As Kalen DeBoer watched Alabama football practice in front of a sparse Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd at A-Day on Saturday, he gave an idea of where the Crimson Tide team stood ahead of the summer.
In an in-practice interview with the Crimson Tide Sports Network, DeBoer spoke about the A-Day workout, going from year one to year two and a status report on the Alabama quarterback battle.
Here's what he told CTSN.
Kalen DeBoer on A-Day weather and crowd
"There’s some things I’m in control of here today, and the weather ain’t one of them, so we nailed this. It’s beautiful. Appreciate everyone coming out and supporting our guys, just the energy and passion; it’s going to be a great day for us here."
Kalen DeBoer on A-Day format
"I already see some guys like ‘Oh, there’s people here,’ you know, and new things that pop up that they’re a little bit distracted by. So it’s really good experience for these guys to feel this here, even if it’s not even close to what we’ll have on a normal game day.
"We’re going to run a lot of plays. We already ran 11 (at the point of the interview). You know, normal A-Day scrimmage (last year) I only ran probably 90 last year. We’re going to get probably 45 to 50 team plays, 24 or so 7-on-7, some inside runs, one-on-ones. In the end, I think a lot of plays are going to still get run today so fans get a chance to see ‘em."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football depth
"Probably one position in particular, just the tight end position – you know, one guy, one scholarship guy, and a couple of others kind of in the rotation including an offensive lineman, Will Sanders has moved in there and taken some reps the last few weeks now. We can control it with this type of set-up and make sure we get something out of every play and it’s not just an exhibition. We talk about getting better every moment an opportunity comes up and this is an opportunity, so this is the best way we thought we could get better."
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama football coaching staff carryover
"We really do. That starts with the coaches, just their relationships and us not having to re-teach things to guys. Even Jason Jones coming in had a lot of familiarity with our system having worked with Kane Womack at Indiana back quite a few years ago. Yeah, the continuity leads to us taking those next steps, evolving. You’re always going to evolve, you’re always going to adjust year to year – it’s really critical year one to year two to take big steps, and the continuity helps.
"And then the relationships have formed now, not just among the staff but have trickled down to the players. They feel that.
"We had a women’s clinic (Friday) ...
