As his team has moved forward from its loss at Vanderbilt, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer has liked what he has seen from his players this week before playing South Carolina.
“I can promise you these guys are going back to work and doing everything they can to be the best they can on Saturday against South Carolina,” DeBoer said Wednesday night during his “Hey Coach” radio show. “The mindset’s in a good spot. Just — I’m so proud of the response. That’s all you can do.
“I think Tim Smith even said it today. 10 percent is what you deal with, and 90 percent is how you respond to it is what it’s all about. We’ve got some good guys that get it.”
DeBoer noted in the opening segment of his weekly radio show that the “sun came up” Sunday despite the loss.
“We went to work,” he said. “Sunday, we talk about that day being a day where we’ve really got to get down to the truths. That’s win or lose. We do a good job of trying to always make sure we have the answers. There’s been weeks prior, right — the four games prior — where we really go to the truths on the things that obviously we were doing well, the things that we continue to improve on, the things that people will see on film and continue to come after you with, and that’s no different when you had what we had on Saturday.
“Sunday you come back, you get to tell the truth Sunday and make sure you really address and walk away with the answers, and understand the things we need to fix. Understand the things you can to control, and you just go back to work. I’ve been extremely proud of the way the guys came with that mindset, came with that attitude. They’ve handled it great on Sunday and Tuesday, Wednesday practices have been full of energy. Guys just focused on getting better.
“That’s what we talked about from Day 1 in our program, is having a relentless pursuit of continuous improvement. In our case, that’s going to happen every single play all season long, because there are just so many new things that our guys are going through. The first times for all these things, and also different things with just how we are week-to-week with what we add to our offense, defense, special teams. What we’re going to see in front of us each and every week, and just the way we continue to learn more about each other and how we handle things.”
DeBoer then raised his arm in an upward direction.
“The growth is gonna be on this level each and every week, just because of where we’re at, and really only having five games together,” DeBoer said. “I’m proud of the guys, I’m proud of the attitude. They were great again today.”
That’s all part of DeBoer’s makeup as a coach, wide receiver Germie Bernard said during Wednesday night’s “Hey Coach” show.
“Coach DeBoer, he always has an optimistic mindset,” Bernard said. “He never has doubt that we’re going to have a great week of preparation and we’re gonna translate that onto the field on Saturdays.”
DeBoer reiterated he’s seen “great preparation” so far this week.
“Guys really care. I know that’s the case,” DeBoer said. “I will never question that with our players, and all across the board with our team. They’re pouring everything they have into it.
I want them to get to Saturday to where they can just cut it loose. I always tell them, cut it loose, let it rip and let’s go play some ball.”
