A picture circulated on social media over the weekend of five-star defensive lineman and recent USC decommitment Justus Terry of Manchester (Ga.) High. He was standing next to first-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer during an official visit to Tuscaloosa. He was holding a Crimson Tide jersey.
On the wall behind Terry and DeBoer was a mural of Bryant-Denny Stadium and the wide assortment of national title trophies Alabama won during the Nick Saban era.
It’s DeBoer’s job to make sure Alabama stays the same Alabama that the mural depicts.
Five-Star Plus+ DL Justus Terry on his official visit to Alabama this weekend🐘
Terry, the nation's No. 7 prospect, decommitted from USC earlier this week.
(📸: 706jaay/IG)
Read: https://t.co/1Kp0DDWSZs pic.twitter.com/mShd8T3H2k
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) June 22, 2024
The picture with Terry was proof that DeBoer is doing everything in his power to meet the lofty expectations that come with replacing the greatest college football coach of all time — a feat weaker men may not even want to attempt.
When Saban shockingly retired at the end of the 2023 season, Alabama acted quickly and lured DeBoer from Washington a few days after he led the Huskies to the national title game.
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Hot coach, check. Offensive guru, check. Took a West Coast team to the national title game out of nowhere, check.
Track record of recruiting at an elite level? Umm.
I’m going to admit: The last part scared the heck out of me. Alabama is what it is because Saban was a genius, sure, but a large portion of that genius was being able to amass an incredible amount of elite talent from the high school ranks. Alabama basically signed the No. 1 overall class in the 247Sports Composite for almost a decade straight. Talent wins.
So while there was everything to love about DeBoer, it was a bit concerning that he had never signed a national top-100 player out of high school in his coaching career. Yes, he was at the Power 5 level for only two years, but hiring someone with no background of being a fierce recruiter to replace the greatest roster-builder of all time is terrifying. You also have to consider that his right-hand man, Courtney Morgan, is regarded as a talent evaluation guru who knows how to find a hidden gem, regardless of what the recruiting rankings say. That could have led to a “recruiting rankings be damned” mentality, which wouldn’t cut it at Alabama.
Got together with @MitchLight and @Manny_Navarro on today's Until Saturday and spoke about recruiting for over an hour. Felt good.
Listen here: https://t.co/8Gfly32e9B pic.twitter.com/MNJXzmAN5W
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) June 25, 2024
When DeBoer was hired, it was reasonable to question whether Alabama was going to start to overthink it, that it was going to attempt to recreate what Washington did and not just try to continue to do what made Alabama elite. Coaches tend to work off their own blueprint, not pick up another one.
We are, after all, only a few years removed from Alabama’s biggest rival hiring a coach who thought he was going to out-evaluate the rest of the SEC. Bryan Harsin, instead, drove Auburn into the ground and was fired before completing his second season. The Tigers are still trying to recover.
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But here we are, in late June, and it’s become abundantly clear that any fears that DeBoer wouldn’t get it were misguided. He clearly understands the job he has taken and knows he is going to have to sign top-100 players by the bunches to keep Alabama at the top of the sport.
That’s what Alabama is attempting to do. That’s what Alabama is going to do.
DeBoer got a massive recruiting win right out of the gate when he convinced five-star receiver Ryan Williams to sign with the Crimson Tide in the 2024 class after he decommitted following Saban’s retirement. That should have been everything we needed to know. But Alabama’s 2025 class currently ranks No. 2 nationally with 19 commitments, including seven who rank in the nation’s top 120.
Alabama could be on the verge of a major summer recruiting commitment wave, which reminds me of how things used to go with Saban. On Friday, five-star cornerback Dijon Lee of Mission Viejo (Calif.) High, the No. 22 overall player in the 2025 class, is expected to commit to the Crimson Tide. Alabama is also heavily involved with a group of five-stars in offensive tackle Ty Haywood of Denton (Texas) Ryan and wide receivers Caleb Cunningham of Ackerman (Miss.) Choctaw County and Kaliq Lockett of Sachse (Texas) High. There are several other top-100 prospects very interested in Alabama.
It would have been irrational to expect no drop-off in recruiting from Saban to DeBoer. Saban signed eight five-star prospects in a single class two years ago. The class DeBoer is assembling now has a chance to be great, but it still may not reach the Saban level.
That’s totally fine and expected.
But if Alabama signs a top-five class this year — and wins on the field, which is all but a certainty given its roster and DeBoer’s X’s and O’s proficiency — there could be a much smaller drop-off than anyone could have expected.
DeBoer has yet to coach a game at Alabama, but he’s already exceeding my expectations. And I was one of the people dumb enough to question whether he was a good fit for the job.
(Photo: Gary Cosby Jr. / Tuscaloosa News / USA Today Network)
