Nick Saban credits Kalen DeBoer for 'fantastic job' of turning Alabama around after Florida State loss

A month ago, Crimson Tide fans sounded to be about done with Kalen DeBoer, with some even suggesting it was time to check in on Nick Saban. Instead, with his successor having turned the tide the past three weeks, Saban is giving him a lot of credit down in Tuscaloosa.

Saban discussed the pressure he knows is on DeBoer while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday, which was live from Alabama ahead of tomorrow’s game against Vanderbilt. He said he does check in on him from time to time, as one Crimson Tide coach to another, even as recently as this season.

“I talk to him on occasion,” Saban said. “We talked after the Florida State game.”

Because of that, Saban thought highly of the job that DeBoer has done over the past five weeks since what happened in Tallahassee. Since being embarrassed in their opener against the Seminoles, the Crimson Tide have come together to win in a 73-0 shutout of UL Monroe, a 24-point win over Wisconsin, and, most notably, a three-point win to open conference play last weekend at Georgia. Simply, with whatever the staff and team have done, they’re already not the same one to start out October as what we saw back on August 30th.

“I think Kalen has done a fantastic job of taking an expectation that everybody had at Florida State, and then the disappointment of that, and getting the team psychologically turned around to get away from playing – I thought they played with a lot of anxiety at Florida State. You know, when the game got 7-7, it seemed like the energy level changed,” Saban said. “You know, everything everybody talks about around here is winning – winning, winning, winning.

“And, sometime, that can affect the player’s focus on what I need to do to win, and they’re so worried about the outcome, they create a bunch of anxiety because of the expectations. So, you got to figure out a different way for the players to approach the competition – you know, like simple things like play one play at a time, you know, don’t focus on the scoreboard, focus on the next play, don’t worry about the crowd. You know, things like that that players can focus on to maintain the respect of what it takes to win,” Saban said. “I think Kalen has done a fantastic job of that, and you see the different level of tenacity and the way the players have competed in the last three games.”

Led by DeBoer, Alabama has earned some applause for where they are today as opposed to where it was a month ago. But, with that behind them, Saban now wants to see how his former program handles their success, which they didn’t do in the same scenario a year ago when they followed up a big win over the ‘Dawgs with an upset loss to Vandy.

“Now, the next question is, they had a big win. How are they going to respond to the success of having a big win?” Saban asked. “They are good, but Vanderbilt is good too.”