Kalen DeBoer On Hey Coach

If there's one difference between Nick Saban and Kalen DeBoer during their tenures as Alabama head coaches (other than the fact that one spent 17 years in Tuscaloosa, while the other has spent three months) it is that Kalen DeBoer is much more open to the media and making appearances than Coach Saban was.

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Coach Saban rarely, if ever, did a spring Hey Coach appearance. Kalen DeBoer, on the other hand, spent his Monday night with three Crimson Tide players doing a Hey Coach appearance. Here's what Kalen DeBoer said on Monday night.

The offense won the A-Day scrimmage, earning them steak and potatoes for dinner. Meanwhile, the defense lost, earning them beans and hot dogs. Which one did DeBoer eat?

“I hear defensive guys every once in a while, and there’ll be times when they come to me, like the defensive backs for example, they’ll sit there and say ‘Man, we handled your offense, we handled your wide receivers, coach,’” DeBoer said. “I go ‘What do you mean my wide receivers?’ I go, ‘I’m on your side, when you won, I’m on your side.’ Well, the offense won and they keep telling me I’m an offensive guy, so I ate steak.”

The first phone call of the night was a familiar voice to Tide coaches and fans. Peewee Roberts from Grand Bay has been calling into Hey Coach since Gene Stallings's tenure at Alabama, and he typically gets the rights to the first question. Monday was no different, and he asked his patented question about offensive line play. He wanted to first off warn Coach DeBoer about himself, which garnered a chuckle from the head coach. He also wanted to know about the Tide's offensive line play and how they improved over the spring.

Coach DeBoer - “I think when your offensive line is the makeup of the right people – and I’m talking about character and things like that; work ethic, team-first guys, humility, all those characteristics along with talent – man, you’re setting yourself and your team up for a great opportunity,” DeBoer said.

“And the reason is every single day, if you can protect your quarterback and you can function well in the run game, you’re giving yourself a chance to read the plays from a quarterback perspective and let those wide receivers work, which means also that the defensive guys are getting their work in, too."

“If you’re on an offensive line and it’s a sack or a tackle for loss each and every play in practice, the rest of the team really isn’t getting that work in that they need to get better. And so it does all start up front. I think that especially that group, when you talk about a group that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety."

“They can certainly be the team-first guys that everyone else looks to and takes a lot of pride in and can learn from each and every day.”

He also talked about the improvements the line made from practice 1 to practice 15,

“That group did a great job from Practice 1 to Practice 15,” DeBoer said. “I really haven’t thought through which group had the most improvement, but if I had to start somewhere, I’d go to them because of just how they seem to develop their overall game. You guys didn’t see it but in Scrimmage 1, they ran the ball well but they didn’t probably protect as well."

“And you saw what we did in the final scrimmage, and there was some really solid pass protection, which allowed the quarterbacks to be able to work down the field, throw balls not just short and quick but also with some play action, got the run game going. So I thought they did a real nice job overall."

“Some moving parts in there, some guys played a couple of different spots and we gained some depth and flexibility with some of the positions they played.”

Kalen DeBoer was then asked a question that could have gotten him in some hot water with the NCAA. A caller called in and rambled on about people doubting Coach DeBoer's ability to recruit in the South, and did he proved them wrong by landing Graham Nicholson, a kicker from Miami of Ohio, in the transfer portal.

After a spin move that would have made Eddie Lacy proud to avoid the question and potential NCAA violations, DeBoer talked about wanting to put together a staff that has ties to the South and understands the importance of Southern recruiting.

Another large difference between Kalen DeBoer and Nick Saban - DeBoer spent time talking with fans, signing autographs, and taking pictures, all while a stressed-out looking Josh Maxson, the Alabama Assistant Athletics Director of Communications, tried to get Coach DeBoer out of the building. It was a long process, one that ran through the end of the Hey Coach radio show, but Maxson was successful in getting the Tide's leader out of the building.