Kalen DeBoer enters SEC Media Days with Alabama still carrying the weight of Alabama expectations, and that means a 10-2 regular season and a College Football Playoff win over Oklahoma last year only go so far in Tuscaloosa. The standard there is bigger than playoff appearances, and DeBoer has already felt the edge that comes with it.
A rough start in 2024 - a 31-17 Week 1 loss to Florida State, a 28-7 SEC Championship defeat to Georgia and a 38-3 Rose Bowl loss to Indiana - did nothing to calm the noise around his first season. Even after the Tide finished 10-2 and beat Oklahoma in the playoff, the frustration lingered. DeBoer knows exactly how Alabama people see it.
“I certainly know that that’s an important part of what’s happened in the program, so I wouldn’t doubt that if that’s the case,” DeBoer said at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. “I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on just helping our program be the best and trying to bring out the best and raise the level of everyone around me from the coaching staff to our players.”
He said Alabama made progress in year two compared with a 9-4 2024, but the next step is still there to be taken. And that next step may hinge on the most important job on the roster: quarterback.
Ty Simpson, last year’s starter, is gone after being picked 13th overall in April’s NFL Draft. Simpson threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions, completing 305 of 473 passes. Now Alabama is choosing between senior Austin Mack and sophomore Keelon Russell.
Mack is 6-foot-6, 232 pounds and arrived from Washington in 2024 when DeBoer came over from the Huskies. He has spent three years in DeBoer’s system and has waited behind the scenes for his chance.
Russell brings a different profile. The 6-3, 201-pound sophomore was a five-star recruit in 2024, ESPN’s top quarterback in the class and the No. 14 prospect overall. His appeal is obvious: arm talent and mobility.
“Both of them are more than capable,” DeBoer said. “I think they’re high-level elite quarterbacks. Fortunately, we have them both in our program, and it’s going to be a competition that’s going to lead to a tough decision.”
The two split reps in the spring and even shared backup work last season. DeBoer pointed to Mack’s size and strength and Russell’s versatility, but said the final call will come down to who handles pressure best - the kind of thing that can’t really be recreated in practice.
“Putting guys in spots where there is adversity, where there are moments that are tough and challenging, how they process, that comes down to the poise that you got to have,” DeBoer said. “We need the guy that can move the ball up and down the field the most efficiently and effectively and makes the guys around him better.”
That decision matters right away. Alabama opens Sept. 5 against East Carolina, then turns around for SEC play at Kentucky on Sept. 12.
And looming later is the kind of game that always sharpens the conversation around Alabama: LSU at Tiger Stadium on Nov. 7. LSU has plenty on its own plate with a brutal stretch ahead that could shape Lane Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge in College Football Playoff terms, but Alabama is still Alabama when that date arrives.
The Tide have owned that trip. Alabama is 30-10-2 all-time in Baton Rouge, better than any other team that has played there that many times. It has won six of its last seven games in Tiger Stadium and is 13-2 against LSU since the Tide’s 21-0 win in the BCS Championship Game for the 2011 season in New Orleans.
Most of that damage came under Nick Saban. Now it belongs to DeBoer, whose teams have already beaten LSU twice by a combined 62-22 - a 42-13 rout in Death Valley in 2024 and a 20-9 win last year. By the time Alabama and LSU meet again, the matchup will be impossible to ignore, no matter what else is getting offseason attention.
In Other News...
LSU Made An Unusual SEC Media Days Call Fans Will Notice
LSUs SEC Media Days group is taking shape, and it comes with a small but noticeable wrinkle for fans following the quarterback situation. The Tigers are set to send head coach Lane Kiffin along with linebackers TJ Dottery and Whit Weeks and tight end Trey'Dez Green, with Kiffin scheduled to speak first before the players take the stage.
The part fans will clock is the absence of new starting quarterback Sam Leavitt from the trip to Tampa. Leavitt has yet to speak publicly since arriving at LSU, so the wait for his first extended turn in front of the cameras will stretch a little longer, even as the Tigers head into one of the offseasons biggest SEC spotlight moments without their most closely watched newcomer. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Landed A Louisiana Boost Fans Will Care About
LSU Athletics added a familiar local name to its business portfolio this week, unveiling a new multi-year partnership inside Tiger Stadium that ties one of the states internet providers more closely to the Tigers. The agreement is built around fan-facing marketing, venue branding and gameday activations, with the company also expected to play a role in LSU Sports Properties broader push to keep the program connected to Louisiana communities.
The collaboration is set to reach beyond signage and promotions, too, with NIL support aimed at athletes from the state giving the deal a more personal edge for LSU fans. It also does not kick in right away, which makes the announcement feel like the start of a longer-term relationship rather than a quick branding splash, and that timeline leaves plenty of room for how the partnership will show up once the next phase arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Suddenly Face Real Pressure With Top Receiver Commit
Easton Royal remains one of the biggest names in the 2027 receiver class, and for now the top-ranked pass catcher is still committed to Texas. Even so, LSU has stayed in the conversation as one of the schools trying to pry him loose, with Florida also still in the mix as the recruitment quietly stretches on. For a player of Royals profile, every pause in the process matters, especially when the commitment is not being treated like a done deal.
The longer this drags out, the more pressure builds on Texas to hold serve and on LSU to keep making itself impossible to ignore. Recruiting insiders think this could take time before it reaches a final answer, and the timing alone leaves plenty of room for momentum to shift. For LSU, that means the pursuit is still alive, and the next turn in Royals decision could end up saying plenty about where the Tigers stand in the race for elite wideout talent. [Read more 🡒]