'We're not a finished project': Kalen DeBoer on Alabama's loss to unranked Vanderbilt, team's response

You bet. Um, good morning. And I know you've heard from the coordinators and so got *** few of those things, uh, that you had questions on, uh, uh, work through but, uh, just kind of following up on, on that and in the game, uh, watching the film and all of that, uh, from Saturday, uh, just *** lot of the same, same feelings I had, you know, after the game. Um, and I think the feelings, first of all, uh, the team has, uh, certainly disappointed, upset, um, fired up, uh, you know, and I think, you know, you're always looking at what the response is and they, uh, came yesterday back, uh, kind of, you know, the thing you have to provide as coaches is the answers, uh, an understanding of where we go from here. And I think our staff did *** nice job and I think our guys did *** great job responding, uh, with the right mindset with the right attitude, uh, brought some great energy. Um, probably one of the nice things about having *** Sunday, uh, where we get together is, uh, you know, we get to move on, uh, you know, outside of the building. Um, the game gets held on to for not *** day, probably not *** week for some guy people you hold on to it for, for the rest of your life. But for these guys, they don't get the choice and we, as *** staff and them, uh, together have to move on. And, uh, we've, we've done that, uh, after yesterday, uh, understanding where we gotta get better. Uh, we know we're *** work in progress, um, you know, not *** finished product by any means and that showed up on, on Saturday. Uh, but the key is that we continue to improve and that's one of our, our core values is to have *** relentless pursuit of continuous improvement. The guys uh show that they wanna do that and, you know, sticking together and, uh owning it in every way and that's uh staff to every player on the football team. So, uh I'm proud of that part and, uh just, uh, you know, there's each side of the ball, all phases of the game, uh where we can continue to just, uh, you know, keep building. We have *** great football team. I, I'm convinced of that. Uh I have no doubt of that. I believe in these guys. Uh I believe in them more when I see the resiliency that they have, whether it's during the games that we've played, uh, not just this last game but uh, different games. Um The way that they prepared. That led, that leads to the passion that comes out on the football field and that resiliency, um, they got fight in them. They, uh, they, they wanna win that. They want to hold all their traditional traditions of, uh, Alabama football. And, uh, you know, no one feels worse about this, uh, than all of us here in this building. Football, uh, the football team and, uh, our coaches. So, uh, we're looking forward to, uh, South Carolina here this next week. Uh, Coach Beamer, you know, um, you know, continue to build on his, his, the program there, um, doing some really nice things, uh, physical football team and, uh, you know, and they're coming off of ***, *** tough game as well, uh, with Old Miss there and, uh, you know, things not going their way. Uh, so we know it's gonna be another fight here, uh, in the world of the sec questions. Yeah, Tyler Booker mentioned when talking about just *** lack at this point at times that, you know, focus, he thought was an issue. Uh, how would you assess the focus of this group during the game? I guess? I mean, is there more on the lack of discipline part? What, what, what was it referring to? Yeah, I mean, when, when you're, when you come out on the short end, everything gets amplified, right? You look into everything, uh, on another level. And so in regards to that since that was the question. Um, you know, you can point to every little thing that happened and it being *** lack of focus or discipline and, uh, having to do it better. Um, and I think what it really comes down to is doing it better over and over and when you're get, you know, we gave ourselves little room for error with the way the game started. Right. Um, they go down and put *** nice drive together and then, you know, we have the ball bounce off, the helmet goes for, goes for an interception for *** touchdown. And so we leave ourselves very little room for error knowing that the plan that they already had in place because it showed up on film in weeks prior to playing us is that they will play ball control offense, they'll let the clock run down, shorten the game, uh, but they get *** lead even more. So, um, and then, you know that the whole, um, taking them out of their game is gonna be harder to do because, you know, we're playing from behind. Uh, so, you know, offensively, we had to kind of probably lose some of the balance that we, we thought we could have offensively with *** run pass. We had to speed up the game, try to add more possessions. We still only got nine in the game and that's, that's having sped up the game that's getting drives at the end of each half where we're trying to move the ball, uh, you know, quickly. Um, and, yeah, so the little mistakes are always gonna be, you know, uh, the mistakes are always gonna be looked at as areas where the focus or the discipline, um, wasn't there. But I tell you our guys prepared. Um, all the noise outside the building. I thought our guys did as good of *** job, um, as they could. Um, Everyone's human. So, I mean, the pats on the back or whatever they got, you know, um but I thought that they were focused on the right things all week long, the effort, um the work that was put in, uh seemed like *** really good