Kalen DeBoer saw plenty to like in Alabama’s 48-10 win over East Carolina, and he liked one thing in particular: Keelon Russell making plays.
The Crimson Tide piled up 307 first-half yards and finished with 480 on offense, while the defense did its part by limiting East Carolina to 99 first-half yards and just 162 total yards for the game. Alabama’s pass-rush pressure and overall control showed up throughout, but DeBoer kept coming back to the same theme after the game - growth.
“We just have to keep getting better every rep,” DeBoer told The Crimson Tide Sports Network. “That’s happening.
There’s a lot of things you don’t see that we just have to keep getting better at. It’s across the board.
“There was some stuff we had to identify based on what they were doing defensively. We got that taken care of.
We got a good understanding of how they are attacking us. Now, we have to continue to get better and improve.”
Russell was a big reason Alabama kept rolling. He went 11 of 17 for 182 yards in the first half and finished 17 of 29 for 249 passing yards. He also added 86 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, giving the Tide another dimension when he pulled the ball down and moved.
“He’s a playmaker,” the Alabama coach said at halftime. “There’s a lot of those little things he can clean up, but he goes out there and makes plays. The guys around him are doing a good job of helping him, too.”
DeBoer also pointed to Russell’s running ability as a factor that opens things up for everyone else.
“There eyes are on him, which helps,” DeBoer said about Russell’s ability to run helping the run game. “He has to use that to his advantage and to our advantage.
“He gets out of the pocket and puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Even with the win in hand, DeBoer didn’t let the Tide’s clean overall performance hide the mistake that led to East Carolina’s biggest shot of the day. Tyler Johnson got behind Alabama for a 68-yard reception to the Alabama 1 early in the second quarter, and DeBoer made it clear that kind of breakdown can’t happen.
“We can’t give up the long play, the bust there,” DeBoer said. “I like a lot of things we’re seeing.”
Alabama’s defense answered by tightening up the rest of the way, and East Carolina managed only 2 rushing yards in the game.
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