Alabama Football: The latest out of Tuscaloosa

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer is making headlines this off season for the Alabama Crimson Tide. The headlines are for positive reasons for the Tide, and they are happening more frequently than many expected.

The first year head coach for the Crimson Tide who came over from the Washington Huskies took over for the greatest coach of all time in Nick Saban. Given the high expectations, many expected the Tide to drop off. And although no games have been played yet with DeBoer on the sidelines, what he has done in the offseason so far contradicts any type of expected drop off.

This past week, DeBoer made more headlines with some recent happenings in relation to the Tide football program.

What is the latest news for the Alabama Crimson Tide?

Caleb Cunningham and Ty Haywood commit: Haywood and Cunningham have each committed this weekend and give the Tide their fifth five star of the 2025 class. A few weeks ago, the Tide had zero five stars. This swift increase to four in only a few weeks’ time shows that DeBoer has a plan and he is not panicking.

Recruits can sense when a coach is begging in a way. And the fact that DeBoer has pulled in Cunningham and Haywood along with other five star commits Dijon Lee and Justin Hill before him shows that he is staying even keel, and it is having a positive impact on recruiting.

Keelon Russell receives fifth star: Only a few months ago, quarterback Keelon Russell’s recruitment had done everything but take off. The now five star quarterback was a four star at the time and verbally committed to the SMU Mustangs. That is when his SEC recruitment began, and has since skyrocketed.

The verbal commitment to the Tide gained his fifth star recently in On3’s recruitment rankings, technically being the fourth five star for the Tide.

Alabama's recruiting class ranking soars: Due to Russell, Williams and the other slue of Alabama commits recently, the Tide not only closed the gap on Ohio State, but overtook them. The Tide were about .4 points behind the Buckeyes in the On3 rankings as of yesterday for the top spot, but now are a whole point above.

Alabama fans are some of the most savvy in college football and have not failed to notice. They are well aware of the significance of their rise in the recruiting rankings means for their program. Despite DeBoer not having coached a game yet, this is definitely a positive sign.

That may not seem like much, but considering that it is DeBoer’s first year at the school, any sign of incremental improvement is a positive, because the opposite could just as easily be happening as it does for many coaches in his position.