Everything Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama's second spring scrimmage

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama held its second spring scrimmage on Friday, April 3, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to reporters in the stadium’s media room after it ended. Here’s everything DeBoer said about the Crimson Tide’s 10th spring practice.

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“Scrimmage 2, good to be in the stadium. Probably that’s the biggest thing, getting in here and all of it from the players. We got 20-plus high school guys and then the transfers the first time really stepping inside Bryant-Denny and getting a feel for that. So we’ll be back in here, obviously, next week for A-Day. And then kicking game too, I think, first time really kicking in here. So it’s good for those guys, whether it’s the kickers or the punters.

“So, a competitive scrimmage. Probably flipped as far as who won early, who won late, probably from the first time. And that’s usually the case. Someone’s got something to prove. And you can tell there’s another level of install when it comes to what we’ve done this week on top of what we put into the first scrimmage. Some execution really good. Some execution that we certainly got to clean up. But, again, that’s sometimes a part of the process. As we get to the second scrimmage, there’s a lot happening, not just what you’re doing, but what you’re facing, what you got to be ready for on the other side of the ball. So some highs and lows for each side of the ball.”

DeBoer on the offensive line…

“I think there’s the ones and the twos, and I would say there’s differences between kind of what their strengths are right now. A lot of it’s the matchups that they have in front of them. I think probably you want to talk more about the ones first. Started a little bit slow the first couple drives got some seams. The running backs hit it for some explosives. And then, it just goes back and forth. It’s the ebbs and flows of football. But I think overall, which what you see is they’re understanding what their responsibility is. Again, another level of install, some new things we put in. Feel like the stuff we’ve wrapped that’s across the board, they’ve done a good job of picking up. And things that are newer, we still got some work to do.

“And I think the potential is there. I think from run game slowly inching forward. It’s not all of a sudden you’re just going to hit it all. I think that there’s progress in certain things. There’s certainly schemes and stuff that we’re not as strong in yet. But there’s some things we could go to if we had to play a game this weekend that we feel pretty confident in. Protecting the quarterback, again, it’s probably much the same. The concepts we’ve run, got a lot of reps under our belt on, we’re pretty sound in. The stuff that’s newer this week probably installed, you can see that they’re not quite in sync. Probably had more pressure on the quarterback this week than what we had last week. And I think that’s a little bit of both sides, whether it’s execution on offensive line or the defensive line wanting to prove something after last week probably not getting as much pressure.”

DeBoer on the quarterbacks and how the reps were split up…

“We just split it up pretty even, that was the goal. I’m not sure how it exactly ended. I know there was a comment close to the end that I caught where it was close, and we’re just trying to finish it out that way. But they’ve been splitting it. And I would say today wasn’t their sharpest day. And a lot of it’s what we’ve been talking with the offensive line. I think there’s just getting in-sync with guys, the reps that they’ve had a lot. Maybe even the things that we have as part of our base offense that we’ve done now for two years here, you can see everyone being in-sync. And when you’re playing with confidence, you’re gonna rip it with confidence. And there’s some of the new stuff that maybe isn’t even things we’ve had until this year or done as much of until this spring. You can see that we struggled with it. So, I’d say it wasn’t up to the standard that they’ve had. But there’s no doubt that if we had to play a game, there’s some things that they do really well that we’re confident in, that they can execute at a high level.”

DeBoer on the A-Day format…

“Yeah, we’ll talk about. I think, I mean, there’s little football dings that we have. Today, we scrimmaged the whole time, moved the ball in the field, tackling. It would be an offense versus defensive thing. I guess that’s probably the first starting point. I don’t like splitting up teams. I want guys working with guys, and taking advantage of every practice we can. Last week, we did a little bit of thud and then scrimmaged probably 80% of it. So we’ll just kind of see as we get in through the week, see where we’re at. But that’s what most of it will be. So just be a lot of scrimmage. And we’ll do what we probably did today.”

DeBoer on EJ Crowell’s status, how the rest of the running backs performed…

“EJ hasn’t practiced since last week, so probably more of the same for next week.

