Alabama lands its first HS quarterback commitment in Kalen DeBoer era
It didn’t take long for Alabama to receive outstanding news after its first official visit weekend for the ’25 signing class. The Crimson Tide hosted 12 visitors including Keelon Russell, Top 100 quarterback from Duncanville High School in Texas. The SMU commit received an offer from Alabama in April. He flipped his commitment after the first trip to Tuscaloosa.
BOL provided intel regarding Russell’s high interest in the program on Sunday morning. An ‘unofficial’ prediction went in favor of the Crimson Tide from the BOL Staff. There was a sense that a decision could happen rather quickly despite scheduled official visits elsewhere this month including Florida (6/7) and Oregon (6/21).
Alabama expressed high interest in Russell a few months ago, and pushed to get him on campus for spring practice. Russell had originally intended on taking an unofficial visit for the A-Day game, but was not able to make the trip happen. Alabama OC Nick Sheridan evaluated several quarterbacks during the spring evaluation period with only one new offer extended- Russell.
Russell called Alabama his “dream offer,” but was also considered strong commitment to SMU, where he committed in September. The offers starting flowing in after his sensational junior season in which he accounted for 3,483 yards with 38 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He also added 361 yards rushing with six additional scores. He completed more than 74-percent of passing attempts.
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“The staff coming from Washington is a real big thing,” Russell told On3 Sports earlier this week. “I’ve seen what they did with Michael Penix. I know the development thing is going to be taken care of. I know they’re going to get me to the highest level I can be and get mine taken care of. When you have coaches blowing up your phone, have the head man calling you it’s real special. It shows how they want to take care of you and put you as part of your family.”
Alabama signed Julian Sayin in the ’24 class before the former five-star decided to transfer to Ohio State after Nick Saban retired in January. Coach Kalen DeBoer replaced Sayin with Austin Mack, a Washington transfer. A few offers were extended in January upon Coach DeBoer’s arrival with only one of those players visiting during the spring- USC commitment JuJu Lewis.
The Tide shifted its attention to Russell with the full intent to not extend another offer until it received an answer. Others have also been working to flip the former Mustang, but Russell had decided to completely shut down his recruitment. He will not take additional visits outside of a return to the Capstone.
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