A couple of months ago, the Alabama Crimson Tide went through their first spring practice under new head coach Kalen DeBoer after the abrupt retirement of legendary head coach Nick Saban. And it sounds like the players can already feel a difference between the two head coaches.
During a recent appearance on a podcast with Connor O’Gara of Saturday Down South, Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe told a story that illustrates just how different practice is under Kalen DeBoer compared to Nick Saban.
“It was funny because at practice, you know, I threw a really good ball,” he said. “I threw a really good deep ball down the field and a really good pass and everyone was celebrating. I was looking at the sideline to get the next play and the next signal. I get done with my rep and coach DeBoer comes to me like, ‘Hey, what happened?’ I look down and he’s like, ‘I thought you was celebrating running down the field.’
“I was like, ‘Coach, I was just worried about the next play.’ He’s like, ‘Well I want you to celebrate. I want you to be excited. That was a really good pass.’ I was like, ‘All right, this is different,’ He gave me a pat on the back and said, ‘That was a good play, be excited.’ I was like, ‘Wow, this is different.’ That just changed my perspective. I was like, ‘All right, bet.’”
Clearly, DeBoer is going to lead the team his way, and it’s quite a bit different than the way Saban did things.
[On3]
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