Kalen DeBoer Not Scared Of Following A Legend Like Nick Saban, Nails First SEC Media Day | Trey Wallace

DALLAS- As Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer took the stage for his first appearance at SEC Media Days, Nick Saban was standing in the back corner watching from the ESPN set, which felt like we were all living in some alternative reality. 

The stage was set, media members flooded into the ballroom to see how DeBoer would handle the pressure of fielding questions at the biggest kickoff event in college football. When Greg Sankey introduced the Alabama coach, it felt as though time had frozen for a split second. While he's been on the job for seven months, this was the first time that he would be grilled by media members on the grand stage, besides the small gathering at Spring meetings. 

While many wondered how Kalen DeBoer would handle the process, it only took a few questions to realize that he was going to be just fine when it came to dealing with the tough questions. It's not lost on anyone the position he's currently in, or the guy he is replacing. 

But, for those twenty minutes on-stage in Dallas, DeBoer handled himself like he'd been in this spot for seven years, not seven months. When asked if following a legend was any type of factor in him being hesitant to take the Alabama job, Kalen delivered the answer that should calm the nerves of every fan that roots for the Tide'. 

"For me personally, it was just more about just understanding that coaching football is coaching football to some aspect, and you've got to try to simplify it down, as difficult and as complicated as you can make it," DeBoer responded. "I've done this for enough years and seen what good culture looks like and maybe even what a culture that needs to improve on looks like, and it's been just an awesome blessing to be a part of this program, to continue to have that expectation on us.

"The alternative is to be at places where there aren't expectations. At some point there's been places where maybe a little bit of that has happened throughout my career, and this is a great place to be. I'm very blessed, very honored, and certainly acknowledge what you said, but we're just going to focus on this team and being the best we can be and continue to build on the great tradition of Alabama football."

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer knocked his first appearance at SEC Media Days out of the park, with Nick Saban looking on

Boom, that was it. All I needed to hear from Kalen DeBoer about the pressure of taking the job at Alabama was that simple line of ‘coaching football is coaching football’. 

In a college football world where every move you make is broken down eighteen different ways, DeBoer sounds like a guy who understands the circumstances, but at the same time is not worried about what folks on the outside think. Yes, Nick Saban was sitting in the back of the room, coffee in hand, but that did not phase the guy that is now calling the shots and representing the football team. 

This was a moment that we might look back on in ten years and describe it as the most crucial point for Alabama in this new era of collegiate athletics. For most, the pressure of replacing a legend is a task that some might run from, but Kalen DeBoer has put his head down and worked to change the headlines in Tuscaloosa. 

When Did It Hit The Alabama Players That Kalen Was Not Saban

There might be a number of moments where players will notice a change in leadership, or not seeing certain members of the staff roaming the facility any longer. When Kalen DeBoer took the job at Alabama, he had to bring his own culture, not become overwhelmed in keeping things the same as they were left by the previous staff. 

So, things changed around the football facility. Instead of practicing in the afternoons, Alabama is hitting the field in the mornings, getting practice out of the way, and not having to deal with the extreme heat. There are also smaller things that might go unnoticed outside the facility, as Malachi Moore described when asked about the first time he knew this was going to be different. 

"I would say one of the first things he mentioned to us was music at practice," Moore jokingly noted. "Everybody was just like like ‘What, What, What?’. It's been fun, the music at practice has been fun. The early morning schedule I like it because it gives me more time to get my early morning treatment in and do any extra work I need to do." 

The best thing Kalen DeBoer could've done when he arrived in Tuscaloosa was not try to replace a legend, by replicating a legend. 

Alabama's Malachi Moore speaks about the transition from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer

Nick Saban Picked Against Alabama, Players Don't Care For ‘External’ Noise

Having their former coach on television every week talking college football is the new norm for Alabama players, as they continue to focus on the upcoming season. But when the players got on social media, or family members sent them clips of Nick Saban not picking them to play for an SEC championship, they actually took the advice of their former coach. 

When asked about Saban choosing Texas and Georgia to play for the title in Atlanta, Tyler Booker had a fantastic response to the snub, by not listening to the media, which his former coach is now a part of. 

"Coach Saban taught us whenever we speak with the media was not concern ourselves with external factors," Booker explained. "He doesn’t work in the facility anymore, he works at the stadium, so he’s considered an external factor, so I’m not really paying attention to him"

But Tyler Booker wasn't done just yet, jokingly bringing up Nick Saban's golf outings. 

"He always said don't let some guy who lives in his mom's basement determine how you feel. I'm not going to let a guy who plays golf all day determine how I feel."

If there's one thing we learned on Wednesday morning inside a ballroom at SEC Media Days, it's that Kalen DeBoer is comfortable in his own skin, and not worried about what folks outside the Alabama facility think about how he's handling the job of following a legend. 

There will be folks that question his moves if and when they lose a game this season, and that's ok. But for Alabama football to continue prospering, they needed to move away from the Nick Saban culture, no matter how folks in Tuscaloosa felt.