TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media Monday afternoon after the No. 4 Crimson Tide’s bye week and prior to the must-see matchup against No. 2 Georgia.

Here’s everything DeBoer had to say:

Opening Statement…

“Just getting into our SEC opener, so it’s exciting for us and our program. And obviously with Georgia

coming in here, a ton of respect for Coach Smart and everything he’s accomplished in his career and obviously there at Georgia with all the success they’ve had. Good to be playing at home. We need our crowd, our fans, to bring the energy. And obviously we’ve got to do our part to make it exciting and make sure there’s things to cheer for. So looking forward to a great atmosphere and an awesome weekend for our program.”

Bye week, you get a chance to get some guys healthy and so that was good. Even not guys that you’re even noticing maybe being out, but just guys that have got dings and going through practice and just doing everything they can and end up on the field on Saturday. So it was good from that aspect to get a few days for getting healthier there.”

“But yeah, looking forward to a great week of practice. There shouldn’t be any problem — there hasn’t been a problem — of trying to have energy from our guys and that certainly shouldn’t be the case this week. I know that.”

Thoughts on Trump coming and what it says about the impact of the game…

I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of celebrity-type people here, people that want to come be a part of what’s happening on gameday. It’s going to be, everyone’s watching. So it’d be great to have everyone who wants to come watch be here. For us, I told the guys this, with GameDay and everything coming here as well, for the guys to try to take as much off their plate, other than maybe a few extra interviews towards the end of the week. The main thing is they get prepared to play the best football game that they’ve played this year. I always challenge them to play the best football game they’ve ever played in their career.”

“That’s what matters when it comes down to what we can control. But yeah, it is kinda cool to have a lot of people who want to come be part of the atmosphere and add to the excitement and energy that the game will bring.”

What made SEC teams you’ve faced in the past different…

I think you’re asking before I came here right, kind of what the perception was? You always just felt like physicality, speed and I think as much as anything you sometimes had a player here or a player there that could compete against that person across from them. But the problem is, especially with special teams, the magnitude of depth of a roster in the SEC. When one guy comes out, another guy comes in and he’s almost just as good if not as good.”

“What that does is that gives the guy coming off the field a chance to get a breather and come out and be fresh. That’s to me a big part of what makes the SEC what it is. You’ve got you’re top-tier, top round draft picks that are out there making plays for you. The physicality, the speed, gamebreakers, on both sides of the ball at all times. And then you have the depth of that being much deeper than most programs are able to have, pretty much all programs are able to have.”

“Well you look back to last year, right? And this is a new team. This is a new season, and that’s why I always make sure we’re emphasizing that this is the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide football team. But there’s certainly learning moments that you have when you’ve been through the experiences.”

That’s not obviously me, that’s our players as you mentioned that can take those experiences and give them confidence, give them an understanding of what it takes. You try to give them the platform, you try to give them a chance to be able to spread what they’ve learned to the rest of the team and understanding it’s going to be a four quarter game. Understand that there’s going to be ebbs and flows in the game, that the physicality isn’t just going to be here and there, it’s every single play. So you got to be on your A-game the entire start to finish, and do it as long as it’s needed. So you take those guys with those experiences and you make sure they get a chance to spread what they’ve learned with the rest of the football team.”

On leaning on veteran players’ experience against Georgia for Saturday’s game…

“Well you look back to last year, right? And this is a new team. This is a new season, and that’s why I always make sure we’re emphasizing that this is the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide football team. But there’s certainly learning moments that you have when you’ve been through the experiences.”

That’s not obviously me, that’s our players as you mentioned that can take those experiences and give them confidence, give them an understanding of what it takes. You try to give them the platform, you try to give them a chance to be able to spread what they’ve learned to the rest of the team and understanding it’s going to be a four quarter game. Understand that there’s going to be ebbs and flows in the game, that the physicality isn’t just going to be here and there, it’s every single play. So you got to be on your A-game the entire start to finish, and do it as long as it’s needed. So you take those guys with those experiences and you make sure they get a chance to spread what they’ve learned with the rest of the football team.”

On reaching another first as Alabama’s coach (first big, ranked matchup, SEC game, etc.)…

“Every game, like you said, is a first– first road trip, first game in Bryant-Denny, first conference game. But I think you really just try to simplify it. Any big game, you know, the next one is always the biggest one, right? You win this one, the next one becomes the main one and so forth. For us it’s just really honing in and trying to simplify it down to what you really have control of and it’s making sure our energy, attitude and effort is on point. And that we’re going to continue to fight, it’s the battle that’s going to happen on Saturday, but that our preparation is 100% where it needs to be. That’s what’s going to give you the confidence, that’s what’s going to give you the belief and trust when it comes to those big moments that are going to present themselves on Saturdays.”