The Alabama Crimson Tide kicks off the season on Saturday with a road game against the Florida State Seminoles.

Fans hope this will be the start of a resurgent second season for head coach Kalen DeBoer as the program further unwinds from the Nick Saban era.

As DeBoer gets set to take on the challenge of getting this team back to national title contention, all the talking is about to be done and it’s simply time to play.

Before that though, as he does every week before a game when joining the weekly Hey Coach program, DeBoer gave his “final word” on how he feels about his team, the upcoming game, or whatever else may be on his mind. In this week’s edition on Wednesday night, the message was clear.

“It’s time. It’s time,” DeBoer said with a giddy smile on his face that signaled the season has officially arrived.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’m proud of the way the guys have gone about their business just focusing on them and focusing on their job and trying to be the best they can be every single day. Now it’s time to go play someone else and see exactly where we’re at. The start of a journey, but we’re really focused just in the moment. Looking forward to Saturday.”

Alabama kicks it off in Tallahassee at 2:30 p.m. CST as the start of a new season is officially upon us.