Former Alabama running back says DeBoer will have his job on the line vs. Oklahoma

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Former Alabama running back, Damien Harris feels the Crimson Tide’s head coach Kalen DeBoer will have his job on the line against Oklahoma in the midst of rumors linking him to the Michigan job.

DeBoer and the Tide have started preparations to take on the Sooners in the first round of the College Football Playoff after finishing the season 10-3 and with a loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship. Harris has come out and said he felt the Tide should not be in the playoff. This drew criticism from some, and his latest thoughts on DeBoer’s job status ahead of the playoff have drawn more criticism.

“I think his job is on the line with this game, and I think that there’s a lot of reasons why,” Harris said. “One, we’ve seen how hard it is to beat a team twice in college football. And if we look at this Alabama team. and we say, you showed no improvement from the first time you played Oklahoma to the second time. You weren’t able to make adjustments to flip the script of that game, and you can’t win that football game… A first round exit after missing the playoffs last year, listen, this isn’t the tradition, this isn’t the history that Alabama fans are used to. This isn’t the standard of excellence that is used to being had in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama.”

“And people are still talking about that. And the third thing for me is, everybody, myself included, but a lot of Alabama fans are sitting here and waiting for Kalen DeBoer to essentially put a chokehold on this team and basically say, this is the way that we need to do things. We haven’t lived up to the standard yet, and now is the time to do it because we were given an opportunity to still play for a National Championship. Although we have not played to our best standard over the past four weeks, we are still gifted an opportunity. Now we get to go out and compete for a National Championship. If you can’t do these things, I know it’s year two, I know we’re talking about we need to give coaches time, but when we’re talking about the University of Alabama and the legacy that needs to be set and needs to be left, and Kalen DeBoer needs to put his own DNA on that… With all that being said, I think Kalen DeBoer’s job, it’ll be in a little bit of jeopardy going into next season if they don’t win this football game.”

DeBoer has not publicly spoken to the media since the Wolverines fired Sherrone Moore.