“I thought Kevin Riley, when he had seams to hit, he accelerated, showed some good burst. He’s got a good knack in between slithering through and finding those holes. Daniel, I thought, had a good week of practice. Probably didn’t get quite as many opportunities to hit the big ones today, and that’s not always necessarily on him.

“The guy that I thought had a nice week was Trae’shawn. Showed a little bit today in the scrimmage, but I thought throughout the week, there was a live session, short-yardage, goal line and things like that that he showed some pop, he showed some instinctiveness on how to get that first down when its 3rd and 2, 4th and 1, whatever it might be. It’s never pretty, it’s never perfect because there’s a lot of dudes up on the line of scrimmage. But I think overall, he’s had some good progress here this spring.”

DeBoer on the inside linebackers, who’s wearing the green dot…

“There’s so many guys rotating in right now. And when Caleb’s not in there, you’re gonna have the other guys. I mean, it’s a combination of Luke and QB. And try not to do too much of it. But you also got to get these guys prepped and you find out who’s used to having it or can adapt to having the green dot. Someone talking to us here, had a conversation when we first instituted the rule. It was with an NFL defensive coordinator, and I remember him telling me that one of his best players, an all pro who you think has no problem, it just when he got that noise in his head, it was just something that slowed him up. It didn’t confuse him or anything, but it was just something where he wasn’t at his best. And so you do have to mix it up and see if there’s anything where it does cause a guy problems. But I guess we’re not to that point where there’s so many guys rotating into where we’re locked in on one guy or two guys, kind of letting it be spread across the board.”

DeBoer on Keelon Russell’s command of the offense…

“I try to poke my nose in there and just hear exactly that as much as I can, whether it’s today or throughout the week. He’s almost to the point now where he doesn’t have to think when he says it, and now, he’s got to slow down to make sure everyone is very clear, which is a good problem to have, right? Just being articulate and not rattling through the calls. At one point, he might mess up the call. It’s not perfect yet because, again, there’s new installed plays that he’s just had the first reps. Same thing with Austin; there’s some new stuff he hasn’t called as much either, or at all. And they’re picturing it in their head, and that’s what I like to see, is that they can rattle it off as far as the command with the players. 

“I think both can step in the huddle, and if there’s a chatter in there and they need eyes up on them, they’ll say it and guys all respond. So, there’s a lot of respect that the team has for them. And obviously, the offensive guys were in there in that moment. They have to do exactly that.”

DeBoer on who’s stepping up at tight end…

“I think there’s reps that were, Kaleb [Edwards] last year took a lot. He didn’t have a spring and came in the summer, and so he wasn’t early enrollee a year ago, so he got thrown in the fire with very few reps. Seeing his development, both with the strength in an offseason and then just his familiarity and how confident he is, I think it’s showing up. Marshall [Pritchett] had a nice scrimmage today. It’s probably one of his better showings that I’ve seen as far as not just doing what you’re supposed to do but standing out and making some plays. So, I think it starts with those two.

“And then Josh [Ford] is a guy that brings a demeanor. We just did our shoutouts, and I can’t remember who shouted him out, but it was about his — it was Bray. Bray Hubbard shouted him out. And talked about his demeanor and him coming across on blocks, and coming up the field on blocks, and he’s got a full head of steam coming at you, and he ain’t really scared of anyone. So it’s really good to see. And probably one of the biggest claps in the shoutouts was for Josh. So, that’s someone you can see even when you’re not around the guys all the time, someone behind the scenes that seems to have the guys rallying around him and appreciate what he’s bringing.”

DeBoer on which wide receivers stood out today…

“Noah [Rogers]. Noah has been consistent. He had a couple nice catches and some big plays. I thought he was there we needed to. Even just sometimes short ones where you got to move the chains. Maybe it’s not just complete natural catch. He’d probably be the one that stood out the most. Ryan had a great scrimmage last week. Derek Meadows has had some big plays throughout the whole spring. Didn’t have as really as many plays today. And then Lotzeir is just continuing to do probably the same things that you saw him doing in the second half of the season. He’s part of the offense. So he’s a very versatile guy. Can do things both down the field and short.”

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