There’s an expectation of winning at Alabama, and for head coach Kalen DeBoer, even nine wins won’t be enough.
Recruiting was a concern for some when it came to DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, replacing coaching legend Nick Saban with no SEC ties, but now, he’s motivated to put together the best team possible.
What’s Changed For Kalen DeBoer, Alabama, In Recruiting
DeBoer appeared on “Always College Football” to ease those concerns and talk about his success recruiting in the Southeast.
“Especially regionally and down here in the Southeast, anywhere in the South is our recruiting territory,” DeBoer said. “There’s just much more familiarity, you know, all that exists. There’s the relationships that we’ve taken to the next level. I think I’ve got a good group and a good staff around me, whether it’s on the field staff, off the field staff.”
One step DeBoer took was picking up coaches like defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, who had strong ties to the region.
“I knew that coming in that had to be, again, balance is the word I would probably use, of guys who I wanted that I knew well,” DeBoer said. “But also ones that we needed on staff that knew the Southeast and could help us hit the ground running. I thought we did a good job last year.”
The next step for Alabama is recruiting players multiple years down the line and focusing on NIL and the transfer portal.
“I think this year, now, it’s just continuing to fill in the gaps. You’re going to recruit across the board, every position, I think every single year,” DeBoer said. “But now it’s, how do you continue to add? Where are the areas where we know exactly what we’re losing next year? Who we might lose to the NFL? How we’ve got to get better with the recruiting? Who can play early in their career and help us? So, it’s I think just another level of decision-making, also the recruiting process. It doesn’t matter where you’re at in the country, a lot of the same principles apply when it comes to recruiting. It’s relationships. Obviously, there’s an NIL factor these days.”
June is a big month in the recruiting calendar, with major visits the focus for the Alabama staff.
“For every coach across the country, that has evolved, and the timeline of recruiting and how it’s sped up and how many official visits we’re gonna have here in June is also a thing that didn’t exist two, three years ago at the level it is now. It wasn’t that you weren’t doing summer visits,” DeBoer said. “But the number of how many you’re doing now is much different every weekend here through June. It’s going to be locked and loaded on official visits and what those schedules look like. I think we’re much further along and on the same page. I feel like we’ve got a good grasp of the guys that we’re really attacking who we have strong relationships with, who also feel good about us.”
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Alabama finished the third-ranked class in the country in 2025, proof of DeBoer’s recruiting success.
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