Kalen DeBoer sends a message to his team that the Alabama Crimson Tide can’t afford to ignore ahead of game against Vanderbilt
The Alabama Crimson Tide just walked out of one of the most hostile environments in college football with a massive win. Kalen DeBoer wasted no time reminding his players of a lesson some of them never lived through.
The Alabama Crimson Tide picked up a massive win over the LSU Tigers, and the Crimson Tide’s College Football Playoff hopes look as strong as ever. Still, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was already working on his players’ minds after the game. He wanted to make sure they don’t lose focus, and he sent a message his locker room can’t afford to ignore.
Mike Rodak of Bama 24/7 shared what DeBoer said postgame:
“A lot of these guys don’t have the memory from a couple years ago. Big win, then going up to Vanderbilt, DeBoer recalled postgame. For some of them it doesn’t matter.”
Why Kalen DeBoer’s message matters for Alabama
I love what DeBoer is doing here. The natural human tendency for anybody is to take your foot off the gas after a win like this, and that goes double for a roster full of 18- to 23-year-olds.
It’s easy to see how that thought process could creep in. Alabama just beat LSU. Next up are Vanderbilt and Chattanooga before the Iron Bowl closes out the regular season. The Crimson Tide will likely be favored in every one of those games, so why not assume the playoff ticket is already punched?
DeBoer knows it’s not that easy, and he has the scars to prove it.
Remembering what happened at Vanderbilt
Two years ago, Alabama went to Vanderbilt as the No. 1 team in the nation. The Crimson Tide had just knocked off the Georgia Bulldogs and were riding the high of all highs.
Then the Vanderbilt Commodores stunned Alabama 40-35. Diego Pavia looked like the second coming of Johnny Manziel that day, and the Crimson Tide’s season started cratering from there. Alabama went on to lose more games and missed the College Football Playoff entirely. Plenty of people were left wondering whether Bama had made a massive mistake by hiring DeBoer.
I don’t need to relitigate all of that, because a lot of it was revisionist history anyway. What matters is that DeBoer clearly hasn’t forgotten that afternoon in Nashville, and he doesn’t want this group to learn the same lesson the hard way.
Celebrate, then get back to work
The bottom line is that this message is exactly what Alabama’s players need to hear right now.
Yes, take 24 hours and celebrate. Understand that you just walked into one of the most raucous environments in the SEC, and all of college football for that matter, and left with a massive win. That deserves some recognition.
But don’t think the work is done. Alabama still has three weeks left in the regular season. The Crimson Tide can’t even start thinking about the SEC title game or the College Football Playoff until they take care of business against Vanderbilt and the rest of the schedule.
To me, that’s what makes this moment so encouraging for Alabama fans. The win itself was impressive, but DeBoer’s response to it might matter even more. Big wins can turn into traps, and DeBoer is doing everything he can to make sure his team doesn’t fall into another one.
So credit to DeBoer and the Crimson Tide for a strong response, a strong effort, and a stronger message heading into the final stretch.
