Kalen DeBoer responds to those doubting Alabama football’s current recruiting strategy

Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer looks on against the Michigan Wolverines during the first half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Alabama football’s head coach Kalen DeBoer once again explained why the Crimson Tide is taking a smaller 2027 recruiting class during an appearance on the “Martin Houston Show” on Thursday.

DeBoer feels a young Alabama roster ahead of the 2026 season has given the Tide the luxury of choosing to go with a smaller class.

“We’re just continuing to push, and we have to do things to make decisions, and sometimes they’re not popular as far as, like, just having to go a certain route with things,” DeBoer said. “But you take what you have, and you maximize it. I guess probably the recruiting piece that you brought up earlier, I just think about if we were just loading up with a whole new freshman class, someone’s got to leave, and all these guys that we’ve invested time in. There’s gonna be attrition. You got to plan for that, and there are going to be guys that just are getting beat out, and they want to go find a place.”

“Now, I think that’s what  the college experience is all about. That’s why I’ll never say I regret my NAIA days. I mean, it was the best because I got a chance to play. I mean, I would have loved to walk out of Bryant-Denny Stadium. That would have been amazing… We want to keep developing these guys, keep working for what we have and hopefully, our retention is what it is, to where you get these older teams at some point, you get these guys that have played a lot of snaps, not just a lot of snaps, but a lot of snaps together.”

DeBoer went on to say he remains confident in his staff’s ability to recruit.

“I’d love to take them all,  and I feel like we have the staff that has the ability,” DeBoer said. “We’ve shown that the last couple of years that we can recruit with the best of them. That our program is as attractive as any. We were coming off a playoff run this year, and so recruiting off of that is really easier than what we did the year before, where there was second-guessing and questionable things like that and we’re just continuing to pave our way and, just continuing to keep focused on ourselves.”

Alabama currently has commitments from 11 2027 commits. This number is expected to rise before this week ends.