DALLAS - Nick Saban will be on TV this fall, just not on the Alabama sideline.

The seven-time national championship-winning coach retired after the 2023 season and is part of ESPN’s College Football coverage.

Kalen DeBoer is tasked with filling the shoes of the coaching legend in Tuscaloosa and experienced his first SEC Media Day on Wednesday.

“I understand there's only one Coach Saban,” said DeBoer. “There will only ever be one Coach Saban. This program is special, and I guess I just take it as a great honor to be the one that gets to do everything we can to carry on the great tradition. So much blood, sweat, and tears, whether it's the players and the alumni that have been in this program or coaches, and obviously referring to Coach Saban, so much is put into this place.”

“But for me personally, it was just more about just understanding that coaching football is coaching football to some aspect, and you've got to try to simplify it down, as difficult and as complicated as you can make it,” DeBoer said. “I've done this for enough years and seen what good culture looks like and maybe even what a culture that needs to improve on looks like, and it's been just an awesome blessing to be a part of this program, to continue to have that expectation on us.”

LSU hosts Alabama on November 9.

Texas was also a part of Day 3 of SEC Media Days Wednesday. The Longhorns, along with Oklahoma, are entering the conference this fall.

Former Alabama offensive coordinator and current Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about his team transitioning to the SEC.

“I think the key word is respect,” said Sarkisian. “We have a ton of respect for this conference. We have a ton of respect for the teams, the coaches, the players, and the fans. This is the elite conference in college football, and we're fortunate enough to be part of it."

“We won't do anything without having a level of respect of who we play, where we're playing them, the types of players that they have, the coaching that they have, and I think on the flip side of that, we have to go earn their respect,” said Sarkisian. “We're not going to get anything in this deal. Nothing is going to be free. We're going to have to go earn the respect of our opponents, the opposing coaches, the opposing fans, and that's going to be kind of on the forefront of what we do.”

LSU does not play Texas in the regular season.