Living up to Nick Saban's insurmountable shadow at Alabama would never work for first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. DeBoer won't be Saban, but there was an expectation for the former Washington coach to prioritize discipline and relatively sharp game-planning details that can maximize his team.

However, with DeBoer losing twice in the last three weeks and the Tide having notable outbursts on and off the field, fans and alumni are concerned. While DeBoer hasn't been disastrously bad, his team is not improving, showing growth, or maintaining poise. 

After losing at Tennessee this past weekend, players are noticing that DeBoer is now more focused on "the small things." 

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Tight end CJ Dippre and wide receiver Germie Bernard both have noticed and expanded upon the change. And while it's somewhat noteworthy, it's also discouraging that it's just now becoming a bigger deal for this coaching staff. Saban and fans will not love reading these quotes.

Dippre said on Tuesday:

"We got to just kind of take details and the small things. Don't get bored with the basics. Get back to what we're supposed to wear — shirts tucked in, five minutes, 10 minutes early to meetings. Not all this late stuff. Not doing what you want to do.

Just little things like that carry over to the football field. Because then if you take one wrong step, one wrong thing, it just all carries over. So you got to act everything, all throughout the day. Going to class on time. Everything is like would want to do on the football field."

Alabama has struggled on the field since the second quarter of the Georgia game on September 28, experiencing two losses before November for the first time since 2007. Additionally, the team ranks seventh in the FBS for the most penalty yards per game, averaging 78.3.

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Bernard then added to what Dippre said:

"He knows that we have to do better. He's just gonna continue to instill in us the things that we need to do to be better, and to be better in practice. Be better off the field. Be more disciplined with the things we need off the field, like just making sure we're checking in on time, making sure we're getting to meetings on time. Things like that. With the mindset that he has, our team — we still have everything in front of us that we want. I think we will accomplish that.

Just be more disciplined in practice. Hone in on the small details within the playbook. Word hard, executing. The off the field work, just continuing to lift hard, continue to recover right, continue to hydrate right. Continue to put the right things in your body with nutrition. When he talks about those things, those are the key components that we have to hone in on to be better."

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As someone who is in the military, I don't expect coaches to always run their program in the tightest fashion, where tucked-in shirts are a priority. But there are concerning facts included in here, such as being early time to meetings and free-roaming.

That is completely unacceptable, and DeBoer should have nipped those things in the bud right away. The only way for his regime to work is to come into the new situation and rule with a heavier hand. These aren't his players, so losing them is not a big deal as the culture was bound to waver without strong leadership.

Instead, it might be too late as the season starts to spiral. Fans are upset, and these little details are more concerning than anything we've seen on the field thus far. 

We'll see if he can turn it around.