Kalen DeBoer’s plan for building up a quarterback room in Tuscaloosa appears to be alternating quality with quantity. After landing Keelon Russell, the No. 2 overall QB in the 2025 class, DeBoer was intent on adding two passers for 2026, and if he can hold onto the commitments of four-stars Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa through signing day, he will have accomplished that task.
If that pattern is to be followed, then DeBoer and his staff will be taking a major swing for the 2027 class, and the top quarterback in the country certainly fits the bill. It’s still early in the cycle, but Alabama has emerged as a contender for five-star Elijah Haven as he looks to schedule his fall visits.
5-star QB Elijah Haven has a few top contenders and is looking to schedule fall visits, @SWiltfong_ reports👀
— Rivals (@Rivals) July 29, 2025
Read: https://t.co/9kt1m5uInm pic.twitter.com/mTOdqIRwOy
Kalen DeBoer looking to pluck Elijah Haven from behind enemy lines
The only issue with Haven, a big-time thrower with a 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame who accounted for 56 touchdowns as the MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year, is that those 56 touchdowns came for the Dunham School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Naturally, the list of contenders for the Louisiana native is SEC-heavy, forcing Alabama to compete with the in-state Tigers, the Auburn Tigers, and Florida, along with the two most recent national championship winners.
Still, Alabama often competes for recruits with the best programs in the country, and regularly comes out on top. The bigger issue for DeBoer to overcome is the regional ties to LSU. If DeBoer wants to add another elite five-star QB prospect to his program, he’ll need to go behind enemy lines to do it.
Ty Simpson is in line to win the starting job for the Crimson Tide in 2025, but it’s no secret that Russell is the future of the program. Thomalla and Kaawa will provide crucial depth, especially if Russell forces a mass exodus from the QB room when he inevitably wins the job either this year or next, but neither should be viewed as a long-term answer at the position after Russell likely heads for the NFL.
The days of any team, let alone Alabama, which has not been one of the biggest NIL spenders in recent years, building a roster so elite it can win despite average quarterback play are over, and have been for a while. If DeBoer wants to contend for a national title, as he did at Washington with Michael Penix Jr., he’ll need elite play from the most important position on the field.
Yes, it’s still viable to develop underrecruited quarterbacks into stars. DeBoer did it after Penix transferred from Indiana to Washington, but the easy path is inarguably to land the five-star recruit, and Haven will be he most highly-coveted one in the 2027 recruiting class.