The first meeting coach Kalen DeBoer held with Alabama football for the 2024 season followed a few days of chaos. Fast forward a year, and the first meeting DeBoer conducted for the 2025 season set an expectation.
Crimson Tide cornerback Zabien Brown recapped both during an interview for the “All In” special on Alabama football spring practice that premiered Monday on SEC Network. The first meeting DeBoer held was the night he got off the plane for the first time in Tuscaloosa, two days after Nick Saban retired as coach of Alabama. That meeting was more about DeBoer introducing himself amid a whirlwind couple of days.
The first meeting for 2025 was different.
“Our first meeting this year,” Brown said, “was ‘what are y’all going to do? Y’all going to have to show me. Can y’all work? Can y’all sustain? The competitive nature. Can y’all show me? Can y’all get better?’”
Alabama is fresh off a 2024 season in which it lost four games and missed the College Football Playoff. Even though it was a bridge year of sorts, all the players and staff members interviewed for the SEC Network special made clear that wasn’t good enough. Improvement in 2025 is required.
“We know that was not the standard of Alabama and how they play football here,” receiver Germie Bernard said. “Coming into this year, it’s like man everybody has to grow up and mature. Everybody is going to have an important role on this team.”