solid week. Um The ball literally didn't bounce our way *** couple times. Um We have to make our own breaks and do *** better job of making that happen to where the ball ends up in our hands, whether it's forcing turnovers or making sure that, uh you know, we don't put the ball on the ground and, and turn it over ourselves. So if all those things are, you know, part of that, uh that question, um you know, that, that, you know, that's, I guess that would add to what, what he said after, after the game, you know, book, book has *** good pulse of everything that's happening on the team. And so, you know, I trust that and uh we've had great conversations, uh he i, the whole uh leadership group um, since, uh, since Saturday and I feel like we're in *** good spot. Yeah. Hey, coach, just, what do you say to fans who maybe wanted to see some more frustration from you, uh, after *** loss like that, that wanted to see what more frustration from you after I lost like the one on Saturday. Oh, I'm, I mean, I'm extremely frustrated. We all are, you know, um, but we're not gonna lose our cool over o over that. We understand, you know, what happened and *** lot of what, what I see in the response, even in the locker room, I guess. Are you talking, like, press conference afterwards or something? That's really the only time you could have seen me, I guess. Uh, you know, I think that's, that's me seeing what already is happening in 30 minutes, 20 minutes after the game's over and I saw extreme frustration. I saw guys wanting to stick together, wanting to still, uh, do something special, believing in each other, expressing that, um, you know, I had my part in there too where, you know, uh, we, we understood, you know, what happened and that, uh, it's not up to our standard and how we had to proceed forward. And so, yeah, we are all extremely frustrated. I mean, but we aren't going to sit and lose our cool because, uh, you know, I don't think that's the right, the right way. To go about it. Um You know, there's *** time and place for, for everything and again, we're still early in the season. Um, you know, we've left ourselves *** little less wiggle room to achieve some of the goals we have. But uh those goals are still out there and we need to just focus on what our, what our whole mindset is, is always to improve every single day and that's never gonna change and to improve. I think you gotta have things in perspective. Uh, and, uh you know, focus on the right areas and our whole team is doing that to the side. And Chase coach Womack mentioned that Malachi had been held to account by the coaching staff to some extent. Is there anything that you can add to that? And was this *** situation where ***, *** suspension would be considered? No, we, we have handled it and I'm just gonna say this about Malachi, you know what he did? He has gone above and beyond in owning, um taking ownership in it. Um And this is, this is pretty much immediately after the game um to this morning, uh things that are all prompted by him. Um But also part of just our conversations, uh the guy iii I think the thing I wanna make sure Bama fans know is that this guy has been rock solid and then at *** critical, critical piece along with others, there are some others as well. Of keeping this thing together since January. Ok, when *** lot of people chose, guys chose to leave, this guy stood firm. This guy loves Alabama football. He works relentlessly out there every single day on the football field. It's the passion that I hope. I mean, you know, questions asked about me and the passion and frustration. I mean, that's what you saw from him. And so, yeah, it was, there's some things that, you know, he regrets and wishes probably didn't do. Yeah, but he's, he's owned up to it and uh we've handled it internally um and, and still handling it internally. And so, um he's *** first class guy. Uh he is out in the community weekly, you know, as just part of who he is doing things to give back, um understanding the platform, he has *** lot of eyes are on our program, *** lot of eyes are eyes are on him. And uh you know, this guy, this guy plays, plays hard for himself, his teammates. Um but this program means so much to him. And so, you know, doesn't make it right, doesn't make it right by any means what, what some of the actions were. But uh I, I just, I want you to, people understand also that uh he's had my and our back since day one and there comes *** point too where sometimes, you know, as things play out, you gotta have, you gotta have your guys back you know, as well and understand that we all make mistakes and we all, you know, just got to own up to it and, uh, we were doing that and, uh, we will continue to move on. Got *** kni on the right side of the middle through five games. This has been one of the most penalized teams in college football. How do you go about correcting that going into the second half of the season? Well, I think we, we were doing *** better job, um, even in the game the other night, obviously there was the 15 yards at the end. Right. Um, the penalties, I think in the moments is probably the biggest thing. Um, you know, and some of those calls are tough ones to, tough ones to, to have happen to you, you know. Um, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm looking at, uh, Q coming in and trying not to, you know, really hit the quarterback, uh, in an aggressive manner but the penalty is there, you know, I mean, there is, there's not *** recklessness about it as he's trying to get after the quarterback, he's just trying to do what he's supposed to do. And, um, you