"They're close to done": Urban Meyer red flags Alabama's 'soft locker room' culture under Kalen DeBoer that taints Nick Saban's legacy

Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has offered a grim diagnosis of Alabama’s locker room culture under Kalen DeBoer, noting a contrast from Nick Saban. Meyer’s criticism is coming following the Tide’s shocking Week 1 loss at Florida State.

He spoke on Wednesday’s episode of the podcast “Triple Option,” where he noted that Alabama players lacked an aggressiveness that characterized the Saban era. He said (Timestamp- 18:57 onwards):

“So, you know, I would have said something like, ‘I’m going to rip this team apart bit by bit, and we’re going to put this thing back together,’ because I think they’re at that point.”

The former Jacksonville Jaguars coach continued:

“I don’t know if he can say that. What he says and what he does, you know, and also you better have some grown a** men in that locker room. And I don’t know the roster, but you better have some Mark Ingrams and Jack Sawyers and Joey Bosas, and, you know, those kinds of guys that rally you because if you have the opposite, I don’t say they’re done, but they’re close to done if they have a soft locker room.”

Kalen DeBoer’s side was the heavy favorite in the Week 1 encounter against Mike Norvell’s FSU. The loss saw them drop 13 places on the AP Poll to enter Week 2 at No. 21. Fans will be expecting the Tide to bounce back from the setback when they face Louisiana-Monroe in Week 2.

No blame or excuse from Kalen DeBoer on loss at Florida State

Kalen DeBoer refused to single out anyone to blame for the disappointing loss, choosing instead to make it a collective responsibility. He said:

“I choose to believe we’ve got a good football team. But we can’t play on our heels. We’re not going to be what we think we can be, what we want to be, if that’s the case. And that falls on everyone. I don’t just point the fingers at the players.”

Alabama played without a couple of starters last Saturday, including defensive tackle Tim Keenan III and running back Jam Miller. However, the coach did not see the need for giving excuses. He said:

“There’s no excuses about what happened. We step on the football field; they step on the football field. And we got to play ball. We got to play our style of ball.”

Miller and Keenan are not expected back for the Week 2 matchup with Louisiana-Monroe.