Paul Finebaum credits Kalen DeBoer for bringing Alabama back from the dead

The Alabama Crimson Tide opened 2025 with a tough Week 1 loss. At the time, it seemed like the sky was falling. However, in two weeks since then, head coach Kalen DeBoer has seemingly turned the Crimson Tide around.

During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Paul Finebaum praised Kalen DeBoer. He’d claim that DeBoer brought the Crimson Tide back from the dead after Alabama responded with blowout wins over ULM and Wisconsin. Now, Alabama is actually in an excellent position.

“I think he’s done an excellent job the last two weeks of bringing this program back from, literally, the dead,” Paul Finebaum said. “So, I’m feeling a lot better. I think there’s a reason to feel better because Wisconsin was a far better team than Monroe, but what I really like is the state of play. The level of play at quarterback and other positions.”

Alabama is now set to turn its attention to SEC play. After a bye week, the Crimson Tide will make a road trip to Georgia. That’s no easy game, but they’re in a good spot moving into it.

“I think it puts them in a really good spot here in a bye week, getting ready for Georgia. There has to be a lot more thought put into it, especially after dissecting Georgia and Tennessee,” Finebaum said. “But I think there’s a pulse again for this Crimson Tide season.”

Despite that, earlier in the week, Paul Finebaum admitted he still did have some questions about Alabama. That stems from the level of competition that Kalen DeBoer has seemed to right the ship against.

“I am feeling better. But I’m still — I mean, I’m watching that game. One team has great speed, one team is slow. One team is deep and talented across the board. The other team has a couple of good players… But, Alabama, they’re hot right now. And guess what? They have a bye week before they go to Georgia… That will be a bigger than life game. We know that. We know what happens when Georgia and Alabama play. I still, as much as I give Kalen DeBoer credit for bringing this team back,” Finebaum said. “You still have a lot of question marks. I was in a meeting the other day and one of the quarterback gurus I work with was wondering about Ty Simpson. But every time he gets questioned, he goes out and plays flawlessly.”

The Georgia game is the start of a very difficult stretch for the Crimson Tide. Alabama is playing four straight games against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. Seven of their eight conference opponents are currently ranked in total. So, there’s no room for mistakes moving forward.