Alabama football feels different to Jeff Allen heading into the 2025 season.
And Allen would know, heading into his 19th season with the Crimson Tide as the senior associate athletic director for health and performance, a post he held through the Saban era and into a new age of Alabama football under Kalen DeBoer.
While Allen remembers DeBoer taking charge “in a positive way” from Day 1, Allen admitted the Crimson Tide roster had “anxiety” and “nervousness” during the first spring practice session without Saban, something Allen called “a hard thing to overcome.”
But heading into 2025, Allen senses an energy that is “a lot different.”
“Not that last spring was bad, but there’s a learning curve to a new staff, to a new coach for everybody in the building,” Allen said on “Hey Coach” from the Crimson Tide Sports Network. “I don’t care who you are, what you do. We have to change to do things for what he wants. Same with the players. They were learning a new offense. They were learning a new defense. Most of them had new position coaches. They clearly had a new head coach. So I would say the difference is everybody seems more comfortable. Sometimes in sports we don’t like that word comfortable, but in this situation, that’s a good thing. Our players are comfortable, they want to be here, they know they want to be here and you can sense a different demeanor.”
What “struck” Allen about DeBoer continues to strike him as the Alabama football coach prepares for his second season.
“He took a locker room that, obviously, he didn’t recruit, that came here to play for another coach, and he quickly, quickly showed them who he was as a man and as a football coach,” Allen said. “And that really struck me.”
Alabama will hold its annual A Day spring game at noon Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
