3 takeaways from Alabama football’s first victory of the Kalen DeBoer era

Kalen DeBoer couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his tenure as Alabama football coach.

Sure, it wasn’t perfect. There was a penalty here, a bad snap there. The occasional tackling issue, too. But those moments of imperfection proved to be little more than a bump on the road to an overall dominant performance.

The offense turned in big play after big play while the defense forced takeaways and played stout. As a result, Alabama crushed Western Kentucky 63-0 on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Here are our takeaways from watching No. 5 Alabama (1-0) rout Western Kentucky (0-1).

Ryan Williams as advertised, leading big-play offense

The hype never died down about the five-star freshman from Saraland during the preseason, and he showed why right away.

Williams finished his first half of collegiate football with two catches for 139 yards and two scores. That’s an average of 69.5 yards per reception. His first score went for 84 yards. The second score, he shook off some tacklers and reached the end zone to put Alabama up 42-0 heading into halftime.

Williams showed off his athleticism early after he got the start at receiver. Not a bad debut for a guy who’s supposed to be a senior in high school.

Williams led an offensive attack that put together big play after big play. In the first half, the Crimson Tide never had a drive last longer than three plays, but it scored six touchdowns. Running back Justice Haynes ran for an 85-yard score. Jam Miller had his own of 39 yards.

With the two 80-plus yard scores, it marked the first time since Sept. 7, 1991 against Temple that Alabama had two plays of that distance in the same game.

While the offense had a few missteps early, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan put together a strong debut overall.

Jalen Milroe starts Heisman Trophy campaign strong

If he keeps this up, Milroe is going to be in New York in December.

Milroe, over fewer than three quarters of play, scored five times. Three of those scores came through the air, and twice he ran for the score. The first touchdown of the DeBoer era came via Milroe’s legs on a 12-yard score.

Then Milroe threw for a 22-yard touchdown to Law, the two long throws to Williams and capped it all off with a 21-yard rushing score.

Milroe’s day was done before the third quarter even ended; he finished 7-for-9 for 200 yards passing with no interceptions and a 374.4 passer rating. He rushed for 79 yards on 10 carries as well.

Safety Keon Sabb headlines dominant defense

There are good starts to the season, and then there’s what Sabb did.

Sabb picked off not one but two passes in the first quarter. Both led to touchdowns via the offense.

Sabb returned the first interception for 23 yards. The second one, he turned on the jets and ran 64 yards on the return, setting up the offense on the 26-yard line.

Alabama lost one of the best safeties in the country in Caleb Downs in the transfer portal during the offseason, but Sabb showed the Crimson Tide is going to be just fine at the position in 2024.

Sabb made the highlight plays early on a defense that didn’t give up much.

The Crimson Tide flew around as part of the newly named “Swarm” defense under Kane Wommack. Inside linebackers Jihaad Campbell and Deontae Lawson made all kinds of plays all over the field to hold the Western Kentucky offense at bay. Each had eight tackles at halftime.

The defense rotated in plenty of players at all positions, and no matter who played, it usually resulted in stifling defense.