When administrators decide to spend millions of dollars to terminate a coach, from afar, it can look like a hastily-made process. That’s almost never the case. There are signs; you just have to be able to read them. Open your eyes and see what Kalen DeBoer is telling the world.
Remember when Mark Stoops started recruiting JUCO players last fall? At that point, it was clear he was not long for Kentucky. As much as the college landscape has changed, recruiting is still the lifeblood of an SEC football program. It’s a big reason why Dan Mullen got axed a year after playing in an SEC Championship Game, and it ultimately could cost DeBoer his job.
Kentucky fans are keeping a keen eye on this year’s recruiting rankings as Will Stein assembles a Top 25 class. Will it crack the Top 20? The more important question is, where does it rank in the SEC? You will find the Wildcats at No. 9. You have to continue scrolling to find the Crimson Tide.
Alabama has the nation’s No. 34 recruiting class, which is 13th in the SEC. Meanwhile, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida make up four of the top six.
Die-hard Rammer-Jammers expect Alabama to have the best of the best every single year. While that might be an unrealistic demand for Nick Saban’s successor, you should still see the Crimson Tide win over plenty of the big recruits from the state of Alabama. That’s not the case at all. The best of the best are all committed elsewhere.
That’s a bad, bad look. It’s even worse when you realize that guys like JaBarrius Garror and Jatori Williams were once committed to Alabama. Kentucky and Alabama’s 2027 recruiting classes have the same number of Top-200 players (2) and Top-15 players from the state of Alabama (1).
In the early days of the NIL game, Alabama was not a market leader. They did not win recruitments by dropping off bags of cash. Players took a Saban discount to play for the greatest head coach in the history of college football. They’re not taking a discount to play for DeBoer.
The last time we saw the Crimson Tide in action, Indiana was running them out of the Rose Bowl. That embarrassment is lingering. The shine is wearing off of Alabama’s decaying dynasty. Ahead of his third year in Tuscaloosa, it’s unclear how long DeBoer can keep the boat afloat.
REMINDER: Kalen DeBoer received a contract extension this offseason. He’ll earn $12.5 million annually, with a buyout of 10 million through Jan. 31, 2027. It decreases by $2 million after each of the next two years.
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