Just when I thought Kalen DeBoer’s offseason couldn’t go much better, the Alabama coach received the perfect gift from an opposing quarterback. Florida State’s Thomas Castellanos served bulletin board material that will provide the program jet fuel throughout the dog days of summer.
Castellanos, a transfer from Boston College, will make his first start for the Seminoles when they host Alabama in the season opener, and the quarterback with the 58.6% career completion rate foresees something big going down at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“You go back and watch every first game that I played in, we always start fast,” Castellanos told On3. “I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
There’s an obvious clapback about Bobby Bowden not being around to save Florida State anymore – the Noles went 2-10 last season – but I digress.
Kalen DeBoer’s task: Restore Alabama’s aura of authority
DeBoer strives to be his own man rather than mimic than inimitable, but here’s an unmissable opportunity to take a page from Saban’s book. Back in his day, the GOAT would have mainlined this quote into the Crimson Tide’s cerebrum and let it be a motivational prod.
Some minion in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility in Tuscaloosa ought to be pounding Control+P keys on their laptop and plastering the walls, the nooks and the crannies with Castellanos’ quote.
Athletes tend to look under every rock on the internet in hopes of finding a naysayer doubting them. And this was no Russian bot tweeting a nastygram on X. This was an opposing quarterback firing a shot across the bow.
Ill-advised though Castellanos’ words were, didn’t he say what many of us wonder? No, not the part about Alabama being incapable of stopping him. Last we saw of Castellanos, he threw seven passes in a loss to Syracuse, completed two, and got intercepted once.
Castellanos’ boast of fast starts sounds like a rewrite of history, too. He passed for 138 yards in Boston College’s 2023 season-opener loss to Northern Illinois, then tossed for 106 yards in Week 1 last season.
Sizzlin’ starts!
The part about Saban not being around to save Alabama anymore rings true, though. Castellanos isn’t the only opponent yapping while the elephant naps. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia predicted recently on the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast that the Commodores would beat Alabama for a second consecutive season.
Alabama’s invincibility cloak got packed away inside a trunk that snapped shut after its undefeated 2020 season.
DeBoer’s charge is to revive Alabama’s aura of authority after he stumbled to a 9-4 record in his debut, the Tide’s worst record since Saban’s first season in 2007.
“I feel like we are taking the steps,” DeBoer told me in April. “You’ve got to go through some hard times, I feel. More times than not, you go through the hard times to actually realize the big moments.”
Many coaches share that philosophy, but Alabama fans will expect a leap this season, not a small step.
Alabama gained more than it lost this offseason
I see DeBoer’s debut as no cause for panic, but neither DeBoer nor Florida State’s Mike Norvell should expect another mulligan after each endured 2024 seasons that fell short of the program standard.
The Seminoles didn’t even meet the Willie Taggart standard for mediocrity. Never mind the Bowden bar.
Norvell responded with another big transfer haul. Castellanos offers a quarterback upgrade after FSU’s experiment gone wrong with DJ Uiagalelei.
At Alabama, DeBoer smartly reunited with Ryan Grubb, his longtime right-hand man. He tapped Grubb in January to be the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator. DeBoer nabbed several useful transfers, too, like wide receiver Isaiah Horton from Miami, and he kept Alabama from losing a single scholarship player in the spring transfer window.
DeBoer and his Tide enjoyed a good offseason.
And it just got better.
Saban, a motivational master, understood that sometimes the best inspiration comes from your opponent’s lips.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.