You’ve heard the question. Will Kalen DeBoer be able to recruit the South?
It emerged the second DeBoer accepted the job coaching Alabama football in wake of Nick Saban’s retirement. He had never worked in the area during his coaching career, instead spending time mainly in the Midwest and some on the West Coast.
It was a fair question, but DeBoer, general manager Courtney Morgan and company quickly answered it. He can.
As of Wednesday, Alabama has the No. 1 recruiting class for 2025, per On3′s industry rankings. The Crimson Tide sits ahead of Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon and LSU and every other team in the country.
During SEC Media Days in Dallas, DeBoer discussed his approach to recruiting and why it has worked so far.
“I knew it was important for me to put the right people around me,” DeBoer said. “As much as I can preach relationships and getting to know guys and feel like there’s a way that I can get guys to feel that this is a program they want to be a part of, I understand that there’s got to be familiarity with a region.”
So DeBoer knew he had to have staff in place who had that familiarity. And he wanted one that would work well together.
“I think it’s all hands on deck with our staff,” DeBoer said. “Those within the building would feel that, just kind of sharing, that it’s a team effort. But we also certainly have some guys and staff on the field and off the field that just work relentlessly every single day, just to build those relationships, to help us get guys to campus.”
DeBoer highlighted the culture of the team and the energy in the building. Prospects see that when they come to campus.
“They see this is something they want to be a part of,” DeBoer said. “All that together has led to a lot of success here early on. Obviously it’s an everyday thing. So it never stops. But we certainly understand that having the right guys in our program is all going to make us better coaches in a lot of ways.”