Img 3768 Scaled E1757958706556 — Kalen DeBoer speaks before the MMQBC meeting in Birmingham. (Pat Byington / The Bama Buzz)

After Alabama lost its season opener for the first time since 2001, Kalen DeBoer and his team were facing a large amount of criticism as the second-year coach continues to build his team out of Nick Saban’s shadow.

In the two weeks since that defeat, the Crimson Tide has responded with a pair of dominant wins behind the play of Ty Simpson and the defense.

“I’m just really proud of our guys and how they’ve handled any outside noise. They understand it doesn’t really mean anything, it really matters what we think and what we do. They’ve really channeled their focus, channeled their energy into the right things and that’s their preparation.”
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama head coach

Alabama is now 2-1 on the season, moving back up to No. 14 in the AP Poll. The team now gets its first bye week of the season before the gauntlet that is SEC play, starting with a trip to play No. 5 Georgia.

DeBoer started the bye week with a trip to Birmingham for this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback Club, taking a few moments to speak with the media before the luncheon.

‘We’re better off because of it’

Kalen DeBoer at the Monday Morning QB Club (The Bama Buzz)

Although we are more than two weeks removed from Alabama’s loss to Florida State, it still seems to be the defining point of the season for the Tide—at least up until this point.

So Kalen DeBoer was still fielding questions about the loss and his team’s response to the defeat when he arrived in Birmingham on Monday morning.

“It’s probably added a little fuel to the fire in some cases for individuals but for our team as a whole, they’ve really been forced to stick together on another level. I hope the edge that it’s created the last couple of weeks stays, it needs to. I’m going to keep reminding them of that. It’s led to a lot of positive things in our football team. You hate to go through it but right now, the adversity, we’re better off because of it.”
Kalen DeBoer

Ty Simpson is one of the players who certainly seems to be better off after the loss as he’s put together two stellar performances since leaving Tallahassee. In the last two games, Simpson has:

89.1% completion rate
608 passing yards
7 passing TDs
1 rushing TD
0 turnovers

Simpson is 8th in the country in passing efficiency and tied for 5th in passing touchdowns. DeBoer said the progress comes from being more comfortable under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

“I think there’s been a lot of progress on that. They understand the schemes because a lot of the concepts are in the same families. There’s just a feel and a trust that happens only through doing it together. Now that we’ve got three games, and I really felt it in this last game, as the talk and the conversations happened during a play and anticipating what the check might be, what the read might be and where the ball might end up.”
Kalen DeBoer

Simpson could soon have starting running back Jam Miller by his side who missed the first three games due to a collarbone injury but could return to play Georgia.

“He’s got some explosiveness, he’s got great strength. We really count on him. He had a great fall camp so hopefully it doesn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things.”
Kalen DeBoer

Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club

The Birmingham chapter of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club is celebrating its 87th season this year. The organization welcomes coaches from around the state and other nationally-recognized college football figures to speak each week but it’s about more than just a weekly luncheon.

There are currently 764 members in the chapter which was started in 1939. They’ve raised more than $40 million for different charities + organizations that support children around the Birmingham community.

In 2020, the charitable arm of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club was renamed Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation to be more inclusive and reflect the broader scope of giving.

“It’s good to be here and just enjoy the week away from having a game on Saturday to prepare for and get to share it with people here for a good cause. The guys are going to have a couple days away from football and get back to work again on Wednesday to get ready for Georgia.”
Kalen DeBoer

What do you think about DeBoer’s comments after three weeks of the 2025 season? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.