Kalen DeBoer of Alabama, recently off a wave of recruiting victories, gives gratitude to coaching and support staff
The biggest recruiting success of the Kalen DeBoer era was unquestionably getting five-star receiver Ryan Williams to re-commit and sign in February. However, since the new coach and his staff moved to Tuscaloosa three months ago, it’s hardly the lone instance of success.
Six of Alabama’s eight commitments in the 2025 Class, including wide receiver Derick Smith and linebacker Darrell Johnson, who are all ranked in the top 10 at their respective positions, came in the previous month.
As a result, 247Sports ranks the Crimson Tide’s class as the seventh best in the nation.
How then did they arrive here? How did they escape the inevitable decline that many could have expected after Nick Saban’s retirement?
In an interview with Andy Staples of On3, DeBoer stated that he wasn’t trying to refute anyone’s belief that he would have trouble recruiting players from the area. He hasn’t had many opportunities to travel to the southeast, whether it be at Sioux Falls, Fresno State, or Washington.
According to DeBoer, he went into recruiting knowing that it’s “the lifeblood” of the team and that it “needs to be on point.”
He stated that getting athletes on campus and spreading the word is crucial.
“We want them to feel what this place is all about and continue to see that the tradition will continue,” he stated.
DeBoer gave the coaching staff, which he described as being full of “go-getters” and “great recruiters” and including people with knowledge of the area, the league, and the university, the credit for those early recruitment victories.
Remaining from the former coaching staff are running backs coach Robert Gillespie and defensive line coach Freddie Roach. After playing for Alabama from 2002 to 2005, Roach joined Nick Saban’s coaching staff in 2008 as a graduate assistant.
Kane Wommack, the defensive coordinator, was the head coach at South Alabama for the previous few seasons. As an assistant at Texas A&M from 2018 to 2019, co-defensive coordinator Maurice Linguist established himself as one of the SEC’s best recruiters.
“I feel like we’ve really nailed it on the head with who we’ve brought in, whether it’s the recruiting staff, the coaching staff, other support staff,”he added. And they’ve been outstanding. They’ve performed admirably.”
Leading the staff’s efforts has been a key responsibility of general manager Courtney Morgan.
DeBoer stated that having a past with Morgan, going back to their time together at Fresno State in 2020, was significant.
DeBoer stated, “You could argue, 2020 is the toughest year of coaching,” alluding to the Covid epidemic. However, he was incredibly resourceful, often coming up with new ideas, and had a never-say-die attitude. We clicked. We had a lot of time together over those months, so having the opportunity to bring him back to Washington was essential to our success there and to achieving the objectives we set for ourselves and our two years there as well as last season.”
