What Kalen DeBoer said about Alabama football roster turnover: 'Not alarmed at all'
New Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer wasn't ready to sound the alarm about roster turnover.
DeBoer joined the Paul Finebaum Show on SEC Network on Friday about a week after he had accepted the Crimson Tide coaching job, and he didn't show any signs of panic despite the recent departures on the roster.
"I was just through this two years ago," DeBoer said. "This was a much better situation than even that one was with the number of players leaving. You just stay the course and roll up your sleeves. There's such a great group of leaders here with this program who want to uphold the standard of Alabama football, and they are sticking together. We want those guys who want to be here. They're working through all the noise that's out there. I just couldn't be more proud of them sticking together."
DeBoer said he's seen those players have been intentional about communicating and keeping things together.
"A lot of these guys, they came here to build a legacy," DeBoer said. "To build on a legacy and to also leave a legacy. They look at it as their job is not done. There's unfinished business with what they accomplished, whether it's this year or the years past. We're really looking forward to locking arms as a team, as a staff and continue to just work with the guys who are here. I really feel like we're in a great spot. We've just got to stay the course."
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Alabama has seen former five-star players such as Caleb Downs, Kadyn Proctor and Julian Sayin depart in the transfer portal. Downs and Proctor were starters this past season at safety and left tackle, respectively, while Sayin, a quarterback, joined the Crimson Tide as an early enrollee for Rose Bowl practices.
"I'm really not alarmed at all," DeBoer said about the roster turnover.
A 30-day window began for Alabama players to enter the transfer portal the day that Nick Saban retired. He has been retired for almost 10 days now, and a handful of players have entered the portal since. Other notable names include Isaiah Bond, Amari Niblack and Trey Amos, all of whom would have likely been starters this season.
"It's just the world we live in right now," DeBoer said. "When you have change and transition, there's going to be change with everything that's around the program. A lot of these programs are going through changes without transition of head coaches. Naturally, you expect this is going to happen to some extent. We'll get the right people in the program, whether it's staff, whether it's players. This is a place that has the best facilities and the best resources in the entire country. We are able to support the great players that come in here with all of that."
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer: New coach discusses Alabama football roster turnover
