The work Kalen DeBoer and his staff have done for the Alabama Football Class of 2025 has been sensational

When Nick Saban walked off the Alabama football sidelines last January, the GOAT wasn’t empty. Strong signing classes had produced a Crimson Tide roster full of talent.

What happened immediately after Saban’s resignation was that college football opportunists raided the Alabama football roster. The Opportunists were viewed as vultures by many Crimson Tide fans. The reality was just business as usual in college football; a remnant of the best terrain in which Alabama thrived for many years.

The sky didn’t fall for Kalen DeBoer and the new Alabama football team because they adequately stemmed the flow of departures and added key roster members through incoming transfers. What they couldn’t quickly overcome was the minimal recruiting connections in the state of Alabama and surrounding states.

Auburn and Hugh Freeze took advantage of the in-state recruiting situation. Freeze ultimately put together an impressive class with almost all of the top talent in the state. DeBoer had developed connections on the West Coast and they paid off. Alabama’s 21-player 2025 signing class includes seven players from the state of California. By comparison, that state’s top program, USC, has signed just five California players.

A finished product is never created on the first day of early signing. Some unsigned players will still transfer, including a 5-star player on Alabama’s commitment list. Others will decide later, through February and beyond. The first day of the early stages is the big day and according to 247Sports and On3, the Alabama Crimson Tide earned the No. 2 ranking in the class nationally. The only higher-ranked class is the Texas Longhorns.

Another point is worth considering. Nick Saban’s last three teams had roster weaknesses that were never fully addressed. An example of this is the offensive line as a position group. In a transition season, no coach could have corrected all of the squad’s weaknesses. Going into the 2025 season, Alabama football will essentially be Kalen DeBoer’s first team. If DeBoer and his staff can build on last season’s transfer success, along with the near-prime 2025 class, the ’25 squad could be Alabama’s strongest squad since the 2020 season.

Results won’t be seen for many months, but a fair December assessment is that Kalen DeBoer and his staff have done an outstanding job with the Crimson Tide’s 2025 class.