Everything Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said to kick off Kentucky game week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to reporters on Monday, September 7, to kick off Kentucky week. Here is everything DeBoer said to kick off game week No. 2. DeBoer's opening statement… 'Good morning. We heard from the coordinators on a few things that I want to address too, but just I first want to thank the fans that came out. Extremely hot out there, not much of a breeze, and so appreciate y'all hanging out there through it, and the support you gave the guys. they feel it every time you step in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Obviously, we got a chance to go on the road now, first SEC game, and we'll know what it's like to be on the other end of that. 'I know you heard from Kane and Grubb. Just want to hit on the special teams a little bit because I thought it was something that guys did a nice job. Can always be better. A little miscommunication on a kick return there. Botched the fielding of it, but between Lorcan being perfect on kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone on kickoffs and Conor hitting his kicks, including a 40-plus-yarder on the first drive. Just getting him out there and getting that getting that taken care of right away, as well as Alex getting his first kicks, his first punts, averaging 52, went inside the 20. I thought it was a nice day for all those guys, including the snappers. So wanted to highlight that a little bit. But, again, there was good effort, good energy. 'As far as the heat concerned with us, I think it was really, really an issue. We've been practicing in it. It's been a warmer camp, and so I thought that it showed up that we knew how to prepare for it. Really very little when it came to cramps or anything like that. So, we're going to continue to work on, and I don't think it was, (I) thought it was probably where you'd expect game one to be improved on when it comes to the key fundamentals of blocking and tackling, and so, just we'll continue to work on that. Got film to go off of now and teach off of. It was time for us to play, and now we understand the areas that are our strengths, weaknesses. Kind of know that going in, but it gets emphasized even more when it's out on a Saturday afternoon.' DeBoer on Kentucky running back CJ Baxter… 'Yeah, just watching a little bit of film here just this morning, a little bit yesterday on him. Just a really solid back. He was highly recruited, explosive, and so know he's going to get touches, and going to be a priority with what they do offensively.' DeBoer on how Alabama's offensive line performed in Week 1… 'I mean, sometimes pressure that you get on a quarterback isn't always on the offensive line. The quarterback's got to count for guys. There's running backs, tight ends involved in the protection, too. So that end of it, there's one at the beginning of the third quarter that was disappointing because I think we had an explosive play that would have happened if we'd given Keelon just a touch more time, and that was something that we're more than capable of picking up. 'In the run game, there was consistency. Just you want to keep raising a level. We're going to keep talking about keeping the pads down. Goal line, there's times where they got under underneath of us, so good learning moments there. I thought our backs ran hard down in the red zone there, with both Daniel and our other backs finding ways to get in the end zone. So you got to keep our pads low. I think, communication-wise, it was pretty solid. I could think of a couple that we want to be better, just maybe be more confident. I think we got the right call, but I want to be more confident with it and go fly off the ball and go hit them in the mouth. So again, some good moments to build off of. Some guys that got a chance to get out there in Bryant-Denny and play together, play out there for the first time.' DeBoer on wide receivers' urgency to help Keelon Russell when he scrambles… 'Yeah, I think there's definitely that case. We work on that. We need to understand that when Keelon escapes, he does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield, and that's a great opportunity for an explosive play. And then we also want him to balance that between using his legs to go make the plays, and that'll even draw more attention to him. And that's a reason why you should definitely stay alive and work with him and be in good relationship and be what we call quarterback friendly. So we can definitely improve in that area.' DeBoer on preparing Russell, the O-line for their first road start… 'I think probably just handling noise now on the road. And so got to work on that this week. Just communicate, because we always talk communication. You heard me say it over and over again. So communicating becomes a little more difficult. We need to communicate not just with them but also the guys on the outside at times. So, just that's where it starts. Being able to build off of what we did this Saturday, I think, we've got some good things out there on film that we can take advantage of and understand where we're at and what we need to improve on, but I like some of the things that we also did from a physicality standpoint.' DeBoer on cleaning up the operation on offense… 'Well, I mean, it's things that we work on every day. It's not like you're not working on it. From the communication and the headsets and all that kind of stuff, we do it every single day at practice. It's a couple small things, and I think a lot of it has to do just do with just a couple new guys that were out there for the first time and getting their first snaps playing college football when it's meaningful snaps, at least. So, they learn from that, and just I think the cycle of a play and how you got to go about that with eyes to the sideline, or get into the