Why Alabama decided to sign 2 2026 quarterbacks

© Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Alabama football signed a pair of quarterbacks in the 2026 recruiting class on Wednesday.

Both Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa signed National Letters of Intent to play football at the University of Alabama. This comes after the Crimson Tide signed one quarterback in Keelon Russell during the 2025 cycle.

Every scholarship quarterback on the Crimson Tide’s roster has eligibility remaining, raising questions about DeBoer and his staff’s strategy to add two signal callers in this class.

“You just don’t know what the future is,” DeBoer said on Wednesday after both quarterbacks signed. “You always wanted to have five. I always felt like you recruit one every year. You will probably lose one and you still have four, worst-case scenario. I think that’s obviously tougher and tougher. We had a great situation a year ago. This year we got three on scholarship. I think it was we found the right guys. Between Jett and Tayden, just love what they bring, arm talent, winning mentality, just go-getters. It was important for us. They both knew each other was coming. We were very transparent with that. I love that. I love that they’re open to competition.”

Kaawa and Thomalla are both coming off of state championship seasons.