Kalen DeBoer and Alabama football hosted a plethora of highly regarded prospects over A-Day weekend and continue to build a lot of momentum on the trail as they build their 2026 class.
Alabama wasn't expecting a flood of commitments this weekend as they still have a lot of recruits lined up for official visits in the next couple of months. That's where the big wave of commitments is likely to come.
But DeBoer and company got a nice surprise on Saturday when in-state 4-star DL Kamhariyan Johnson announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide.
BREAKING: Class of 2026 EDGE Kamhariyan Johnson has Committed to Alabama, he tells me for @on3recruits
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 12, 2025
The 6’4 260 EDGE from Muscle Shoals, AL chose the Crimson Tide over Ole Miss, Auburn, & Clemson
“LLMYPOPS, I’M HOME🐘🐘”https://t.co/Tv8nl0RzvG pic.twitter.com/BIebD9mI7C
Johnson is a 4-star in the 247 composite rankings and the No. 16 overall player in the state of Alabama. A native of Muscle Shoals, Johnson held an impressive list of offers, including Auburn, Miami, USC, and Ole Miss, and Clemson.
Of Alabama's five commitments in the 2026 class, Johnson becomes the 2nd player from the state of Alabama. In reality, he's the third with edge rusher Jamarion Matthews spending his whole high school career in Alabama before transferring to a high school in Georgia for his senior year.
Johnson projects as a Bandit at Alabama, but has the positional versatility and size to play anywhere along the defensive line as time passes on.
Kalen DeBoer and staff continue to push for a big in-state class in 2026
It's safe to say that DeBoer and company are not going to get dominated for in-state recruits this cycle like they did in 2025.
Johnson joins 4-star CB Zyan Gibson as the two Alabama commitments in the Tide's 2026 class, which matches the total from last year's group. But Alabama is nowhere near done. The Crimson Tide hosted, among others, two of the top three players in the state for A-Day in WR Cederian Morgan and RB Ezavier Crowell. Experts believe Alabama is in good position to ultimately land both of those players.
Alabama is also among the top group of schools for 5-star edge rusher Anthony "Tank" Jones, but the Mobile native attended Auburn's spring game instead of Alabama's. That's not much of a concern, however, as Jones was in Tuscaloosa in February and had not been in Auburn since last fall.
In any case, Alabama has a lot of positive momentum on the recruiting trail and the 2026 class in-state is going to have a big Crimson Tide flavor.