{"id":847972,"date":"2026-04-01T21:43:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:43:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:43:34","slug":"kalen-deboer-never-had-any-intention-of-leaving-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847972\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalen DeBoer never had any intention of leaving Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a pivotal point in the latest College Football<\/a> season, Kalen DeBoer was rumored to be joining the Michigan Wolverines. However, the coach himself acknowledged that he found his place in Tuscaloosa with the Alabama Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know how you could live with yourself and look into your players\u2019 eyes if you\u2019re looking at other opportunities in the midst of the season and getting ready for a playoff game and hopefully making a run at a national championship,\u201d DeBoer<\/a> said via on3.com.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026I mean, this is Alabama. I\u2019m at an amazing place. That\u2019s the way I was looking at it. I chose to be here. I love the support and love our players and love the direction and everything the staff has done to put the pieces together here over the last two years. A lot of heavy lifting\u2019s been done to get us to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach knows he is exactly where he wants to be: \u201c\u2026we\u2019re right here where we want to be, and I plan on being here for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kalen<\/p>\n

Head coach Kalen Deboer of the Alabama Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

Rumors that didn\u2019t materialize<\/p>\n

Despite intense rumors linking Kalen DeBoer to high-profile openings at Michigan and Penn State, both programs ultimately went in different directions. Michigan aggressively pursued DeBoer but eventually hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham in December 2025 to replace Sherrone Moore. <\/p>\n

Similarly, while Penn State considered DeBoer as a top candidate, they finalized a deal with former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell to lead the Nittany Lions.<\/p>\n

Simpson\u2019s replacement<\/p>\n

Following Ty Simpson\u2019s departure to the NFL, the battle for the starting quarterback spot at Alabama<\/a> for the 2026 season centers on two distinct talents. Austin Mack, a 6\u20196\u2033 redshirt junior with deep knowledge of Kalen DeBoer\u2019s system, holds the edge in experience and veteran leadership. <\/p>\n

However, five-star prospect Keelon Russell is a serious contender, with his elite accuracy and mobility making him a fan favorite to potentially secure the job before the regular season kicks off.<\/p>\n

Alabama Crimson Tide season kickoffvs East Carolina, September 5that Kentucky, September 12thvs Florida State, September 19that Mississippi State, October 3rd vs Georgia, October 10th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a pivotal point in the latest College Football season, Kalen DeBoer was rumored to be joining the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[52,7,4842,49,48,115210],"class_list":{"0":"post-847972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-alabama","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kalen-deboer","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-nomsn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116331638001530557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}