Kalen DeBoer isn’t worried about the wave of players hitting the transfer portal at Alabama. At least, that’s the picture the new head coach of the Crimson Tide is trying to paint.

On Friday, DeBoer made an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show to discuss the beginning of his tenure in Tuscaloosa. Succeeding Nick Saban was always bound to include some challenges, but one of the current storylines is a host of top producers for the program hitting the portal.

Nevertheless, DeBoer told Finebaum he’s “not alarmed at all” about the current portal movement. That group includes elite freshmen Caleb Downs and Kadyn Proctor, a duo who were immediate contributors in the 2023 season.

DeBoer went on to explain he dealt with the same thing after taking the Washington job and claimed it was worse with the Huskies. Overall, he’s focused on staying the course and believes it is simply the world we live in for the new era of college football.

“I was just through this two years ago,” DeBoer said via Nick Kelly with the Tuscaloosa News. “This was a much better situation than even that one was with the number of players leaving. You just stay the course and roll up your sleeves. There’s such a great group of leaders here with this program who want to uphold the standard of Alabama football, and they are sticking together. We want those guys who want to be here. They’re working through all the noise that’s out there. I just couldn’t be more proud of them sticking together.”

DeBoer went on to say a lot of Alabama’s players came to Tuscaloosa to “build on” and leave a legacy. He ultimately believes the program is still in “a great spot” and said the Tide are looking forward to working and building with the players “who are here.”