Evaluating if Alabama landed 'the next Nick Saban' in Kalen DeBoer

It’s not a stretch to say Kalen DeBoer had GOAT-sized shoes to fill at Alabama when he arrived in January. Replacing Nick Saban wasn’t going to be an easy task for anyone, and Greg Byrne turned to the coach fresh off a national championship appearance at Washington to take it on.

Alabama’s SEC opener proved to be the first big test for DeBoer. Georgia came to Tuscaloosa for a Top-5 thriller – one that lived up to the billing in more ways than one. The Crimson Tide took control early, but after the Bulldogs rallied to take a fourth-quarter lead, came away with the victory thanks to a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to Ryan Williams.

To some, the game appeared to be be a validation for hiring DeBoer to replace the greatest to ever do it. But to On3’s J.D. PicKell, it could lead to a different conversation. Could Alabama have hired “the next Nick Saban?”

Everyone around CFB has been asking, who's the next Nick Saban? @jdpickell says Alabama and Greg Byrne might have found him in Kalen DeBoer. pic.twitter.com/YXwAb8c7z7

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) October 1, 2024

“I know there’s a lot of talk around, ‘Who’s the next Nick Saban?'” PicKell said Tuesday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “Paul, I’m not so sure Alabama didn’t hire the next Nick Saban in Kalen DeBoer.

“He’s coached over 100 football games, lost 12 of them. It is ridiculous. I think if anything, the validation around hiring Kalen DeBoer from that game – I don’t want to be a victim of the moment, but it feels like they hit a home run, landing Kalen DeBoer.”

J.D. PicKell: Alabama made Georgia look ‘out of sorts’

DeBoer brought an impressive resume with him to Tuscaloosa. Across three coaching stops – NAIA Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington – he amassed a 104-12 record. Of those 12 losses, two came in the NAIA Championship Series and another came in last year’s College Football Playoff national championship to Michigan.

But the way Alabama looked in the first half Saturday night showed the potential for DeBoer in T-Town. The Crimson Tide came out firing to take a 28-0 lead at one point. Perhaps most importantly, according to PicKell, the Tide appeared to throw Georgia off its game.

The game plan is sure to stay the same going forward with an aggressive offense. But to rise to the biggest moment of the season so far proved DeBoer’s Crimson Tide team is for real.

“The thing that jumped out to me is how little flinch there was in this Kalen DeBoer Alabama team,” PicKell said. “Because I think my question when he got the job, coming from Washington, was like, ‘It’s great you were at Washington. That’s great you had some family show up to the spring game and you’re doing the thing on the West Coast. This is Alabama. How are you going to respond when everyone and their mama has you as their Super Bowl?’

“And they walked out there, and we saw a Kirby Smart-coached football team and a Glenn Schumann defense that [looked] out of sorts from from the jump. I mean, I think the game plan Kalen DeBoer is always going to have for his football team, they will consistently have a leg up.”