Roll out the red carpet. Tuscaloosa will once again look like the good ol’ Nick Saban days. We’re officially a hair’s breadth away from the busiest weekend in the recruiting calendar in Alabama. The official visit weekend. As the season marks its first-ever everything without Nick Saban, including the official visit week, all eyes are on Kalen DeBoer. As the anticipation further builds to see how the 13 official visitors’ visit will turn out, Andrew Ivins and Tom Loy of ‘Football Recruiting Podcast’ have given the initial thumbs up to Kalen DeBoer and Co.
Actually, it’s much more than just a thumbs-up. Loy gave DeBoer’s official visit recruit list a full-fledged comparison with Nick Saban. “I look at the expected visitor’s list of the Crimson Tide and I’ll be honest, this is the first time that we’ve been like, ‘Oh okay, this is the Alabama recruiting we saw old’,” Ivins said. Picking up the cue, Loy agreed, just pushing it to another level, the Nick Saban era. “This gives vibes of the Nick Saban Alabama recruiting weekends,” Loy said.
“This is the Alabama recruiting we saw of old.” – @Andrew_Ivins
“This gives vibes of the Nick Saban Alabama recruiting weekends.” — @TomLoy247
🗣️ Ivins and Loy break down a star-studded visitor list at Alabama this upcoming weekend 👀 @Bama_247 pic.twitter.com/fRf22ki0tT
— 247Sports (@247Sports) May 28, 2024
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Set to kick off on May 31st, Tuscaloosa will welcome some of the Nation’s finest football talents. Kalen DeBoer and Co. would target the best four and five-star players across conferences, hoping to lure the best ones in. QBs is a position that Alabama is expected to focus highly on. SMU QB commit, Keelon Russell, is one such 4-star recruit that the Crimson Tide have set their eyes on. Expected to be one of the top ones on Bama’s list, the Duncanville, TX prospect has a player rating of 94 by 247 Sports. Per ESPN, Russell is the #1 QB.
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Along with him, there are quite some QB prospects that Alabama is expected to lure in. The top QB prospects across the country, Bryce Underwood and Julian Lewis are also to visit. Both being 5-star recruits are the hot shots this season. However, the competition for these two would be a task for Alabama since there is a long train of schools chasing after Underwood and Lewis. While both of these would be a risky bet, there is another one with Keelon Russell for Alabama has high expectations.
Can Kalen DeBoer lure KJ Lacey back?
The Saraland AL QB is a four-star prospect recently reclassified to the class of 2025. Before his reclassification, Lacey’s name was always associated with Alabama. However, after reclassification, Lacey has committed to Texas.
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However, Lacey unfolded some major action with Alabama 5-star WR commit Ryan Williams,who was earlier a Texas commit as well. This makes the possibility even more possibility of making Lacey flip even more realistic.
Even though Lacey has not visited Alabama since 2023, rumor has it that Lacey will flip to Alabama. The prospects are lines. Now all that is left to be said and done is Kalen DeBoer poaching as many A-Line players, most probably a QB, for the 2025 season.