A fiery Kalen DeBoer set the tone immediately for Alabama against Tennessee

Kalen DeBoer was always a terrific X's and O's coach. But coming to Alabama, he had to learn that it was going to take more than that. To win in the SEC, it takes a fire and energy that DeBoer has never had in his bag. It's become a weekly occurrence now for fans to get a glimpse of that new mentality after spending the entirety of last season begging for it.

He wasted little time against Tennessee showing it. On the pregame tunnel-walk, DeBoer was overflowing with energy and was as fired up as we have ever seen him:

That fire and intensity carried over onto the field. Alabama's defense forced an immediate Tennessee three-and-out, and then Ty Simpson led the offense straight down the field for a touchdown, connecting with Isaiah Horton for a two-yard pass to give the Crimson Tide an early 7-0 lead.

That early spark helped Alabama on the way to a 37-20 win in the Third Saturday in October.

"Our guys were fired up," DeBoer said in the postgame when asked by the media about his pregame tunnel walk. "They got me fired up."

It's all starting to click for Kalen DeBoer as the Alabama head coach

There's still a lot of football to be played in 2025. No Alabama coach has ever been judged by how they performed in the first seven games of the season, but a 6-1 start, including six consecutive wins after an ugly loss in Tallahassee, has the overall feeling around DeBoer and this program a whole lot different than it was seven weeks ago.

After the loss to Florida State to open the season, DeBoer was 9-5 through his first 14 games as the Tide's head coach, with four of the five losses coming to unranked opponents.

Fast forward to now, and Alabama has beaten four straight ranked opponents on the way to six consecutive wins. The Crimson Tide is 4-0 in the SEC, sitting in the driver's seat in the race to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game and right in the thick of the College Football Playoff picture.

DeBoer not only changed the fortunes of this season for Alabama by getting his team to refocus and shake off an ugly Week 1 performance, but now the future looks bright once again in Tuscaloosa. Along with his schematic strengths and elite recruiting/evaluating ability, DeBoer is proving that he can pull the best out of his players.

This is his team and his program, and in less than two full months, he's got the Alabama fanbase directly behind him again.