The Kalen DeBoer era has officially begun at Alabama. The first sights we’ll get of the new-look Crimson Tide come Saturday at their first spring game without Nick Saban coaching since 2006.
Shehan Jeyarajah and Bobak Ha’Eri broke down all the biggest spring games that are coming up, but Alabama’s has a special interest now that the greatest college football coach of all time isn’t on the sidelines. Here’s what they’re watching for Saturday:
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jeyarajah: “One of the most exciting things about Kalen DeBoer taking over this Alabama program is Jalen Milroe is gonna get to work with a QB guru in Kalen DeBoer. He’s going to be all around Milroe I think during some of those early practices. And I expect that he’s going to get the most out of Jalen Milroe, whether it is as a passer or whether it is just as an overall football player.
“I’ve made the case before, I think that Jalen Milroe’s first season reminded me in a lot of ways of Jalen Hurts early in his Alabama tenure ... as a passer you see the tools and it’s just kind of the consistency that had been really difficult. Well now for Alabama coming in, I mean you’ve got potentially some really, really good players around him and I think that you’ve got a staff that maybe will be able to even more than Nick Saban’s staff, get the most out of him.”
“Offensively, I’m more interested in the structure of everything. I’m more interested in how does it look, how comfortable does it look? Do they continue to kind of keep the ball downfield like they did obviously when they were at Washington with Michael Penix Jr.. Or is it more of a, we’re going to take what’s there kind of attack, which certainly has merits on its own.”
Ha’Eri: “A couple of the other things that caught my eye was running back only because they obviously lost Jase McClellan to the NFL. They lost Roydell Williams to Florida State. So you’ve got some interesting candidates. Got Jam Miller, Justice Haynes, who played a little bit last year. You have Richard Young, who sounds like he needs a little bit more of development. And you have Daniel Hill, a true freshman coming in with a lot of promise and versatility. It’s not like Kalen DeBoer doesn’t use a running back. So I’m looking forward to seeing who develops there.
“And then the offensive line, there’s kind of an interesting thing that’s been quietly developing there, and it’s at center. Because obviously they lost Seth McLaughlin, who we’ve talked about, who’s now at Ohio State. At first it seemed like they had a legit replacement with Parker Brailsford coming from Washington, coming from that Joe Moore award-winning offensive line. But he’s apparently — and they’re not being clear — he’s been absent for something that isn’t potentially, hopefully nothing too serious.
“But they’re saying he’s dealing with personal issues and that’s what the coaches keep saying. So he hasn’t been practicing with the team. Therefore James Brockermeyer has been stepping up as the center, at least in practice, and I assume we’ll see him on Saturday. And then of course, there’s been battles for the tackle spots. There seem to be some folks who are stepping up so far in practice that we’re hearing will be interesting to see. And then of course Kaydn Proctor is going to eventually return to the team after leaving the Iowa for a hot minute. So we’ll see how he eventually works back into it.”