{"id":75376,"date":"2025-07-17T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=75376"},"modified":"2025-07-17T05:16:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T09:16:44","slug":"kalen-deboer-at-2025-sec-media-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/07\/17\/kalen-deboer-at-2025-sec-media-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalen DeBoer at 2025 SEC Media Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalen DeBoer<\/a> took the main stage at SEC Media Days on Wednesday as he heads into year two in Tuscaloosa. The 2024 season was not what DeBoer and the Alabama fanbase were hoping for. The Crimson Tide missed out on the College Football Playoff and lost four games for the first time since the 2008 season. That was the first season for the legendary Nick Saban<\/a> as Alabama\u2019s head coach. Alabama has 17 seniors on the 2025 team after losing eight seniors from last season\u2019s team. \u00a0The main talking point for DeBoer was continuity. Alabama will have 17 seniors this season after only having eight for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

\"Kalen
Photo courtesy: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kalen DeBoer at 2025 SEC Media Days<\/h3>\n

Alabama looks for continuity<\/h4>\n

DeBoer used the term continuity often while speaking to the media on Wednesday. When discussing where that starts for his team, DeBoer stated it begins with the coaching staff. Alabama mostly kept its staff from last season. The big addition, of course, was bringing back offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. He was supposed to be part of the Alabama staff last season, but took the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator position shortly after DeBoer was hired at Alabama.<\/p>\n

The continuity, though, is not just coach-driven. \u201cContinuity is a huge piece of what year two is all about right now\u201d, said DeBoer. \u201cThat trickles down to the players.\u201d Alabama returns several key players from the 2024 team. The Crimson Tide returns three offensive linemen in Kadyn Proctor, Parker Brailsford, and Jaden Roberts. At the playmaker positions, they return receivers Ryan Williams<\/a> and Germie Bernard, along with running back Jam Miller. Defensively, they return leaders Tim Keenan III<\/a> on the defensive line and Deontae Lawson at linebacker. Players seemed to be focused, according to DeBoer. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how impressed I\u2019ve been with them just focusing on the main thing, and that\u2019s the work\u201d, stated DeBoer.<\/p>\n

Update on the quarterbacks<\/h4>\n

It was expected that DeBoer would be asked about the quarterback position on Wednesday. He reiterated the same feelings that Grubb did at the conclusion of spring practice. If the Crimson Tide were to play a game tomorrow, Ty Simpson<\/a> would be the starting quarterback for the team. He was very complimentary of Simpson, saying he throws a catchable ball, and he is smart. Leadership is the key for any quarterback attempting to win the team over. They are truly the ones who pick the quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got great relationships with the team. He\u2019s a leader that way\u201d, said DeBoer when commenting on Simpson. He is in his fourth season with the team and has waited his turn. Also in the mix at quarterback is Austin Mack and Keelon Russell. Both received high praise from the head coach. When asked about the inexperience at the position, he circled back on the continuity among the coaches. He mentioned that the players have to execute because they have the tools.<\/p>\n

Reuniting with Ryan Grubb<\/h4>\n

DeBoer is obviously very happy to have Grubb back as his offensive coordinator. Grubb worked under DeBoer at both Fresno State and Washington before heading to the NFL. Last season, Nick Sheridan served as the offensive coordinator when Grubb was hired by Seattle. \u201cHim getting the chance to come here and just add to our staff at the level you\u2019re talking about with an elite, elite offensive mind\u201d, said DeBoer. Everyone has embraced Grubb on the staff, and so have the players, according to DeBoer. He added that the team has evolved as they get ready for the fall.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kalen DeBoer took the main stage at SEC Media Days on Wednesday as he heads into year two in Tuscaloosa. The 2024 season was not what DeBoer and the Alabama fanbase were hoping for. The Crimson Tide missed out on the College Football Playoff and lost four games for the first time since the 2008 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2751,"featured_media":75379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,2],"tags":[35,1632,33172,33721,32916,3303],"class_list":["post-75376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-bigten","category-featured","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-austin-mack","tag-germie-bernard","tag-keelon-russell","tag-ryan-grubb","tag-sec-media-days"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2751"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75376"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75380,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75376\/revisions\/75380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}