The Alabama Crimson Tide added a few more members of Kalen DeBoer’s coaching staff from his two years with the Washington Huskies on Monday. Co-defensive coordinator and safeties Chuck Morrell and strength coach Ron McKeefery were both added to Alabama’s staff directory on Monday as special assistants to the head coach.
This will be the fourth stop for both Morrell and McKeefery under DeBoer, as the former also worked with him at the University of Sioux Falls, Fresno State, and Washington, while the latter was with him at Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, and UW.
With Morrell calling plays, the Huskies ranked No. 99 in total defense in 2023 and No. 60 in 2022, while sending five players to the 2024 NFL combine.
McKeefery also played the last game of his college career at Ottowa (Kansas) University against DeBoer and Morrell while they were playing at Sioux Falls.
“The last two years were fantastic,” McKeefery said of his time with Washington on the Locked On Huskies podcast. “I’ll have tons of great memories from my time in Seattle, but as a strength coach, none greater than that [2023] Oregon State game.”
“On the front end, we knew that was going to be a tough one on the road after a long stretch of tough opponents. They were a formidable, tough opponent and they made us roll our sleeves up to go out there and get it done. Then you threw the awful weather in the mix and everything you could throw against our team happened in that game. All the work that we had done over the last two years culminated in a pretty powerful moment in our season.”