DeBoer has stated that the injury appeared to be significant.
“An update on Jalen Hale; he had a serious knee injury. He’ll be out for the spring, but there will be some evaluation to determine what the timeframe will be for the rest of the year and so on,” DeBoer told Joe Gaither of Sports Illustrated. Hale, a returning sophomore, presumably sustained the injury during practice on Tuesday.
A new-look Alabama team
As previously stated, Kalen DeBoer took over in Tuscaloosa following the surprise departure of his predecessor, the legendary Nick Saban, who has since intimated that the newly constituted NIL rules, which allow players to fully profit from the value they contribute, played a significant role in his decision.
Meanwhile, DeBoer had just finished guiding his former team, the Washington Huskies, to the National Championship game before departing them when he received the call from the Crimson Tide brass. DeBoer inherits an Alabama team that will look very different this year than it did last year, when it was controversially chosen to participate in the College Football Playoff despite Florida State’s superior record and then predictably eliminated by Michigan–the same squad that defeated DeBoer’s Washington squad–when they arrived.
Jermaine Burton, who was one of Alabama’s best receivers during the 2023 season but faded in their playoff loss, has since entered the NFL Draft, while Isaiah Bond, who won the Crimson Tide’s Iron Bowl game against the Auburn Tigers with a miraculous last-second catch from Jalen Milroe, has left for Texas via the transfer portal.
DeBoer’s abilities will be put to the test right away with his new club, since Alabama will play on a reconfigured SEC schedule. Notable opponents for the Crimson Tide in 2023 include the Georgia Bulldogs, whom Alabama defeated in the SEC Championship Game this year in what became Nick Saban’s final victory, avenging his loss to Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs in the 2022 National Championship Game.
Regardless of the severity of Hale’s injury, Alabama will need some of its younger receivers to step up.
