DeBoer responds to multiple intentional grounding calls in Keelon Russell’s second start

Alabama football’s starting quarterback Keelon Russell was penalized several times for intentional grounding in the Crimson Tide’s win over Kentucky.

Kalen DeBoer was asked about those penalties on Saturday.

“We’ve got to do a better job sometimes of, it’s not always the offensive line either, of giving him something clean,” DeBoer said. “I kind of mentioned earlier, but some of our RPO stuff, it’s okay to just hand it off. He’s an aggressive kid, and we love the things he can bring to the table on that, but when there’s guys in your face coming to you from the back side, you’ve got to throw through them, and it gets knocked, just hand it off. And I think there’s some running lanes we might be able to see. I’ll have to watch the film. Last week, it was when you’re running, making sure you slide. I think there’s some things like you’re mentioning of just making sure you throw it away. Live to see another down. Stay upright, all those things we talk about. I did feel like he made a lot of improvements from last week to this week, especially before the ball’s even snapped. There’s those areas that now we can continue to work on the execution that we can work on when the ball is snapped and just knowing how to manage each down-and-distance, each situation that comes his way.”

Russell and the Alabama offense had a shaky start to its win over Kentucky on Saturday. The Alabama quarterback told reporters after the game he plans to learn from the experience.

“I wasn’t feeling my best,” Russell said. “The game was going very slow for me. Started out very slow. So, I got to do better quarterback play going into next week, which I am. I desire to work hard this whole week to prep myself.”

Russell will have an opportunity to have a cleaner game against Florida State on Saturday.