Alabama taking 'super careful' approach to spring transfer portal, DeBoer says

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The spring transfer window for undergraduates will open on Wednesday, April 16, and briefly remain open until Friday, April 25. Alabama will both lose and add players to its 2025 roster via the transfer portal following its 15-practice spring football season. 

During the winter window, the Crimson Tide lost 23 scholarship players, for example, and added 11 transfers to its team, including six from Power Four programs. Which positions will Alabama target now that spring camp is over? Coach Kalen DeBoer kept that close to the vest.

“I think you’re just always looking to find the right person that fits who you are as a program,” DeBoer said on Monday. “Someone who can make your team better, our roster better. So we have just a couple scholarships, really, available to us. So we’ll be careful, and they’ve gotta meet all those areas that we feel good about – the culture of our team, the chemistry from within, the work that’s being put in.

“So I like the combination of attrition and addition that we’ve had, whether it’s high school guys coming in. Eighteen of our 21 guys were here that we signed in December, and so they aren’t gonna feel like freshmen this summer. And then also, a few of the transfers that have come in and really done a nice job blending in, as well, and defining their roles more and more every single day, asking more out of them from a leadership standpoint.

“So we’ll be super careful on what we do with the portal. There are some areas where we do know if we have the right person pop up, we would take advantage of that.”

One position of interest is quarterback. Not because Alabama will be looking for one this spring, at least not right now. The Crimson Tide has three scholarship signal-callers on its roster, and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said on Monday that if Alabama played a game tomorrow, Ty Simpson would start. It’s more if the Tide can hang onto all three quarterbacks.

“I really hope we can,” DeBoer said. “And related to the portal in general, you never know, right? That possibility always exists. But I feel good about our team and our roster as far as the general chemistry, guys feeling like they’re continuing to be developed, that they continue to have a chance to compete and have an opportunity here. 

“I feel like that’s the case here at the quarterback position, too. And Austin (Mack)’s growth, again, going back to where he was at, not even just a year ago, but just the middle of the season, seeing him continue to go this way. 

“Three isn’t very many, but it’s probably the number we’re going to have to be at at quarterback. That’s what we’re expecting here going into the fall. Had four last year, I think that’s kind of a unique situation. I’ve had three many times in the last few years, and you’re always on edge.”

Should any player on Alabama’s current roster choose to enter the transfer portal whenever it officially opens on Wednesday, DeBoer offered a message, citing past instances of former UA players leaving the program and “wishing they could come back” to Tuscaloosa.

“Be careful what you ask for,” DeBoer said. “The grass is definitely not greener on the other side.”

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