Kalen DeBoer Reveals Which Position Room has Shown the Most Growth This Spring

Alabama is nearing the end of spring practice, and with it comes the Tide's annual A-Day event. This year, the event will feature a few changes, including the elimination of the former scrimmage structure in favor of a 90-minute open practice.

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The Crimson Tide's head coach, Kalen DeBoer, appeared on "The Game With Ryan Fowler" and discussed a variety of A-Day topics, including Deboer stating that the defensive backs are in a far better position than they were at this time last year, and claiming that if he had to pick a room that has shown the most growth, it would be the defensive backs.

Alabama's defensive backfield returns some recognizable faces unlike last season with the Tide having a very young defensive back room, with Class of 2024 four-star Zabien Brown serving as starting cornerback in 2024. That's not all with Freshman Bray Hubbard stepping in and starting at safety after Keon Sabb suffered a season-ending injury against Tennesee last season, and two class of 2024 commits Red Morgan, and Zay Mincy seeing some playing time last year.

"I know what it is from last year at this time to where we are at right now, it's to me the defensive backfield." Deboer continued "That's definitely in a different place than what it was a year ago, you know, they were all new faces."

Deboer went on to express how tough it is to pick just one position when there is progress across the board and all rooms appear to be having a solid spring.

"I mean there's a lot of things, I can point across the board. I see the growth with each position, it's hard to pick one, it's hard to pick one, but probably the defensive backfield just continuing to grow and do the things that they're doing if I had to pick one position that would probably be it."

Alabama's defensive backfield appears to be stacked heading into the 2025 season, with Jackson and Brown returning as starting cornerbacks from the previous season. The Tide also have new additions to the room, including Utah transfer Cameron Calhoun and a five-star class of 2025 commit Dijon Lee, both defensive backs have received a lot of attention throughout spring practice. The Crimson Tide are also returning starting safeties Hubbard, and Sabb, despite Sabb not having fully recovered from his injury which has caused him to miss the spring, he is expected to make a full recovery by the Tide's season opener against Florida State on August 30. Alabama will also be welcoming newcomers like Ivan Taylor in the Safety room. Taylor was a four-star 2025 commit, who has been spoken highly of since his early enrollment back in January.

Not to mention that Alabama's defensive coordinator, Kane Wommack, is entering his second year with his system in place, and he's returning almost all of the room from last year, except Jahlil Hurley, who transferred to Kansas during the offseason and only appeared in two games for the Tide in 2024, and Alabama's Malachi Moore who started at safety last year for the Tide ran out of eligibility this season and is now declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft.

You can watch the Tide's defensive backs and the rest of the squad at A-Day on Saturday, April 12, at noon.

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