Kalen DeBoer is looking further down the board in the 2028 QB class with latest offer

If there’s one thing Kalen DeBoer has definitely figured out since arriving in Tuscaloosa, it’s how to recruit the best quarterbacks in the country to play for him. 

In the 2025 class, he landed five-star Keelon Russell, the No. 2 QB in the country behind Bryce Underwood. Russell is now locked in an offseason QB battle with Austin Mack to take over the starting job as a redshirt freshman. In the 2027 class, while his QB of the future is fighting for playing time, he added his likely eventual successor, Elijah Haven, the No. 1 QB in the country. 

The line of succession looks clear, and that’s without mentioning 2026 four-star and top-50 overall recruit Jett Thomalla. Yet, DeBoer is always looking to add to his QB room. That’s why, with three-star Charles Scott Jr. already committed in the 2028 class, DeBoer and his staff extended an offer to Gadsden City High School QB Sam Sollie. 

Sam Sollie could be another developmental gem for DeBoer

When DeBoer began recruiting Thomalla, ultimately flipping the Nebraska native from a commitment to Iowa State, he was an overlooked three-star. By the end of the cycle, with an impressive senior season coming on the back of a strong showing at the Elite 11 finals, Thomalla was a borderline five-star. 

It’s not just that DeBoer and his staff, including offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and general manager Courtney Morgan, are better at recruiting the top-flight QB prospects. They’re also better at identifying the underrecruited players who are going to climb up the industry rankings by the end of the cycle. 

Maybe that’s Sollie, who is currently a three-star according to Rivals Industry rankings and the 76th overall QB in the class. Maybe it's Scott, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound QB from Virginia who is ranked as the 35th-best QB in the class. Maybe it’s another eventual target for Alabama, which has made a habit of taking two QBs in the years it doesn’t land one of the top QBs, as it did in 2026 with Thomalla and three-star Tayden Kaawa. 

The goal is to be a quarterback factory. To always have a legitimate NFL prospect and difference maker at the most important position on the field. DeBoer hasn’t gotten everything right since he’s come to Tuscaloosa. He enters Year 3 with major question marks in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and coming off a frustrating portal cycle that saw Texas poach his top targets. But he’s gotten it right at quarterback, and built the reputation that Sollie spoke of to BamaOnLine. 

There’s real value in prospects believing you’re the best staff, or at least one of the best, at developing a particular position. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as it helps land the best QB recruits. Sollie is further down the board than Russell, Haven, or even Thomalla, but his quote perfectly summed up why DeBoer’s program is loaded with QB talent.

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