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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Over the six months since Kalen DeBoer landed the biggest job in college football, Alabama‘s first-year coach has taken a common theme within him onto the recruiting trail, a message aimed at weaving together the Crimson Tide’s storied past and its transformational present.
Markus Cook heard the pitch when DeBoer and his staff began recruiting 2025 offensive tackle commit Micah DeBose, the No. 72 player in the ESPN 300, out of Vigor High School in Prichard, Alabama.
“One of the things DeBoer says to recruits and to families is, ‘I don’t want to change a culture of things that worked,'” Cook, who began coaching DeBose as an eighth-grader, said. “He doesn’t want to take away traditions that have been here for 25 years. He just wants to enhance it and put his twist on it.”
Music at practice. Fresh drills. A different, more laid back environment from the one Nick Saban oversaw across 17 years in Tuscaloosa before he retired in January.
While there are some new things at Bama, the 49-year-old DeBoer has chosen to maintain certain Saban-era elements in his early months at Alabama, too. Among the most critical: high-level success with elite recruits.
Since June 1, DeBoer has secured 13 commitments in the 2025 class including 10 pledges from within the ESPN 300, launching the Crimson Tide to No. 2 in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the 2025 cycle.
The summer floodgates opened with quarterback Keelon Russell‘s June 4 flip from SMU, a move that secured the Crimson Tide the nation’s 32nd-ranked prospect and their quarterback from the 2025 class. From there, Alabama gained five more top-100 commitments in the subsequent weeks, headlined by offensive tackle Ty Haywood (No. 18 in the ESPN 300), wide receiver Caleb Cunningham (No. 19) and cornerback Dijon Lee Jr. (No. 25), now the top three prospects in the Crimson Tide’s incoming class.
DeBose, the No. 10 offensive tackle in 2025, padded an increasingly stout offensive line class with his June 22 pledge. In linebackers Justin Hill (No. 86 in the ESPN 300) and Dawson Merritt (No. 101) and cornerback Chuck McDonald III (No. 132), DeBoer has the latest additions to the deep defense unit heading to Tuscaloosa in 2025.
A class that began June with only seven total commits now includes pledges from nation’s top dual-threat passer, four top-20 linebackers, a pair of top-15 cornerbacks and more top-30 offensive tackles — three — than all but one other program in the country at the end of a scorching summer on the recruiting trail. As of July 25, DeBoer’s inaugural class features 17 ESPN 300 pledges, more than any other program in the 2025 cycle.
Questions over DeBoer’s ability to recruit as an outsider to the SEC hovered over his January arrival. Six-plus months later, he’s provided resounding early answers to quiet the noise.
Still 132 days from the early signing period, a pair of key questions remain: can DeBoer and Co. hang onto this talent-rich class and who else will the Crimson Tide add before signing day?
Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa saw the Crimson Tide land 16 top-three recruiting classes, per ESPN rankings, including eight No. 1 classes over the 18 cycles from 2007-2024. Should DeBoer secure a top-three finish in 2025, it’ll represent Alabama’s seventh straight top-three class dating to 2019.
Recruiting in a post-Saban world, and on the heels of the program’s eighth College Football Playoff appearance, the Crimson Tide brand remains strong. The true depth of DeBoer’s recruiting caliber with the Crimson Tide will ultimately be measured over years, not months.
But the quality of DeBoer and his staff’s approach on the recruiting trail can be viewed through the commitments they’ve secured this summer, as well as the recruitments of Russell, Cunningham and DeBose, three of the Crimson Tide’s top-seven commits who previously sat on the periphery of Alabama’s 2025 plans before DeBoer arrived.
Russell had been committed to SMU since the fall of 2023 before the Crimson Tide entered the picture in January. DeBoer, along with Crimson Tide quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan, didn’t waste time laying out a clear vision for the 6-foot-3 quarterback from Duncanville, Texas.
“I’ve been in touch with them almost every day since they began recruiting me,” Russell told ESPN in June. “If not every day, then every week. They’ve been on me; really trying to get me there.”
Russell’s flip marked a key addition after quarterback prospect Julian Sayin exited the program’s 2024 class in the days after Saban’s departure. Four-star cornerback McDonald gave his pledge to the program four days later. Next came a series of commitments that laid the foundation of Alabama’s offensive line class, capped by DeBose’s late-June commitment. The former Georgia offensive tackle commit was a priority for Crimson Tide offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic.
“Coach DeBoer called to introduce himself in January before he even got on the plane,” said Cook, DeBose’s former high school coach, and now an assistant at Williamson High School in Mobile. “Alabama just kept consistent making their push. Coach Kap really recruited Micah hard. They just kept at it with him.”
