Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer is turning heads across the college football landscape before coaching a single game in his new position. The Crimson Tide has enjoyed recent success on the recruiting trail — multiple recruiting websites have Alabama pegged as a top 3 class nationally.
“Nobody in the country might be hotter right now on the recruiting trail than Alabama,” said On3 recruiting expert Josh Newberg.
While DeBoer and his staff got off to a decent start to his first recruiting campaign in Tuscaloosa, the dominoes truly began to fall when Alabama flipped four-star quarterback Keelon Russell from SMU in early June.
Since then, it has been a hectic couple of weeks in the Crimson Tide recruiting department. Alabama has received eight commitments and has scheduled multiple five-star recruits from across the country for official visits. The team recently picked up multiple notable four- and five-star recruits.
Picking up Russell has been the biggest move this cycle due to his high ranking and the consistent praise he has received from scouts for his accuracy. Many think that Russell will jump in the rankings and earn a fifth star after winning MVP of the Elite 11 high school quarterback competition which wrapped up last Thursday. The last Alabama quarterback to win MVP of this camp was Crimson Tide legend Tua Tagovailoa.
Charles Power, On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings, spoke about Russell back in April.
“He’s one of the youngest quarterbacks in the cycle and he’s gotten better and better every time we’ve seen him,” he said. In addition to Russell’s continued growth, Power praised his notable arm strength.
This growth and skill coming to Alabama has received verbal commitments from other elite offensive players. This includes a verbal commitment from offensive tackle Micah DeBose, the eighth-ranked OT in the class according to multiple platforms. He will join an offensive line class with several four-star commits.
Three other ongoing recruiting battles for Alabama that look to be close are with five-star wide receiver Caleb Cunningham, who is regarded as a top three receiver in the class, and five-star cornerback Dijon Lee. Cunningham, Lee and five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood have been predicted to commit to the Crimson Tide by On3’s recruiting experts. Lee, the 40th-ranked player in the country by 247Sports, has announced his plans to commit Friday at 1:30 p.m. CST.
“Right now we have our prediction on Alabama and we feel pretty good about that,” Alabama recruiting expert for BamaOnline.com Tim Watts said about Lee. “I think Alabama’s put themselves in a really good position.”
Ole Miss commit Akylin Dear has also been heavily linked to the Crimson Tide after taking an official visit to Tuscaloosa. Dear is regarded as the top running back in the class of 2025 by multiple recruiting websites.
“At this stage, everything is pointing to Alabama,” Watts said about Dear.
There is a long way to go until the early signing period in late December and the national signing day in February, so these commitments are not set in stone. This upcoming season will be pivotal for recruiting for the Crimson Tide. The program looks to maintain its status as a national title contender so that recruits will continue to flock to Tuscaloosa.
In the words of J.D. PicKell, On3 national CFB journalist and the host of “The Hard Count” podcast, “If Kalen DeBoer can keep trending in this direction…I think that will be enough juice on the recruiting trail to keep those expectations where they are in Tuscaloosa, in terms of competing for a national title.”
