Alabama’s new $100M man Kalen DeBoer makes an emotional plea to Crimson Tide stars considering transfer portal: “Give me a chance”

Despite Alabama's athletic director Greg Byrne asking for 72 hours to find Nick Saban's replacement, he named Kalen DeBoer as the program's new head coach in just 49 hours.

Alabama offered him a package worth over $100 million, including his $12 million buyout from Washington. After landing in Tuscaloosa on Friday evening, he hopped on a car with Byrne and got straight to business, meeting the players at the facility.

The sudden retirement of Saban has opened a 30-day transfer window for the Crimson Tide players to decide whether they wish to stay or find a new home for themselves.

WR Isaiah Bond has entered the transfer portal, but DeBoer is looking to make sure that other talents do not follow the same path ahead of his debut campaign in Tuscaloosa in 2024.

When Kalen DeBoer met with the players at the Mal Moore Atheltic Facility, he asked them to give him a chance as a coach. He went on to promise them a strong coaching staff who will help them develop their talents. His general manager from Washington, Courtney Morgan, flew with him to Alabama and engaged in work by calling the parents of players on the team.

"Just give me a chance. Give me a chance to show you a few of the things. I'm gonna listen to you. I'm gonna meet you where you're at right now and try to show them through proof of things that have happened, whether it's at Washington or, we haven't got into much beyond that, but what this will look like.

"How great will it be out there on the football field, because of what we're doing schematically. Because of the people that are going to be around you as you show up in the weight room for that workout and the people that are around you from a coaching staff standpoint, developing you. Show them that, their development, and what we've done with guys entering the NFL in the past and how we do that, that it's special."

A few Alabama players have already entered the transfer portal. Freshman cornerbacks Dezz Ricks and Antonio Kite announced their decision to leave before DeBoer's hiring was announced. This coupled with Isaiah Bond's departure could have a huge impact on Kalen DeBoer's debut campaign in Tuscaloosa.

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Kalen DeBoer acknowledges risk of rival programs trying to poach from Alabama

The new Crimson Tide coach acknowledged the potential risk of other teams trying to poach their players ahead of the 2024 season:

"It's real strong. It's really strong. I don't care where you're at, if you see an opportunity to add to your team, and especially if it might hurt one of your competitors, you're gonna do that.

"Unfortunately, that's the situation that college football, college athletics, is in right now where those things can happen pretty quickly, and, in many cases, there's not much as far as consequences if you're not handling things the right way."

It will be interesting to see if DeBoer can succeed in retaining the talent pool of Nick Saban or whether he has to start afresh to kickstart a new era at the program.