Kalen DeBoer, Alabama hold off Ohio State and others as 4-star shuts down recruitment

By now, most of Alabama's top commitments in the 2026 class have made separate announcements that they had shut down their recruitments. One of the main ones who hadn't was one of the ones Crimson Tide fans were most worried about flipping.

Alabama fans got what they hoped for on Thursday with 4-star TE Mack Sutter, who committed to the Crimson Tide over the summer, officially announcing that his recruitment was shut down:

Ohio State had made a furious charge for Sutter over the last couple of months. He had become one of the top priorities for the Buckeyes staff, but Kalen DeBoer and Alabama were able to rebuff the Buckeyes and hang on to the elite tight end.

Alabama felt good about its standing with Sutter a month ago when he skipped out on seeing Ohio State play his home state Illinois in October and instead traveled with his Dad to watch Alabama play a road game against Missouri.

That put to bed most of the anxiety left in his recruitment, but his announcement on Thursday ended any lingering doubt.

Sutter ranks as the No. 1 player in the state of Illinois and a Top 100 recruit nationally, according to the 247 composite rankings. Sutter is one of 10 commitments in the composite Top 100 for Alabama in a class that currently ranks No. 3 nationally.

Kalen DeBoer is putting the finishing touches on another elite recruiting class

If only Husky Harsin could recruit, am I right?

DeBoer landed a top-five recruiting class in his first cycle as the Crimson Tide's head coach. He could land an even higher-ranked recruiting class in 2026.

Sutter joins a growing trend of recruits not only announcing their commitments, but following that up months later by announcing their recruitments are shut down. Sutter joins the likes of CB Jorden Edmonds, LB Xavier Griffin, S Jireh Edwards, RB EJ Crowell, WR Cederian Morgan, and QB Jett Thomalla in having shut down their recruitments.

Alabama will still be fighting until the end with at least one of their current commitments - 3-star DL JJ Finch - and perhaps another in 4-star DL Nolan Wilson, who continues to take visits. But for the most part, it should be a pretty anti-climactic early signing period for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama's staff has its eyes on a couple more prospects to add to the nation's 3rd-ranked class. Most notable is 4-star WR Samson Gash, a Michigan State commit, who will take an official visit to Tuscaloosa this weekend for the LSU game.