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Kalen DeBoer: 'I'm not gonna let our guys think that we're back'

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby: Charlie Potter10/29/25Charlie_Potter
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer (David Leong / Imagn Images)

Alabama opened the 2025 season with a disappointing 31-17 loss at Florida State. But since the letdown to kick off the year, the Crimson Tide has won seven straight games and started 5-0 against SEC teams. During its current stretch, Alabama defeated four straight ranked foes.

The Tide now gets to breathe, as it enjoys its second and final bye week before the final stretch of the regular season. But Alabama is back on track after a hiccup to start the year. Head coach Kalen DeBoer, however, doesn’t want his team to think that or forget the Week 1 defeat.

“I don’t think that until it’s all said and done, I’m not gonna let our guys think that we’re back,” DeBoer said on The Triple Option podcast. “I want us to have that edge that we had starting with that (Florida State) game, or after that game. You’ve got to find those different motivating factors, and it’s got to be internal, it’s got to be, I think, doing it for other people. Not letting down your teammates, in particular, that are counting on you.

“What are those motivating factors? And one of them that you just add to the list is everyone doubting you, the world being against you. I know a lot of programs probably say it, but we certainly know that everyone wants to take down ‘Bama, and we use that as our edge. When people then start doubting whether you can do it — I feel like we’ve got a group that’s got enough confidence and that I can be real enough with them to where when I just tell them, ‘Hey, this is what we’re up against, this is the team that we’re playing, or this is what people are saying.’

“We don’t want to be thinking about the noise unless it can help benefit us and use it as motivating factors to take us to the next level. I think our guys have done an awesome job of that.”

Like DeBoer said, outside noise or external factors are usually something coaches want their players to avoid. But there is a time and place for everything. DeBoer shared with Mark Ingram II, Urban Meyer and Rob Stone some of the examples he’s used to motivate this team.

“I get to walk by a TV every day going down to the team meeting rooms, and constantly, there’s something on that TV that’s popping up, like this person is saying this about this game that ‘Bama’s playing in,” DeBoer said. “Man, I’m screenshotting that thing and taking it down there and using it as ammo. Our guys don’t lose confidence in that because they have enough belief in what we’re doing. It’s just an extra level of motivation that we use it for.”

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