Byrne reminded the Alabama players that before introducing Kalen DeBoer for the first time. Looking back, DeBoer remembers the gravity of that first moment in front of the Crimson Tide players.

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer has one last Nick Saban-era holdover ... Andrew graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in print journalism in 2017 and has been a sports fan since ...

But in the words of Nicole Tendler DeBoer, "one phone call changed everything." Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne was soon in Seattle with his wife, Regina, meeting with both Kalen and Nicole.