It's right at the beginning of the first season of the Kalen Deboer Era and so far, and the Tide is 2-0 heading into week 2 at Wisconsin. Everybody loves a little excitement in the middle of the week though, as I was able to catch up with the No.14 overall player (No. 2 receiver) in the 2025 class, per On3 Industry Ranking, Caleb Cunningham.
Cunningham comes out of Ackerman, Mississippi ready to take the country by storm, and when talking with the stud receiver, its obvious he has a lot of potential in which he is ready to take to his future school.
One of the bigger things people have been wondering, is how Cunninghams' recruitment has been going and where things are leading. This past weekend, Cunningham returned to Tuscaloosa to see the Tide take on South Florida and had this to say about his visit:
"Man, it was a good time forreal. Its always a good time getting to see Coach Shep (WR Coach), Coach Deboer, and Eron (Hodges) who is the Associate Director of Player Personnel. Those are my guys and I talk to them like everyday".
When talking about who he has the best relationship with as whole, Caleb stated "Probably Coach Shep and Eron." Cunningham describes his relationship with coaches a "10/10 for sure, aint no doubt" . "There aint no fake love, they show me that I'm a top commit for them".
When the season started, opposing teams already knew they would have their hands full, and Caleb recently posted a picture of him being double teamed (even triple teamed some) in one of their games.
Sheesh 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/WAnAZIa3oq
— Caleb Cunningham ✝️ (@calebcunning13) September 7, 2024
At this moment, the 5-star WR has offers from nearly every P5 school in the country, and as of right now is focusing on Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Auburn. One of the biggest things that Cunningham notes, was the relationships he has with all of these schools. Coming from a smaller country place, he said, relationships play one of most important roles in finding his future school.
A couple of months ago, it appeared that Caleb was changing things going into summer and would maybe even commit to one of the other SEC schools around, but the Crimson Tide went on massive recruiting run which included landing Cunningham and most recently 5-star RB AK Dear out of Mississippi as well. It's interesting to see Cunningham and Dear as a potential future combo for those in Tuscaloosa.
Dear was previously committed to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, but has since decommitted and pledged to Kalen Deboer and company. Cunningham looks forward to teaming up with Dear mentioning "Thats my guy man, we wanna come in and make things happen forreal".
As of right now, Alabama holds the #2 recruiting class in the industry per On3. If Alabama lands a couple more stud athletes, they have a real chance at landing the #1 overall class. When asked if he would look at enrolling early, Cunningham mentions he wants to play basketball this season so he will likely sign in December, but not arrive in Tuscaloosa until next summer.
Back to his visit this past weekend, Cunningham said he really enjoyed being able to meet with the coaches again and talking about not only football but life:
"DeBoer doesnt just talk about football, we talk about life and how he sees me playing a factor at Alabama, the type of offense, my role, and how we can win a national championship".
Something else that happened was being able to meet and talk with Future Hall of Fame WR, Julio Jones. "Man thats my favorite receiver! We got to talk for like 5 or 6 minutes and it was just awesome. Life, football, the best advice for me". Jones is notorious for being the main guy who truly turned around the recruiting game for Alabama when Nick Saban first arrived at Alabama, and as we all know, after 6 National Championships, plenty want to be able to follow in those same steps.
As for whats next, Cunningham plans to visit Mississippi State this weekend, but plans on returning to Tuscaloosa on September 28th, as the Crimson Tide take on the #1 ranked Georgia. He also plans to just enjoy the process and watching good football.
For those who want to know (everybody im sure), Cunningham has a message for Alabama fans and other recruits, "Aint no other place like Bama! We standing 10 toes deep! 100% Committed to Alabama".