Kalen DeBoer shares thought process behind the new A-Day strategy after taking over Nick Saban’s 17-year-old legacy

Nick Saban handed over the reins of his Alabama legacy to Kalen DeBoer after serving as their head coach for 17 years. Before Saban decided to retire, many changes were introduced in college football like the spring game events across the country.

While many teams like Nebraska, Texas and Michigan State have decided not to play the game, teams like Deion Sanders' Colorado participated in the event.

Talking about his mindset about Alabama's A-Day with the media on Thursday morning, DeBoer said:

"We understand the significance, and everyone loves football here. And so we want to give that day, make it available, show off our guys and let our guys do their thing," DeBoer said. "To me, it's not about the portal concern that I know everyone makes it out to be. It's just that we're very careful. We ran a lot of reps, but we're very specific.

"And sometimes, you almost have to stop things to get the right groups of people to get a quality rep for all 22 guys that are on the football field. That practice-type environment is something that best accomplishes both the things for the fans that we want to do with the A Day, and for our football team to utilize practice 15 and continue to get better." [11:09]

Talking about whether he'd be up to follow Deion Sanders' steps and possibly play an opponent, DeBoer said:

"This year, I definitely wouldn't be wanting to have that type of scrimmage," DeBoer said. "I think every program can do what they want to do. To me, it's about making ourselves better."

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Kalen DeBoer on his vision for Alabama in year 2

During day 1 of Alabama's spring camp, Kalen DeBoer was asked about his plans to turn things around in his second year as the program's head coach after a disappointing 9-4 season last year. DeBoer shared that it is exciting because he knows the players better and the players better understand what he expects of them.

"I think a lot of it is, is just, you know, been a lot of times right over your career, whether it's head coach or an assistant coach, year two always just feels different, right? You know the guys, you can, you understand now and have gone through experiences together, and they know where you're coming from when you come to them, good or bad, and you know where, what they've been through and what they're experiencing," he said on Thursday (per SI).

He also shared that this year, there's a different level of hunger in the players as they want to redeem themselves and perform at the level the Alabama fans are used to.