What Ryan Williams, Alabama football players said about Kalen DeBoer Michigan rumors
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Ryan Williams has seen the rumors. He’s seen the connections between Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer and the open head coaching vacancy at Michigan.
But what the Alabama sophomore wide receiver sees in DeBoer is someone who has given his “best effort here” and is “focused on playing against Oklahoma.”
“We’re not really worried about it,” Williams said.
Williams said DeBoer “hasn’t said much,” but that it matches the program motto in focusing on what is happening internally instead of what is being said outside of the Alabama football facilities.
“At the end of the day, he serves us 100%,” Williams said. “That’s our coach, so we’re going to play for him. External noise is external noise, so we’re going to focus on the internal.”
Alabama offensive lineman Wilkin Formby doesn’t see anything resembling truth to rumors pointing DeBoer to Michigan.
“He’s the same coach DeBoer to me,” Formby said. “We just had a great practice.”
Alabama linebacker Yhonzae Pierre said the DeBoer coaching rumors are “definitely not a distraction at all,” while linebacker Justin Jefferson said “we (are) all in Roll Tide.”
DeBoer was also tied to the Penn State coaching job, one he vehemently denied.
“We are extremely happy at Alabama. … We are extremely happy here,” DeBoer said in a press conference Dec. 4. “Love the grind, love this place. There’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way. And so I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”
Compared to any other team Formby has been on, this Alabama team, he said, is the best at “not allowing noise to be important.”
“We don’t really care about what everybody else says,” Formby said. “We only care what the people in this building have to say. We’re going out with the people who are for us. We’re going out each week trying to do our best. That’s our only concern. We don’t really care about what people are saying on social media or any noise.”
Alabama will take on Oklahoma in the first round of the CFP at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19 in Norman, Oklahoma. Alabama vs. Oklahoma will air on ABC.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football players address Kalen DeBoer Michigan rumors
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