Could Alabama football's Florida State opener define 2025 season trajectory?

Yahoo

17-07-2025

ATLANTA — Kadyn Proctor knows what Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos said. And he's not giving in.
It's outside of Alabama football's overall focus, he said, one that is set on the day-to-day, the current moment. The Crimson Tide hasn't made it to fall camp yet, Proctor said.
'We're not really giving into whatever anybody else is saying,' Proctor said at SEC media days. 'It's all internal. Keeping it in house.'
Kalen DeBoer knows how big Alabama's opener against Florida State is.
It's the only game the Crimson Tide coach brought up unprompted. It's a test against a team that has 'something to prove, as well.' It's a true road game, a setting Alabama struggled with in its first year of the DeBoer era with losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma away from Tuscaloosa.
But to DeBoer, it all boils down to one simple reality: Florida State is first up for Alabama. It's the opponent currently in the way of each of the Crimson Tides 2025 hopes.
'We don't need to look anything beyond that as far as our preparation or what might lie because none of it matters unless we take care of business and do what we're doing, being our best in that week one game against Florida State,' DeBoer said.
For fifth-year defensive lineman Tim Keenan III, Florida State is Alabama's first chance to debut the new-and-improved Crimson Tide: one that is dominant, that plays to the whistle, that gives opponents a beating.
'Just taking it to the next man the best we can, as hard as we can,' Keenan said.
It's what Alabama did not do in 2024, falling to both the Volunteers and Commodores by one score before a 21-point drubbing against the Sooners in Norman.
'A lot of it comes down to those big moments, building a culture where you keep fighting till the very end,' DeBoer said. 'There's going to be a lot of close games. A lot of those wins you're talking about came down to the very end, moments where it looked bleak at times. You fight, execute, find a way to win. That's what we've got to do here going into year two at Alabama, as well.'
Expectations are high for Alabama. And they are self-imposed. Proctor said the whole roster realizes how long it's been since the Crimson Tide won a championship. And the junior offensive lineman is not afraid to say that's the team's overall goal.
'It's all through preparation,' Proctor said. 'We're trying to do our best 1-0 day in and day out, honestly. But there's always that hunger, that yearn and burn and desire to win every game. You have to have that focus and that level of intent to do so.'
Florida State is just the first team in Alabama's way.
The Crimson Tide opens the 2025 season against the Seminoles in Tallahassee Aug. 30.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [e-mail] or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football's Florida State opener could define its 2025 season