know, I'm trying to think of *** couple of other, I mean, some, there's gonna be penalties that happen and, uh, I don't feel like that was the major play in what, uh, what hurt us. Um, it's *** part of it, um, just like anything when you, I said earlier when you do do come out short, you end up amplifying everything. Um But I think there's execution and just things that we could do could have done better. We need to take, you know, make sure we don't turn the ball over when you get the ball uh in our possession. So, um again, we always talk about those things post game uh in our follow up, we did that Sunday. Um, we talked about the penalties and, uh, just continuing to make sure we're working and focused on the right o on that. And, um, you know, I think we, we, we, we had *** couple of games early, right where the numbers really stacked up against us. And, um, you know, that's not helping our average, I guess per game. Um, again, is it where we want it to be? No, is last week's game where we want it to be? No, but I think that was *** small part of it. All those little parts add up and that's why you get what you got on Saturday. All right. Let's go to the left side over here, Michael. How would you assess the way the defense adjusted during the game? And how involved are you in that process? Yeah, we're always, we're always talking and I'm, you know, seeing, uh, whether it's, uh, you know, taking *** look on the ipad or just, um, you know, conversations with coach coach Wick, um, I think the key with anything and that's including our team is that not overreact. Um, understand exactly why, uh, why, what is happening is happening. Uh, and, um, you have adjustments built into your game plan and so it might be, you know, mixing things up, but you also got to make sure that you're just executing against what you're seeing. And, uh, sometimes it's some, you know, it's, it might be something *** little bit different. Uh, you know, and you just need to have another opportunity against that. Look with the call you made defensively too, just to be able to execute better. So, um, you know, that you're always gonna look back again, everything gets amplified. So you're always gonna look back and say, well, we could have done this earlier or more or whatever, it might be offensively. You do the same thing. And so, um, you know, I know we, we've had those, we've had those conversations not just during, but after, and, uh, you know, again, the worst thing you can do is panic and we have *** defense that has shown *** lot of, *** lot of, uh, had *** lot of success here, you know, through, through five games and, um, there's just little bits and pieces of what we gotta do. I mean, we really, in the second half, I thought we did *** much better job on first down, second down, the game was *** first down game, the first half, they put themselves in better situations. The second half we just had, do *** better job of getting off the field on third down coach, your coaching records, well documented *** limited amount of losses for your first loss at Alabama. What's kind of your message is your back to the drawing board? You said, don't panic or do you kind of just stay the course? Yeah, you say that's exactly the words that I was gonna say is you stay the course. That's what the, that's what the message is to the team. Um, now stay the course, right? But everything is always, you know, just digesting what happened having for some perspective and, you know, having the answers for the guys. That's what we have to make sure we do as coaches, um, so that we can walk away understanding what we can control how we need to fix it. Um, and just knowing that the next game, there's gonna be different matchups that are strengths for us. There's also gonna be different matchups and ways that an opponent attacks us. And I'm not just talking offensively but defensively and we gotta be ready. This position group can't get, you know, one position group who had success can't get, you know, all comfortable. I don't think we have, uh, because you're the one that might have the tough match up the next week. And, um, as *** team, that's what it's all about. You gotta continue to work on your area. Keep it within the team concept. Stay the course and, uh, just keep fighting, keep playing and stick together. That's, that's to me the biggest thing and I've seen nothing but that here, you know, in the last 24 48 hours we spoke with Kane about it. Sorry. But, uh, Jaheem opting opting out was that, did that come as *** surprise you, did you have *** conversation with him about that? And how did that kind of play out? Yeah, Jim, I mean, I felt like it was going, going that way. Um, you know, I think the thing you also have to understand is there's, there's other elements to this, right? There's health elements, there's, there's life elements, you know, and um, so, I mean, I was, you know, I, I mean, I love these guys, they work hard and, uh, you know, um, you know, Jim's choices and, and things. So there's, there's reasons for that, right? And so, um, you know, he notified, you know, has notified and continued to be in communication here with us and, um, you know, kind of felt like it was maybe going that direction, not just today or yesterday or just, you know, here in the last few days. So, um, you know, we, we move forward with the guys that really are able to help us win and focused on, uh focused on our program and, uh, you know, as we go through this and I don't wanna put final finality to it. But, uh, you know, he's gonna want what's best for all people and, uh, Je Heems one of them roll.