Commitments from Hill (No. 10 outside linebacker) and Merritt (No. 15) bolstered the program’s linebacker class. Lee, the fourth-ranked cornerback in the 2025 cycle out of California powerhouse Mater Dei, stood momentarily as Alabama’s top-rated commit following his June 28 pledge.
Altogether, the Crimson Tide added nine commitments in the month of June. But the two biggest pieces landed with Alabama this month when Haywood, a top-five offensive tackle, and Cunningham — the third-ranked wide receiver in the 2025 class — committed to the Crimson Tide on back-to-back days.
Fielding heavy interest from the likes of Tennessee, Florida and Auburn, Cunningham had decided Alabama was an unlikely destination in the early weeks of 2024. The Crimson Tide had offered the four-star pass catcher from Ackerman, Mississippi, in March of 2023, but his contact with the program in the months since had been light. Prior to Saban’s retirement, Cunningham did not consider Alabama among his top-12 schools.
That changed when DeBoer got to Tuscaloosa. Wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard visited Cunningham in Mississippi shortly after DeBoer’s hiring. DeBoer and defensive line coach Freddie Roach followed up days later. Cunningham took an unofficial visit to Alabama in March, then an official trip in June.
He now stands as the second-ranked member of the Crimson Tide’s incoming class. If he signs, Cunningham will secure Alabama a top-three wide receiver commit in back-to-back classes.
“The new staff here recruited me harder than the last staff really,” Cunningham said. “They always checked up on me and things like that. They show a lot of love. They can develop. They’re going to produce for sure.”
DeBoer’s approach has landed well with in-state coaches like Charles Moody, who coaches four-star Crimson Tide commit Derick Smith at Alabama’s Southside High School.
“The fact that coach DeBoer came in and embraced coach Saban and embraced the things that he has done in the past is big,” Moody said. “He’s embraced the culture. He’s not trying to take away from it and just trying to add to it. I think that’s been a major piece to his success.”
Alabama’s 2025 recruiting success also belongs with DeBoer’s staff.
Sheridan and Shephard came with DeBoer from Washington in January. From Saban’s staff, DeBoer maintained continuity retaining Roach and running backs coach Robert Gillespie, maintaining continuity. In former South Alabama coach Kane Womack, Alabama has a defensive coordinator with name recognition across the state. Kapilovic, defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist and tight ends coach Bryan Ellis stand among the newcomers bringing a fresh feel to the program’s recruiting efforts.
“We all know coach Saban’s process work,” said Moody. “But coach DeBoer and his staff are bringing something different here. They’ve gotten comfortable fast.”
Alabama will begin its first training camp under DeBoer with the second-ranked class in 2025. Where the program’s first signing class without Saban finishes come December will depend on how the Crimson Tide close out the cycle between now and the Dec. 4 signing day.
“We got some ballers, man,” Cunningham said. “And we got more to come.”
The Crimson Tide continue to battle the likes of Texas, Florida State, LSU and Texas A&M for four-star wide Kaliq Lockett, No. 23 in the ESPN 300. One of the top remaining uncommitted pass catchers in the 2025 cycle, Lockett is expected to announce his commitment on Aug. 7.
#coldsummer pic.twitter.com/mvzRiM9eDB
— Micah”Big Ticket🎫” DeBose (@MicahDebose) July 17, 2024
Akylin Dear, the No. 2 running back in 2025, has been a top target for Alabama since the 6-foot-1, 200-pound prospect decommitted from Ole Miss last month. The Crimson Tide were among the finalists when Dear picked Ole Miss in March, and now stand as the front-runner to secure the third-ranked prospect in the state of Mississippi.
Alabama has remained in the running for five-star defender Justus Terry since he decommitted from USC on June 19 with Georgia and Florida State among those also chasing the nation’s second-ranked defensive tackle.
Four-star linebacker Ty Jackson, No. 44 in the ESPN 300, took an official visit to Alabama last month and with the Crimson Tide fighting Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida State for the nation’s top inside linebacker.
From within Alabama’s class, Derick Smith is a possible flip candidate as the fourth-ranked athlete in 2025 is scheduled to visit Auburn this weekend. Running Zymear Smith, who decommitted from the Crimson Tide earlier this month, recently committed to Maryland.
Executing a summer of high-level recruiting was the first challenge for DeBoer to tackle on the trail. His next hurdle: keeping Alabama’s talented class intact while navigating his first SEC campaign this fall.
“This 2025 class is going to get a chance to sit down and watch them on Saturdays and see what the system is,” said Moody. “They’ll see how it all translates onto the scoreboard and onto the field. They have those guys committed today. But you have to lock those guys in and get them on pen and paper. And I think a lot is going to depend upon what they do on the field this season.”
“This season is a pivotal year for Alabama.”