Alabama spurned by 2nd 5-star in 12 hours as Kalen DeBoer leaks oil on recruiting trail

Many Alabama fans woke up to the news that five-star athlete Brandon Arrington has cut down his recruitment to Oregon and Texas A&M ahead of his Thursday commitment, removing the Crimson Tide from the battle after an impressive showing during his official visit. Then came more bad news for Kalen DeBoer, his staff, and Bama fans everywhere. 

As On3’s Chad Simmons reported, five-star wide receiver Tristen Keys is no longer expected to visit Alabama this week. The LSU commit was expected to arrive in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday for the fifth of his six official visits this spring and summer. Keys’ final visit will be back to Baton Rouge on Friday, with his recruitment seemingly coming down to the Tigers and the Tennessee Volunteers. So, not only did DeBoer and his staff swing and miss on the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2026 class, but they’ll almost certainly have to play against him for three years. 

Tristen Keys cancels visit to Tuscaloosa

Alabama is still stuck on just six commits in the 2026 class, a group that ranks outside the top 50 in the country. Though the group is headlined by five-star cornerback Jorden Edmonds, who helps ease the pain of missing out on Arrington, who projects as a cornerback at the next level, it has been a wildly underwhelming performance on the recruiting trail after locking down the No. 3 class in the country a year ago. 

There are still plenty of highly-rated targets that Alabama is in the mix for. So, as those players’ commitment dates come, the Tide could get things back on track in the 2026 class, but at the moment, it’s starting to look bleak. 

Last offseason, the fanbase and boosters rallied around DeBoer as he sought to establish himself as the long-term solution in the post-Saban era. An uptick in NIL dollars that followed could have contributed to such a strong recruiting class. Now, coming off a season in which Alabama failed to reach double-digit wins for the first time since 2007, Saban’s first year in Tuscaloosa, the support for DeBoer may not be as enthusiastic, or as generous. 

If the NIL dollars have dried up at all, DeBoer could be showing some weaknesses as a recruiter. He was never known as an elite recruiter prior to his arrival, but with stints at Boise State and Washington, he never had the resources in a hotbed of talent to prove himself. Now he has both, and so far the results are mixed. 

The early signing period doesn’t begin until December, so it’s still very early in the process, but there’s no denying that Alabama is lagging behind its primary SEC competitors. Georgia currently ranks No. 4 in the country with 16 commits, Texas A&M, which is still a finalist for Arrington, sits in sixth with 16 commits, and LSU slots in at No. 9 with Keys leading the way as the highest-ranked of 10 commits. Even Arkansas is 12th in the country. 

Alabama was facing an uphill battle when it came to flipping Keys, but a canceled visit still stings, especially coming on the heels of the Arrington news.