This is an opinion column.

It’s time.

The longest 232 days in recent Alabama memory will end just before dusk Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The revolution set in motion by Nick Saban’s retirement on Jan. 10, followed by the 49-hour limbo punctuated by Kalen DeBoer’s arrival.

The clock started when this South Dakotan stepped off the plane that night in Tuscaloosa. From the Pacific Northwest straight into the belly of the beast, DeBoer got either immediate credit for having the guts to take the plunge or ridicule for thinking he was fit for Saban’s throne.

From a relative unknown two years before replacing the man who not just recalibrated the definition of success but sledgehammered it, DeBoer faced a mountain of legitimate questions.

— How could he salvage a roster with a new rule allowing transfers after coaching changes and the buzzards circling?

— As former five-stars in the locker room left, the committed recruiting classes began hemorrhaging talent.

— Could he build a staff that understood the south and SEC football with his closest brush with the region coming in Indiana?

— Was he really sure about this?

If we’re being honest, it was touch and go for a few days there.

Opening night in Bryant-Denny Stadium never seemed further than when Ohio State and Texas began picking off top talent and Lane Kiffin circling like a social media buzzard who didn’t get the desired promposal.

That wasn’t the time.

And there wasn’t much DeBoer could do to quiet any doubters. Not in January. Or February. Or any month that followed, nothing they print in record books, at least.

It was a matter of stopping the roster bleed, maintaining the belief there was life after Saban and selling his vision.

To most around here, it was the football version of a criminal trial built on circumstantial evidence. Most knew of DeBoer and the huge season he had leading Washington to the national title game last year, but few were studying him at the moment as the heir to Tuscaloosa royalty.

So, almost all we know about him was gathered after the fact or what we’ve observed since January.

If we’re using the circumstantial eye test, DeBoer is passing. All the ways, in theory, things are going well leading up to his first kickoff.

— An upgrade of the coaching staff. It’s hard to argue the quality of Saban’s assistants survived the last few rounds of musical chairs, especially when compared to national title seasons. The drop-off, when viewed through that prism, was astounding. DeBoer kept two of Saban’s young, high-performing coaches in Robert Gillespie and Freddie Roach, while finding more youthful enthusiasm from the other eight. The others include two FBS head coaches from last year — Kane Wommack of South Alabama and Maurice Linguist of Buffalo. The negative here was losing highly-regarded offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff to the Seahawks just weeks after arriving in Tuscaloosa.

— That brings us to recruiting, a category that raised great concern regarding the construction of the aforementioned staff. Well, according to every major recruiting service, Alabama has the No. 2 class.

Nobody has more five-star prospects than the Tide’s six. Only Ohio State is ranked higher overall with Georgia and LSU holding the two spots behind Alabama. Like everything else, this isn’t written in ink since all rankings are based on non-binding commitments, but it’s hard to find the issue that seemed to cause so much stress in late January.

— That success, despite losing the most prolific winner of the generation, is at least partially attributed to the new feel within the program and the football facility. It’s loose. They’re playing … music at practice. There’s less of a militaristic tone that just matches the 49-year-old from Millbank, S.D.

Not a more visual representation exists than the before and after shots of the head coach’s office. Gone are the dark wood panels popular with a certain generation. Now, it looks more like a Foot Locker with bright lights and energy. This isn’t Ray Perkins chopping down Paul “Bear” Bryant’s practice field tower, but it’s a statement about the fresh outlook of a program.

Another generation would say the vibes have changed.

All of that, on the surface, appears great. No indication there’s anything amiss in that building.

But legacies aren’t built on momentum and good feels.

Kalen DeBoer’s won everywhere he’s been a head coach as he’ll stroll into Bryant-Denny Stadium to face Western Kentucky with a 104-12 record from Sioux Falls (NAIA), Fresno State and Washington.

Now he’s got to prove it at the highest level.

DeBoer had the guts to accept the ultimate boom-or-bust assignment when stepping off that plane back in January. Now, 232 days later, he’ll walk past a statue of Saban and step onto the field that’ll officially bear his name next week.

They’ll be steps toward defying logic and history by sustaining the treasure he inherited.

Or he’ll sink.

Who knows.

But it counts starting Saturday evening, at 6 on ESPN.

It’s time.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.