College football analyst blasts Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer for leadership issues, lack of discipline
The 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide has its fair share of issues, but none seem to be bigger than the lack of discipline. A heavily penalized team, it's the frequency of personal fouls, something that showed face again on Saturday against the Vols that is most worrisome. ESPN's Paul Finebaum seems to agree, but he went […]
The 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide has its fair share of issues, but none seem to be bigger than the lack of discipline.
A heavily penalized team, it's the frequency of personal fouls, something that showed face again on Saturday against the Vols that is most worrisome.
ESPN's Paul Finebaum seems to agree, but he went a little further with his criticism of HC Kalen DeBoer:
DeBoer lacking leadership?
“I’m bewildered by everything I’ve seen, and I’m certainly even more concerned about the leadership of Kalen DeBoer,” Finebaum said on McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning. “We can talk technical aspects of games, and I know you guys have and will, but I don’t see much on the sideline. I see players who look disconnected. They’re undisciplined…
"…Whether this is a continuum of last year, I’ll leave it to others to determine, but this season is clearly on the brink. Everyone knows what the calculus is and remains. It’s not impossible. There’s still a narrow window, but it’s hard for me to believe that Alabama is going to find a way to get to the playoffs based on what I’ve seen over the last three weeks.”
Two weeks ago it was team captain Malachi Moore who threw a tantrum that should have resulted in severe discipline, and certainly would have under HC Nick Saban.
Then with the game on the line and a fourth and seven approaching on Saturday in Knoxville, junior WR Kendrick Law, one of the key veterans on the roster, goes a-wall and decides to lose his composure on a Vols defender, which sets up a 4th and 22 that Alabama failed to convert, contributing to their loss.
"The message continues to be, with the team, it's not just one, we've got to learn from those moments," DeBoer said on Monday when asked about Law's penalty. "Those moments are big. Our choices, our decisions, our words, our actions, all of those things, they have to be focused on what's best for our team. Obviously in that moment, we're fighting to try to find a way to win. It's a big moment. We've got to make sure we, of course address them, but we can't continue to have mistakes, those in particular that we can control…
"…We've got to make sure if someone's talking to us, we've got to learn to walk the other way, and be more emotionally disciplined in every facet. Not just the high aggression type things, but when the momentum swings, and things like that happen in a game, be able to trust your preparation, trust what you're doing. But we've got to be better there, obviously, that's an important part of what great teams do, is be great in those times."
Right now, Alabama isn't great in many areas, but discipline surely isn't one of them.
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