“Overrated”. That’s what Paul Finebaum had branded Kalen DeBoer and the Tides when the team landed on rank 5 on the AP preseason polls. If we go back and even check the SEC Media Days, Finebaum has always tried to call out DeBoer and his coaching. This is wild because the team, right now, is in an amazing spot. We saw how dominating the Tides were against Kentucky during the season opener. 63-0 win on the debut game for DeBoer as the HC for the Tides? Come on, you have to cut this man some slack. As Joel Klatt had noted, DeBoer is the “Tiger Woods” of college football. That man has over 100+ games under his belt and he knows what he is doing.

So, it’s kind of a surprise that Finebaum always managed to poke DeBoer for every little mistake the team makes. Whereas when Nick Saban was the HC and he made the same error, Finebaum never called him out. You’re probably wondering what the heck are we even talking about here. Well, it all boils down to the South Florida game where the Bulls gave the Tides quite a scare. On September 10th, Kangaroo Black (GNP) pointed out what Finebaum had to say about the Tides vs Bulls game. “While I was hearing from friends Saturday night, people in panic, it turned out that the score says Alabama won. We all know it wasn’t, and I, frankly, don’t think it makes a bit of difference,” Finebaum had mentioned on McElroy and Cubelic show. The Bulls gave DeBoer quite the fight. Up till the 3rd quarter of the game, both teams were going back and forth constantly. The 4th quarter is when things took a turn and Tides dominated and ended the game with 42-16 on the scoreboard. However, Finebaum’s take makes little to no sense because when Nick Saban was heading the team back in 2014-2015, we had seen the Tides struggle against the Bulls.

While some fans might think that Nick Saban not being the HC kind of puts the Tides at a disadvantage, let’s look at things from a different angle. The WKU game showed us why DeBoer is the perfect person to take up the crown Saban left behind and the Bulls game was the perfect reality check because it proved that it won’t be that easy to take the Tides to new heights. DeBoer is “competitively proficient.” While Saban might be absent from the scene now, it has not stopped DeBoer from taking hold of recruitment and transforming Tides into an offensive powerhouse. And you also gotta keep in mind that DeBoer was missing out on some players as well during the Bulls game. Finebaum’s take, while quite rough, still has some credibility to it. DeBoer cannot take this season easy. He has to lock in. Especially now because some boys on the team are going through some injuries.

Injury update from Kalen DeBoer

3 players from the Tides are in somewhat of a rough spot. We got the news a few hours back that DeBoer has finally issued an injury update regarding Cole Adams, Kadyn Proctor, and Elijah Pritchett. Adams has an upper-extremity injury and is still recovering and DeBoer has decided to sit him down and monitor his progress through this week.

Proctor has finally made some good progress. That guy got his shoulder injured during the warmup and is yet to play for the Tides this season. DeBoer has mentioned that Proctor is doing much better now and we could finally see him perform. Finally, Pritchett, who was asked to open in the place of Proctor, has sustained minor injuries and will be ready to go for the next game. Now, while this update might sound quite positive, it was very diplomatic. We can only see the true nature of the injuries when the team finally hits the turf on September 14. However, keeping in mind that it is DeBoer leading, the game against Wisconsin should be easy.