Kalen DeBoer feels 'really good' about first full recruiting cycle at Alabama

Today is National Signing Day. But it’s just a normal Wednesday for Alabama and head coach Kalen DeBoer. Maybe even one of the more quiet hump days for the Crimson Tide in a while, as the hay has been in the barn on the 2025 recruiting class since early December.

Not including the transfer portal additions, Alabama signed 21 high school and junior college players during the 2025 cycle, and unless something changes on what used to be the traditional signing day, the Tide will finish with the No. 3 recruiting class in the country.

DeBoer took over the Crimson Tide football program last January, and he and his staff reeled in a top-five class that features three 5-star prospects and seven players among the top 100. It also added seven transfers and welcomed back 11 NFL draft-eligible underclassmen.

“I feel really good about what we did, whether it’s with the high school class or filling in some gaps with our portal,” said DeBoer last week at the Senior Bowl. “And I think the other piece is just the retention of our own team and feel good about where we’re at there.”

With spring practice set to start in less than one month, Alabama has 80 scholarship players signed up for the 2025 season. Twenty-eight of those are newcomers, and all but three will be on campus for the 15 workouts in March and April that will end with the A-Day Game.

The Tide’s signing class is headlined by quarterback Keelon Russell, who was rated the No. 2 overall player in the class in On3’s final recruiting rankings, and will push for playing time.

Alabama also signed two 5-star offensive linemen – Michael Carroll and Jackson Lloyd – a trio of top-100 defensive backs – Dijon Lee, Chuck McDonald and Ivan Taylor – and top-100 players at edge rusher (Justin Hill) and running back (Akylin Dear) in the 2025 class.

Alabama still has room to add, but DeBoer is pleased with the Year 1 recruiting haul.

“We have a couple spots we could fill, a few, as the rest of the spring and summer comes along,” DeBoer said. “But we always are gonna tweak things and find ways to make it better. But I like, considering it was the first year, what we accomplished with the high school guys. They are in there working. 

“They’re what we thought they would be, whether it’s athletically or just their character and then the work ethic that comes along.”

Alabama cast a nationwide net this past cycle. The newest group of signees called nine different states, as well as Canada, home before moving to Tuscaloosa. Partly due to the staff’s past relationships California led the way with seven signees, while Georgia is second with three and the state of Alabama is tied with Florida and Mississippi for the third-most.

That is key for DeBoer and company, and now that he has been the coach at Alabama for a full trip around the sun, familiarity within the state could lead to more victories closer to home. But just like we saw the previous 17 seasons, the Tide will recruit at a national level.

“I think for us, it’s, now that we’ve been here a year, continue to build the relationships locally, in-state, regionally to where we can continue to take advantage of that,” DeBoer said. “And we had relationships, they were just all across the country. 

“We’ll continue to do that because we want the best of the best. We need the best players to come here. That’s what Alabama’s done in the past and what we’ll continue to do.”

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