But victories over Georgia and LSU -- the latter at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge -- showed Alabama's potential under DeBoer. The Crimson Tide return practically their entire starting defense from 2024, and DeBoer is enjoying the quarterback competition between Austin Mack, Keelon Russell and Ty Simpson.

Winning is everything at Alabama, and Nick Saban made sure of that.The tough part for new head coach Kalen DeBoer is that he inherited a program in which the expectations are championship or bust. He proved to be a good coach at Washington,

During an appearance on Greg McElroy's podcast, Alabama football head coach Kalen DeBoer discussed a deadline for choosing between Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and Keelon Russell to become the Tide's starting quarterback.