Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer sent a message to his team on where to improve heading into the matchup with Kentucky.
There wasn't much that went wrong for the Alabama Crimson Tide in Week 1 of the new college football season.
Alabama took down East Carolina fairly easily 48-10, grabbing their first win of the season. But for head coach Kalen DeBoer, there is always room for improvement, no matter the situation.
The big area that DeBoer wanted to focus on following the East Carolina game was within the offensive line. When speaking to reporters this week, the Crimson Tide head coach made it a point to go over pad levels.
“You got to keep our pads low,” DeBoer said.
Alabama's offensive line saw some East Carolina defenders get underneath them during the game, limiting what the team could do offensively. While it didn't make a massive impact on the final score, DeBoer wants his team to correct this before it's too late.
DeBoer pointed to a few plays in the game that he believes could have gone a little better.
“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,” DeBoer said.
The Crimson Tide only allowed one sack on the day, but DeBoer still sees this as too much. The head coach wants to protect his quarterback at all tines, calling on the offensive line to step it up against the Kentucky Wildcats this weekend.
Quarterback Keelon Russell played decently for Alabama, throwing for 256 yards through the air. Russell also rushed for 86 yards and one score against East Carolina, showing off his dual-threat ability.
But heading into his first SEC game, the Crimson Tide may need him to do more. And having the offensive line step up more could go a long way for Alabama to move to 2-0 on the new season.
“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,” DeBoer said.
If Alabama can bring the toughness into the game against Kentucky, they could easily take the win. But nothing will be handed to this team, and the Wildcats are going to try to defend home-field.
Kentucky took down Youngstown State in Week 1, earning their first victory of the season. Alabama knows that no road game will be easy especially in the SEC, giving them their first test of the year this weekend.
