Following USF’s victory, DeBoer discusses offensive line play, ball security, and the status of injured players.

Following USF’s victory, DeBoer discusses offensive line play, ball security, and the status of injured players.

 

After Alabama’s 42-16 victory over South Florida on Saturday night, head coach Kalen DeBoer addressed the media about a number of topics, including Tyler Booker’s play at left tackle and Elijah Pritchett’s availability.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama: Alabama’s 42-16 victory over South Florida on Saturday night presented coach Kalen DeBoer with an opportunity.

“We’re 14–13 and in a fight heading into the fourth quarter,” he declared in his opening remarks. “Therefore, I commend USF for their bravery. However, there are also a lot of things that we observe that need to be cleaned up. We had a conversation in the locker room about taking lessons from the things that didn’t work out and realizing that good things can still happen if we persevere. And it’s remarkable what can happen in the fourth quarter if you avoid penalties and turnovers. Therefore, the defense did a good job of forcing a few field goals.

I believe that the game there in the fourth quarter was crucial. Apart from the turnover, which was regrettable, we were scoring touchdowns and completing drives. There are a lot of things we need to correct. When a guy makes a big play, he needs to tuck it away better.

I’m thrilled about the challenge and the chance, and there will be a lot to learn. Since this is what it is. I think this kind of gaming is necessary. This isn’t an alarm or anything of the sort. It isn’t at all like that. Simply keep upping the bar. They were really helped by this game last year, in my opinion, and they’ll probably do the same this year. You know, I’m hoping for that.”

ABOUT BALL SECURITY IN PRACTICE AND THE NEXT WEEK’S FOCUS: “Every day is busy, but Tuesday is a high priority. With that, we kick off the week. There are other things out there. We discuss the program’s ball and how crucial it is to take care of it as well as gaining it. And so really, we won’t have to raise the level of how much we stress it, because we stress it significantly. And so it’s guys just learning that when you make a big play, there’s people behind you, they’re chasing you, they’re coming from all angles, and we gotta do a better job to be conscious of that. Guy’s got another game a little bit, you know, and got a little loose with it. So we’ll watch on film. I don’t know exactly where the how the fumbles were created, but a lot of the things we talked about, I think, are what happened.”