Nick Saban coached at Alabama for 17 seasons. Successor Kalen DeBoer has had the job for about six months, but knows there is no honeymoon period for a program with perennial national championship aspirations.

“This program is special, and I take it as a great honor to be the one that gets to do everything we can to carry on the great tradition,” DeBoer said Wednesday at SEC media days in Dallas.

“… It’s been just an awesome blessing to be a part of this program, to continue to have that expectation on us. The alternative is to be at places where there aren’t expectations.”

Winners of six national championships and nine SEC titles under Saban, the Crimson Tide enter a new era under in Tuscaloosa under DeBoer, 49.

He guided the Washington Huskies to a 14-1 record last season, falling to Michigan in the CFP national title game. His overall record is 104-12 including time at NAIA Sioux Falls (2005-09), Fresno State (2020-21) and Washington (2022-23).

“I would not trade my journey for anything,” said DeBoer, who also spent time as the offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Indiana. “It gives me an appreciation for where I’m at. It gives me an appreciation for the people I have around me.”

DeBoer inherits a team that finished 12-2 after defeating Georgia in the SEC Championship game and losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

“We had a great winter, great spring, and really looking forward to the season that lies ahead,” he said.

Alabama opens against Western Kentucky on Aug. 31. The schedule gets tougher with a Sept. 14 trip to Wisconsin and a Sept. 28 home date with Georgia.

By DeBoer’s count, the Tide return five starters on offense and five on defense. They lost two players to the transfer portal but picked up 14 others.

“I think we’ve brought in some players to help add to, again, not just the depth but also to build and have an elite level of starters on the football field for us when Aug. 31 comes around,” he said.

“I think their mindset of just going 1-0 and winning the day is something that I preach to them, and they’ve taken on that challenge. They show up, they put in the extra work, they try to — they understand that everyone is doing the same things, you’ve just got to do it better and do it more often than those that we’re going to be competing against throughout the season.”

–Field Level Media