DALLAS — Back in January, in Kalen DeBoer's very first hours as Alabama football 's new coach, he huddled with some of the most respected players in the UA locker room for an extended introduction. He'd just stepped into the Crimson Tide football building for the first time around 9 p.m. on the night he arrived at the Tuscaloosa airport, and senior safety Malachi Moore says he didn't wrap up until almost 11.
Moore remembers it well, because he walked out with a resolve to not only stay at Alabama , but also to do whatever he could to hold the rest of the roster in place. Two other veteran leaders — quarterback Jalen Milroe and offensive guard Tyler Booker — made the same pledge to DeBoer. And while it's unclear exactly when DeBoer informed the trio that they would represent the Crimson Tide at 2024 SEC Media Days , the decision was all but made for him that very night.
Who else but the three who chose a unified front at a moment when unity was in short supply?
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All three made their resoluteness publicly known, all three were integral in the retention of key players, and all three will play major roles as starters on DeBoer's first UA team this fall. In the six months that have passed since, they paved a path for DeBoer to put his stamp on this team, install the locker room culture he's looking for, and take on the daunting task of transitioning away from the most successful coach in the history of the sport.
It was only fitting, then, that Milroe, Booker and Moore bounced from one media-filled room to the next in the Dallas' Omni Hotel Wednesday with a prideful stride and a clear sense of purpose.
"Those first 72 hours were crucial to really come together and say 'Hey, we're going to stay here, we're going to win a national championship. We haven't won one, (although) Malachi won one as a freshman," Booker said. "… We wanted to keep everybody here."
It didn't work to perfection — each saw their individual position rooms lose talent to the transfer portal — but it worked well enough. Moore lost fellow starter Caleb Downs in the secondary in Down's move to Ohio State, while Milroe saw highly-touted QB Julian Sayin bolt (also for Ohio State), and Booker lost his protege in left tackle Kadyn Proctor , who ultimately returned to the Crimson Tide during the spring transfer portal window.
"I was the lucky one, because I got my guy back," Booker joked.
Consider DeBoer the lucky one.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football's SECMD player reps were easy choices for DeBoer
