Kalen DeBoer breaks down reasons for his fast early success in recruiting

If there were any questions about Kalen DeBoer‘s recruiting prowess and how well he’d be able to replace Nick Saban, one of the best recruiters in college football history, they’ve largely been put to bed just a few months into his tenure.

Alabama is sporting the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, boasting four five-star prospects and 14 four-star recruits among its 23 total commitments.

DeBoer explained his approach to recruiting at SEC Media Days on Wednesday.

“I knew the intensity level that existed here in the SEC and I think across college football,” he said. “It’s just so competitive. But understand that it certainly is different. I knew it was important for me to put the right people around me.”

Whatever combination of people Kalen DeBoer put in place, it certainly seems to be working. Of course, people alone aren’t enough to secure an elite recruiting class.

You also need some selling points. Luckily for DeBoer, Alabama has no shortage of those.

But beyond the tradition and history at Alabama, DeBoer feels it’s the personal touch that really helps sell to prospective recruits. Relationships matter.

“As much as I can preach relationships and getting to know guys and feel like there’s a way I can get guys to feel that this is a program they want to be a part of, I understand there’s got to be familiarity with the region, there’s got to be familiarity with some coaches to get started and get off to a fast jump there, especially in these early months,” Kalen DeBoer said.

“Because you’re behind when you come in and it’s the middle of January and you haven’t even put a staff together and all the sudden it’s the end of January and you’ve got a week or two to hit the road. It’s the last time you can be on the road other than a little time in May, and by that time all the official visits are set up for June. We were behind. So I had to have a staff that would work well together.”

Clearly things are working for the Crimson Tide currently. So there’s no real need to change the approach.

That approach, of course, has been a shared effort on the recruiting front.

“I think it’s all hands on deck with our staff,” Kalen DeBoer said. “Those within the building would feel that, just kind of sharing that it’s a team effort. But we also certainly have some guys and staff on the field and off the field that just work relentlessly every single day just to build those relationships, to help us get guys to campus, and I think that’s when we’re at our best because the culture of our team when we have that energy within the building.

“When prospects do come to campus they see that this is something they want to be a part of. All that together has led to a lot of success here early on. Obviously it’s an every-day thing, so it never stops. But we certainly understand that having the right guys in our program is all going to make us better coaches in a lot of ways.”

So far, so good for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama.