The next step for Kalen DeBoer in recruiting is to recruit Alabama State

Recruiting is all about relationship building, and in that department, Kalen DeBoer started well behind the eight-ball spots at Alabama State in 2025. I want to emphasize that this piece is not a criticism of DeBoer – he did the absolute best he could in this course in the time he had to put it together.

It’s actually pretty remarkable that Alabama emerged from the early signing phase with the No. 2 team in the nation, considering they had to start from scratch in January after the flood of commitments in the wake of Nick Saban’s sudden retirement. He has put together a better class than anyone could have reasonably expected.

DeBoer and the majority of his staff, aside from holdovers Freddie Roach and Robert Gillespie, had no relationship with players and coaches in the state. Hugh Freeze and Auburn predictably took advantage of this this cycle. But this is a trend that cannot continue.

Eight of the top 10 players in the state according to the 247 composite rankings signed with Auburn. The top player signed with Oregon. The other top 10 player signed with Ohio State. Alabama ultimately signed only two home-state players, with the top-ranked player being Micah DeBose, No. 15 in the state according to the composite rankings.

Several of these players – like Derick Smith and Antonio Coleman – were once committed to Alabama. Despite all of this, Alabama still signed a better class than Auburn. But the people who say in-state recruiting doesn’t matter are kidding themselves.

In the NIL era, where players play primarily for a paycheck, I think there needs to be more reliance on in-state players because they care more about playing for Alabama than just because they get paid to do so. Script A means something to them.

Take Malachi Moore, for example – an out-of-state boy who dreamed of playing for the Crimson Tide as a child. You could tell how much Alabama meant to him all season and throughout his career.

Alabama is a national brand and will recruit as such. That was the case under Saban and is still true under DeBoer. Alabama will look to acquire the best players in the country, regardless of where they come from. But the top eight players in the state of Alabama are ranked in the top 100 nationally in 2025. These players are among the best in their respective position groups.

The good news is that I truly believe this was a year-long blip on the radar that Freeze was able to exploit. These relationships are built, and there may not be a better relationship builder in the country than Tide General Manager Courtney Morgan.

Alabama already has a 2026 commitment from one of the state’s top players – 4-star DL Vodney Cleveland of Birmingham. Two of Alabama’s three 2027 commitments are highly regarded in-state prospects.

DeBoer’s next step as a recruiter will be to take back the state. Considering how he answered the bell in his first cycle as a general recruiter, I like his chances of doing so.