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Kalen DeBoer reacts to Alabama losing no players to spring portal: 'I really like the direction'

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby:Charlie Potter•05/05/25•

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Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer
Kalen DeBoer (Courtesy of Alabama Athletics)

Alabama navigated the spring transfer without losing any scholarship players to the portal. The Crimson Tide was the only SEC football program not to have a player choose to transfer.

Recently, Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack praised head coach Kalen DeBoer for the impressive roster retention feat. On Monday at the Senior Bowl Charities Celebrity Golf Classic, DeBoer noted the Crimson Tide lost 23 players either during or after the 2024 season ended, but now that the dust has settled, the 2025 team is starting to take shape.

“I think you really start getting into who your team is,” DeBoer said, via AL.com. “I just think that these guys are doing a great job of continuing to build relationships. I think the coaching staff is doing a great job of developing these guys, where they feel like, ‘Man, there’s value I can bring to the team.’ And so this spring was really good in a lot of ways. 

“There’s areas we’ve got to continue to improve in a big way on, but I really like the direction. A lot of it is just that chemistry, that makeup of who we are. And that allows us to, (in) those critical times when we came up short a year ago, find ways to win those football games because that’s really what it’s going to come down to in the SEC.”

Alabama finished DeBoer’s first season at the helm with a 9-4 (5-3 SEC) record. All four losses occurred away from Tuscaloosa, and three were on SEC road games – Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. DeBoer has repeatedly mentioned the emphasis on finishing as he enters Year 2 with the Tide, which features more of a “comfort zone” throughout the program.

“You know routines,” DeBoer said. “… You can continue to grow the relationships, the ones that are critical, obviously, to us. Giving back to the communities.

“But from a team standpoint, just there’s a deeper involvement in each other’s lives – staff, players, which all allow us to have an appreciation and know the direction that we’re going in. We can take care of all the things where we came up short. We have experiences together now that we can teach off of when it comes to football. And the guys have really owned everything, from staff to team.

“We’re looking forward to making those improvements going forward.”

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