huddle, or understanding the play clock. That's a real thing, too. Just I think all of that, everyone doing their part, doing their job is really the starting point, and everyone having success and us not having to worry about that. But it's small things that add up, and so we got to make sure we take care of those small things.' DeBoer on if removing the script A was to make room for a jersey patch… 'Yeah, that's probably, generally, why we did that. Preparing for the future.' DeBoer on how close AK Dear, Jireh Edwards and Noah Rogers are to returning… 'Yeah, I think your guys that are the closest are Jireh and AK, and then Noah just down the road here, just a little bit. But wanted to get them out there, just keep the progression part of their transitions back. But I think Jireh and AK you can see here very soon, and all three, just their process of recovery has gone very smooth, probably quicker than you'd expect, but we also got to be careful.' DeBoer on preparing to face a first-time head coach vs. one with experience… 'Well, I think new staff, new staff in general. I'm familiar with Coach (Will) Stein and his offense. Different play-caller now, obviously. But they defensively got one game, offensively got one game to look at, and it was a game that wasn't contested for very long, so there's going to be a lot of things that they've worked on that they're going to hold. We would do the same. So there's just that piece of it. What are you preparing for? Week 2 SEC game, that's an interesting thing. Can't say I've played too many conference games this early in the year. Doesn't matter, it's on the schedule, we gotta be ready to go. And you rely on your base, base rules, base techniques, your base fundamentals, so that's what we continue to teach and that's where it starts for us with our guys.' DeBoer on if Saturday's rushing effort is sustainable against SEC teams… 'There's a couple negative plays, and I think that's where it starts. We've always been really good, as far as I can remember, on taking care of the first level, having plays that are set up against the defense that you want, or at least against a bad look, so staying away from the negative plays. And then I think the execution. I saw some times where we were four or five yards downfield without getting touched, I showed those guys a couple of those clips, not all of them. But we had diagnosed that from the offseason, just what is it that makes an explosive run? And it's just looked at from the offensive side, but we also talk about from the defensive side. 'So, I saw some of those things where the picture was clean, the guys were all padded up, and now it's just a matter of not just having your guy, but taking care of business and moving him out of the movement, out of the screen, so he's not in the picture when the camera's watching the ball carrier. So, I think that there was couple explosive runs. I think we had four or five. Keelon and his legs and the scramble ability that he had helped us with some of those. 'Unfortunately, we had the one with Trae'Shawn (Brown) that got called back, but thought it was well-blocked up. Thought we were aggressive. Thought we were confident, flying off the football. That right side there on that play did a really nice job working up to the second level. And I thought Trae'Shawn again with some– not just Trae'Shawn but all our backs, I thought they hit the holes harder, with more confidence, and so that says a lot about what it's looked like in practice and continued evolving and those guys trusting the guys in front.' DeBoer on how Ryan Coleman-Williams has responded after more drops… 'Yeah, I mean, he's got a high-level expectation for himself. We haven't even talked about it, but I've been around him long enough to know what his expectation is. And I also know, he has been around long enough, with him, what that response is going to look like. And I thought he did exactly that in the game, to come. As much as he's going to look at it and be upset about it, he knows there's nothing he can do other than move forward. I thought he did that, made some big plays for us, some explosive plays. Had some catch-in-contacts too, where he got hit. For him it's just slowing it down and catching first, and the rest will take care of itself because he's such a good athlete, such a good player.' DeBoer on halftime adjustments for better third-quarter starts… 'When I think about why were, why we didn't come out strong in the third quarter, I think about each series here early. I think it's more about us and execution. It's not about something that they did or something that we didn't adjust to. We had guys open, blocking scheme, our pass pro that would have been a big explosive play. We got to execute our read on a handoff that caused a fumble or allowed a fumble to happen. Those are simple things. I think the opportunity to have either Ryan or Keelon have the ball in that, sometimes it's one or the other based on the read, but could have been a good play. We just got to make sure we don't have the ball on the ground. 'And so, to me, it's more about use and, just, we lost our execution across the board. One guy makes a mistake on offense, that's where the pressure happens, that's when the ball's on the ground. You gotta come out of the locker room with the right mindset. And I think our guys are excited. It takes one guy and a play falls apart and now you're behind the chains and now you're giving the ball up in bad field position.' Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today! Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE YEAR of premium access to our extensive Alabama coverage for just $29.99! Then, you will be able to read all of BOL's premium articles and nuggets covering Crimson Tide sports and recruiting, and also join thousands of other Alabama fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!