Jumbo Package: Kalen DeBoer talks injuries, slowing Kamario Taylor

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Happy Thursday, everyone. The injury report came out, and starting RT Jayvin James is on it.

Right tackle Jayvin James is questionable after leaving Alabama‘s home win against South Carolina.

James was viewed as “very much questionable” after leaving with a lower-extremity injury late against South Carolina. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said James is “working through it,” and was on the practice field “a little bit.”

“It’s what we expected, the progress he was making,” DeBoer said. “Still questionable at this time.”

Defensive back Zavier Mincey is probable.

Tyrell Miller was next man up when James went down last weekend. Landon Tengwall was impressed with what he saw from Miller.

The QB battle understandably continues to get all of the hype ahead of this matchup.

Amid an underwhelming start to the 2026 season for many of college football’s top quarterbacks, NFL general managers may find themselves wishing that Kamario Taylor and Keelon Russell were draft-eligible. But franchises will have to wait until at least 2028 to get their hands on the sophomore stars, who are squaring off on Saturday.

The SEC’s marquee battle of Week 5 between No. 7 Alabama and No. 16 Mississippi State will be more than just a barometer for the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs. It will also be a national showcase opportunity for their promising signal-callers. Both are among the top breakout stars in college football through four games.

Behind Taylor’s supercharged right arm, Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 SEC) has already won twice as many league contests as it did in the past two seasons combined. Russell, meanwhile, took over for a first-round draft pick in Ty Simpson and has only elevated the Crimson Tide’s quarterback play.

Keelon’s Elite 11 coach isn’t one bit surprised at the success he’s having.

The Texas native wowed the Elite 11 coaches with the way he did everything, both physically and mentally. Justin Hoover, Russell’s coach during the camp’s 7-on-7 tournament, noted something that he saw after Russell made an on-the-money throw to a wide-open receiver for what looked like a sure touchdown that ended up being dropped.

“Keelon goes to the kid as he’s coming back to the huddle: ‘Hey, it’s all good. Those are the hardest ones to catch when no one’s around you,’” Hoover told The Athletic at the time. “He just has this great feel and leadership and ability to calm everyone down. He was so impressive.”

This week, after seeing how Russell has thrived in his new role as the Crimson Tide’s starting QB, Hoover said he is not at all surprised the 19-year-old has blossomed this quickly in college.

“That’s him,” Hoover said. “There is just this calm to him. He’s the quarterback at Alabama now, but as the moments have gotten bigger in this stage of his career, it doesn’t look any bigger to him. I think it’s incredible. I think that’s his superpower.

With the success Keelon has had so far, Alabama fans have enjoyed sharing this gem.

What a tool.

Katie Windham is rightfully concerned about State’s explosive passing game this weekend.

Before last week’s game against South Carolina, I asked if the Tide defense would be able to stop explosive plays from Gamecocks wide receiver Nyck Harbor. He only had three catches for 42 yards, but one of those catches was a 41-yard touchdown, so I wouldn’t say that Alabama was completely successful.

Now, the unit will be facing a Mississippi State offense led by Taylor that is No. 4 in the country in pass plays of 10+ yards and No. 7 in pass plays of 20+ yards.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Taylor is the best quarterback he’s seen since arriving in Tuscaloosa prior to the 2024 season.

“Just his ability to create explosives in the passing game, finding throws in the RPO game, the off-schedule plays that he makes, not only with his feet in the run game, but also he does a great job of of keeping his eyes downfield and creating explosive passes through extending plays with his feet as well,” Wommack said. “So I think he’s had, you know, three touchdowns passes in every game that he’s played. He’s had an explosive pass touchdown in every game, and he’s playing about as good as I have seen a guy play.”

Kalen DeBoer concurs.

— DeBoer on State QB Kamario Taylor: “We were well aware of who he was throughout the recruiting process, and he just has done what you probably would have expected and progressed. You can see he’s developing and got the ability to pretty much throw the ball wherever he wants to. He’s got a tremendous deep ball, but I think he’s got the other areas of the game, too, and does a good job managing the game within their scheme and within their system. And he’s got the ability to run and extend plays with his legs, too. Extremely talented, I mean, great athlete.”

— DeBoer on State’s offense: “It’s a balanced attack, and you can’t just focus on one side of the ball or one phase of Kamario’s game, one receiver. You can’t do that. They’re breaking tackles. They’re making people miss. I mean, there’s a lot of good things that they’re doing. Just from our standpoint, we just have to try to do everything we can to make – and you always do this – make the quarterback uncomfortable as possible, and try to keep them off schedule.”

Kalen was also asked about the reasoning behind driving to Starkville the morning of the game.

Alabama opted this year for its typical home game team hotel in Tuscaloosa over a limited selection of hotels in the Starkville and Columbus, Mississippi area.
“You want those accommodations and things like that when it comes to meeting rooms and such,” he said. “We have that here with our hotel and all that.

“When it comes to staying at a place that suits what we need, I don’t know if those places kind of fulfill those expectations. Other teams have been staying here in Tuscaloosa recently as they come through heading up that way. Again, it’s been done before. Just as recently as three years ago. It worked then. We got to make sure we continue to stay with that. I guess I just trusted a lot of what we’ve done in the past, and that’s the best way to do it.”

Nobody understands the rivalry between these two better than Jackie Sherrill, who played for Bear Bryant at Alabama and then beat Alabama four times as head coach of the Bulldogs.

“Even as a player, the Mississippi State game never was lopsided,” Sherrill said. “I mean, it was close. It was a game where you know you had to play, and play hard, to win. But it was always a game, very physical, but the response from both fan bases were very excitable.”

Tom Brakefield, a lifelong Alabama fan, knows the “excitable” MSU fans well. It’s a group that is cordial, for the most part, but that lives and dies by the cowbells in their hands. 

“It’s just part of college football tradition. If you go to Mississippi State, you play them … that’s just a fact,” Brakefield said. “They come in all shapes and forms and sizes and colors and this, that and the other. And they’re from itty bitty guys all the way up to old people.” 

It’s a tradition this Alabama era will soon face for the first time. 

Last, the first episode of the Saban documentary on ESPN drops next week.

The part of the docuseries that Saban says is the most interesting is the never-before-seen footage that Alabama recorded throughout his tenure.

“Well, secretly, Alabama was creating an archive of all these things, and all these talks that I gave,” he said. “And a lot of them are about, this is what you’ve got to do to be successful, this is what you have to do to maintain success. And I think that if people can take that away- consistency and performance- that would be something that we always tried to get our players to buy into, and I think that would help them be successful in their life.”

The six-part docuseries premieres Oct. 8 on ESPN, with all episodes becoming available to stream on the ESPN app.

I saw Nick talking about the documentary, and he mentioned footage of him telling Tua that he would be going into the national title game at halftime. He said that he was unaware that this footage existed. Should be interesting stuff.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos