Kalen DeBoer sends a message that his team can’t afford to ignore after Alabama’s loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa
The Alabama Crimson Tide took its first loss of the season against Georgia on Saturday night. Kalen DeBoer’s words afterward, and one quiet moment from his young quarterback, revealed plenty about this team.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Saturday night in Tuscaloosa brought out the most animated, and most intense version of Kalen DeBoer we’ve seen since he became head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide fell to the Georgia Bulldogs, and DeBoer wore every bit of that frustration on the sideline.
One quote after the game stood out most. It tells me Alabama has the right head coach, and it tells me this program is headed in the right direction.
Kalen DeBoer sends a message after Alabama’s loss to Georgia
DeBoer addressed the loss in his postgame press conference on the Alabama Crimson Tide YouTube channel:
“The season doesn’t slow up for us. We’ll find out the character of our football team. I believe I know what that looks like, but that will certainly be what we need to happen in our response come next week,” DeBoer said.
What DeBoer is saying here is simple. This is the first time all year that Alabama got kicked in the mouth. We can debate the officiating until we’re blue in the face, along with every other reason the Tide came up short. They lost, and the only thing that matters now is how they respond.
What I appreciated most was how accountable DeBoer was throughout the night. He addressed the situation with Dijon Lee after the game. He talked about the officials without putting the blame on them. During the game, you saw him get extremely mad when the officials made a bad call, and he let them hear it. He let Lee hear it too.
That is a head coach setting a standard. DeBoer is sending a message to the rest of his locker room: Alabama has now faced real adversity, and it’s all about how you respond.
Keelon Russell showed what DeBoer means by character
We also have visual evidence of exactly what DeBoer is talking about when he speaks to the character of this team.
In a post shared on X by Brooks Austin, Alabama QB Keelon Russell can be seen waiting on the field after the game. Think about where his head had to be in that moment. He had just lost, and he was emotionally let down. He thought he was going to get the ball back with a chance to drive down the field, score, and win the game. That chance never came. Georgia kneeled out the clock, and the Crimson Tide walked off with a loss.
And yet Russell stayed out there and waited for Georgia QB Gunner Stockton, just to shake his hand.
This was Russell’s first career start against Georgia. He’s still green and inexperienced, but he had the mental wherewithal, the maturity, and the high character to stand out there after a loss and show respect to the opposing quarterback. A lot of veterans wouldn’t have done that.
To me, that’s the character DeBoer believes he already sees in this group. A coach can talk about standards all he wants, but it means more when his young quarterback is living them out minutes after a gut punch like that.
Alabama’s response starts against Tennessee
Losses happen, even at Alabama. What separates good teams from great ones is what comes next, and the Tide won’t have time to sulk with the Tennessee Volunteers up next this weekend.
DeBoer set the tone with his words and his sideline intensity. Russell backed it up with his actions. Now the rest of the roster gets its turn to prove DeBoer right, and I am excited to see how Alabama responds against the Vols.
