Kalen DeBoer silencing “can’t recruit the South” naysayers
When Kalen DeBoer was hired to be the next Alabama Football head coach, a common concern regarded DeBoer’s recruiting prowess or lack thereof. Dominance on the recruiting trail is necessary to uphold the elite standard of the Alabama Football program, and DeBoer just hadn’t yet proven that aspect of himself.
More specifically, fans and detractors alike had doubts about DeBoer’s ability to recruit effectively in the South, a region that breeds tons of elite talent each and every recruiting cycle. It goes without saying that Coach DeBoer and his staff have silenced those doubters this summer.
Bama is rolling in the 2025 cycle and could be zeroing in on the top recruiting class in the country. The Tide’s latest commit, electrifying 5-star wide receiver Caleb Cunningham, is yet another example of the new Alabama staff recruiting very well in the South.
Cunningham hails from Mississippi, where it is notoriously difficult to get top prospects to leave the state. Despite having a lot of mutual interest with Mississippi State as well as offers from every major program in the country, Cunningham ultimately chose the Tide.
Bama is also the favorite to land elite running back AK Dear, formerly an Ole Miss commit, out of the Magnolia State. A commitment from Dear would give Alabama two of the top three prospects in the state of Mississippi, along with 3-star defensive tackle London Simmons.
5-star quarterback Keelon Russell, one of the gems of this 2025 recruiting class, comes from Duncanville, Texas. Alabama’s loaded linebacker class includes 4-stars Darrell “Duke” Johnson and Jaedon Harmon, as well as 3-star Luke Metz, all of whom hail from the state of Georgia. With the way Kirby Smart has built the Georgia Football program and developed the linebacker position in particular, taking these top players out of the Peach State was no easy task.
Even within his own state, DeBoer has really begun to establish some roots on the recruiting trail. 4-star defensive back Derick Smith and 4-star defensive lineman Antonio Coleman are both top-10 players in the state of Alabama.
There has been talk of elite running back Anthony “Turbo” Rogers being on flip watch, but for now the top running back in the state is a Bama commit. In-state linemen Micah DeBose and Mal Waldrep will also keep some homegrown talent on the lines of scrimmage for Alabama Football.
Sure, if one wants to nitpick, Coach DeBoer and the staff could do a better job of locking down the borders. If you were to tell an Alabama fan in February that DeBoer was unlikely to land any of the state’s top five prospects, alarm bells would’ve gone off immediately.
However, it’s important to remember that this is still year one; DeBoer hasn’t even coached a game yet. So far, he has given very few reasons to be concerned about his recruiting ability. He has done very well in the South while also maintaining a national profile, in some ways refreshing the Alabama brand on the recruiting trail. While recruiitng never fell off under Coach Saban, DeBoer has once again made Alabama feel like an exciting new option for top prospects.
If Bama continues to have success on the field, it is only a matter of time before the Tide is dominating in-state recruiting once again.