Sports
Kalen DeBoer’s advantage message to Alabama football fans and players following the loss to Tennessee
Alabama football is hunting for answers and trying to stop sliding.
Each game, the Crimson Tide appears less like the club that dominated the first half against Georgia at the end of September.
It’s also the first time Alabama has lost two games before November since 2007, when Nick Saban was in his first season as coach.
The final question in Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer’s post-game press conference was about his message to the fans. He then conveyed the word to the players and fans.
“I told the guys, the message to them is, get back after it,” DeBoer said. “Get to work. First of all, do some soul searching. Look inward. I know there’s enough guys that still believe. That still want to go do what we want to do. There’s a lot of season left for not just us but everyone. It’s going to go fast if we don’t take advantage. That urgency has got to be there.”
Next up, Alabama will play Missouri at home for its homecoming game next Saturday.
“But we’ve got to go to work first before we play that game and find a way to take the next big jump,” DeBoer said.
He added that Alabama is falling short of right now of making the plays to go win. DeBoer wants his group to “make sure our minds are right.”
“Make sure our hearts are in the right place,” DeBoer said. “And then all I know is you just go back to work. That’s the only thing you can do. That’s what we’ve always done. That’s what these guys, just having a talk in the locker room, I really firmly believe that’s what they want to do too.”
Here’s where the message to the fans popped into his answer.
“Don’t lose belief in these guys because there’s a lot of guys making some big sacrifices in ways that you’ll never know,” DeBoer said. “People will never know, because they just keep plugging away. It might be physical things and stuff like that, but they’re working hard and they have a lot of pride in who they are individually in who we are as Alabama.”
Then DeBoer’s press conference finished. DeBoer walked out of the room beneath Neyland Stadium to begin preparations for next week, as Alabama attempts to keep its College Football Playoff aspirations alive.