strong. And he’s already an athletic kid and going out there and doing some really good things on the football field. But I think that’s the important thing, not just for him, but for all our guys, is if you’re the guy that’s taken most of the reps at a certain position, I don’t care if it’s O-line or wide receiver, you better not get comfortable. You better keep the pedal down, because the next guys are coming. That’s the neat thing with having so many new faces. As you’re seeing in practice, the competitiveness is happening. It’s within a position group, it’s within offense versus defense. A lot of new faces. A lot of the early practices were just spent on us understanding what tempo we want and what we want it to look like when we’re practicing here at Alabama, as all these different guys, whether it’s high school or transfers, come into our program.”

DeBoer on what he saw from the running backs…

“I thought AK (Dear) had a couple of nice runs in there. All of them gotta continue to grow and get better. Daniel (Hill)’s been consistent. I think he’s taken advantage of just kind of having an offseason to lean up. A year ago, really from the previous ‘24 season, was still dinged up, had to have surgery. We knew it during spring ball. Had to have it after. I think that really went into him not having the offseason he’d probably like and the season that he knows he can improve on and be better than. Those guys are all working. EJ (Crowell) is really not taking a lot of reps, if any at all. That’s unfortunate, but we’ll keep working. Kevin (Riley), I think, is building on what he showed all of us last season, as well.”

DeBoer on newcomers on the defensive line…

“A lot of potential to set the front, let them play ball. Not have to utilize pressures and blitzes all the time to cause chaos in the backfield. The ability to stop the run with the four, and obviously, the linebackers and your support is there to help. We have certainly a bigger group of guys than what we’ve had in the past. Last year, probably our biggest struggle against the run game wasn’t on the edges. Our system lends to making sure balls don’t get out there very often in the run game, but even in the last game, you saw people just running right down the middle of our defense. We want to be able to mix things up, but you also want to be able to just play base with the guys, and our personnel, I think with those guys you mentioned, are going to allow us to do that. They’ve still got a ways to go, but I like the direction we’re headed.”

DeBoer on if there is a competition at kicker…

“When you bring in someone else, it’s open competition. It was pretty obvious to Conor (Talty) that that’s the case. What I love about Conor is he didn’t shy away from it and decided to stay here. He knew he had plenty of time to leave if he wanted to. He wanted to stay here. He’s got it in him. Just continue to battle. I like that competition there. I think we’re going to be good. I know we’re going to be good no matter who it is and whoever wins out because both of them have a pretty high ceiling.”

DeBoer on who’s impressed him at inside linebacker…

“Very competitive. You’ve got guys like QB (Reese) coming back, Abduall (Sanders), Luke (Metz). All those guys know the system, and Duke (Johnson), as well, knows the system. They have a little bit of a head start. It’s fun seeing the growth that a guy has from even the end of the season, getting the install in the winter, putting some more mass on and becoming more confident. Those guys are certainly doing that. Caleb (Woodson) comes in, and you can just see that he’s been on the football field and taken a lot of snaps. There’s a veteran presence that he brings. He’s out there, and the schemes aren’t too fast for him. He picks those up, and now, that’s allowed him to go punch the ball and cause chaos that type of way and just be the baller that we were expecting to get when we brought him in.”

DeBoer on what stood out about the wide receivers today…

“I think they’re working really well with the quarterbacks. They made a lot of plays today. They did a really nice job making the ones that are hard, and sometimes that’s a catch in contact, but they hit some explosives today. That’s everyone, right? That’s the offensive line providing the time. That’s the quarterback making a good decision, throwing on time to put the ball where it needs to be. Explosives are a result of timing and ball placement, and I thought the quarterbacks did a really nice job. It allowed the receivers to catch balls on the run and go do their thing, the piece that they’re actually really good at.”

DeBoer on Kaden Strayhorn and Ty Haywood…

“We need them to make strides because they don’t have a lot of snaps under their belt. We are gonna need and we’re counting on them to be in the mix and be competitive with those guys at the ones. They’ve still got work, but they come and bring a great attitude, as I would expect it. And they have that ability. You can see they have it in them. It’s what we hope for. But they’re still — they’re past learning the system, but the timing and just being comfortable out there. … I will say Kaden’s done a nice job. The center position has to get it all going, and he and Racin coming in really have kind of been a positive for us as far as getting everything aligned. I don’t feel like there is much confusion at all considering we have brand-new centers, and so, that’s a credit to them.”

DeBoer on how long EJ Crowell will be limited…

“I’d say it’s week-to-week. It’s probably not day-to-day, but it’s week-to-week, unfortunately.”

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