Before Alabama’s A-Day game, the Crimson Tide’s head coach provided a full transcript.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer addressed the media Thursday evening following the Crimson Tide’s 14th and final spring practice before to Saturday’s A-Day game. Here is what he had to say:
Full Transcript- April 11, 2024
Opening statement
“Excellent practice out there today. Fourteen, I’ve gone to a variety of locations, including practice 14, the day before or the practice before the spring game, which is usually a low-key practice with a few of situational things to work on. Sometimes it’s just the helmet and the spiders. But our guys went with shells and got after it for a couple of hours, just like a full-fledged practice. Obviously, not tackling with just shells, but our troops did an excellent job. Competitive. I got a chance to mix it up a little bit, one versus two, two versus one. The wonderful thing is that those twos are playing well and want to show how far they’ve gone, so they did some nice stuff in practice today. So fiercely competitive across the board. The rest of the session was – well, we usually do one-on-one and two-on-two, but it was a wonderful day.”
“The spring game’s format will be attack vs defense. We will not have divided teams. A few of reasons. First, I prefer to think of it as practice No. 15. We’ll see a lot of scrimmaging out there, but it’s an opportunity for us to improve. It’s an opportunity for us to take the next step. An opportunity for us to examine as well. So try to get right down to the basics of playing football. It allows us to truly appreciate what we’re accomplishing and where we’re at, as well as share the occasion with our supporters. I’m really happy to see a filled stadium and hope everyone comes to support our program.”
On the biggest area of growth he’s seen over the course of the spring…
“I believe it is simply our ongoing competitive stamina. It’s simple to go out of Practice 1 and back into it once you’ve returned from spring break. But for us to just stay the course, which is similar to what I stated when I first arrived here, and the boys opted to stay, work through it, and trust in the area. But they’ve just kept working, and I kind of tapped into that by coming in with an opening here today because it was so astounding to me.
“Nowhere we’re coasting into in the final 48 hours before Saturday. They came out here, worked, and wanted to keep playing ball, so they asked for one more drive and such. They’re simply loving the process and the phase. So I believe that competitive stamina comes from simply continuing to improve and concentrating on the appropriate things.”
On if he has identified any areas where Alabama might like to add depth…
“Yeah, I would say that if you look at our roster and see scholarship numbers – I know you all track it – I would say the defensive backfield is probably one or two men short. We probably need one more offensive lineman. Just based on the statistics you generally see and where we want to go. So I’m not saying we won’t look into it and see what happens, but who knows. Some of our teammates may also surprise us. We just have to stay flexible, be willing to adapt, and keep our eyes open for what’s out there when the time comes.”
On Parker Brailsford’s availability for the A-Day Game…
“I wouldn’t expect him to play right now, given his limited practice this spring.” And he did not practice today. I would not put him out there in that position. However, he will be joining us for regular exercises sooner rather than later. He’s doing everything he can to prepare for his departure.”
