Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer had a tough message for his team after Saturday’s loss to Tennessee, but one former Crimson Tide star is pointing some criticism back at the coach.
Alabama suffered a 26-10 loss to the No. 14-ranked Volunteers, likely sinking their College Football Playoff standing. After the game, a former Alabama star said that the performance didn’t reflect the program he knew, an apparent criticism of DeBoer.
Former Nick Saban Player Has Criticism for Kalen DeBoer
After Saturday’s loss, DeBoer said he would be taking a tougher approach with his team going forward.
“It’s going to be really uncomfortable,” DeBoer said, via 247Sports reporter Mike Rodak.
“We’ve been through this before and we got it done,” he added. “I told the guys, this is a team that can do it.”
While DeBoer was promising to crack down on his players, former Alabama star Kareem Jackson had some apparent criticism of the Crimson Tide coach. He took to social media to express his disdain with the direction of the program.
While Jackson did not call out DeBoer by name, he made it clear that the program was losing its way.
“I don’t know who or what needs to change but that wasn’t the brand of ball that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing coming out of Tuscaloosa,” Jackson wrote in a post on X. “I can take losing to UGA in a hard fought game. But this today wasn’t Alabama football. And I know week to week it’s hard but we still gotta give ourselves a chance to be successful. We did not by no means today.”
The former first-round pick had a stellar three-year career under former coach Nick Saban, winning a national title in 2009, the product of an undefeated season.
Alabama’s Struggles on Display
The Crimson Tide struggled on both sides of the ball against Tennessee, with the offense failing to get much going in the first half. Alabama had just 93 total yards of offense in the opening half, failing to convert on all seven of their third-down tries.
The defense held steady enough, giving up four scoring drives but limiting Tennessee to all field goals in the first half. But the Volunteers cracked down on defense in the second half, holding Alabama scoreless while scoring two touchdowns.
Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer Faces Harsh Take From Former Crimson Tide Star