Kalen DeBoer addresses Keelon Russell taking big hits vs. East Carolina
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Kalen DeBoer saw a lot of great things from Keelon Russell in his very first game as the starting quarterback at Alabama.
Russell didn’t throw an interception, completed 18 of 30 attempts for 256 yards and kept the Crimson Tide out of trouble when they had the ball in Saturday’s 48-10 walloping of East Carolina at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He also showed off that ability to beat defenses with his legs, rushing for a team-high 86 yards on 13 carries and 1 touchdown.
But during those 13 carries, Russell also showed off something else that DeBoer didn’t really like, and that’s a tendency to not slide at the end of runs. DeBoer touched on that in the postgame press conference with reporters.
“It’s something we’ll talk about a lot,” Kalen DeBoer said.
The head coach believes that his young quarterback needs to more careful when he’s out in the open field, because DeBoer really wants Russell to be around for the entire season and not be injured when it’s not necessary.
What about Russell, you ask? The redshirt freshman QB was a little more in a joking mood than DeBoer when asked by reporters about what his coaches told him regarding Russell sliding at the end of those runs.
Russell laughed when the question came.
“It’s not even just the coaches. It’s the players, too,” Russell said. “They want me to be protected. I’ve got to do a better job on that. They’re going to see a lot of (individual) drills of sliding this week.”
DeBoer is trying to protect his starting quarterback, so he’ll be around for the entire season and help Alabama win as many games as possible. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Crimson Tide’s potential win total for 2026:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
