On the Wednesday before the Iron Bowl, Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer faced one in-person question at Baumhower's Victory Grille.
Jack, a seventh-grade athlete, stepped up to the microphone during the "Hey Coach" radio show and relayed a question seventh-graders across the country have at the front of their minds.
"I want to know some things (that) I should be focusing on right now," he asked.
Succinctly: How can I get the attention of the Alabama staff as a recruit?
This is the path DeBoer gave Jack: Play as many sports as possible, be active, developing hand-eye coordination and movement skills. And while there is training depending on how serious the player wants to play at the next level, simply playing football in the backyard can develop skills that could help in the long run.
But Crimson Tide Sports Network host Christ Stewart quickly added another.
"And grow," Stewart said.
"Grow," DeBoer echoed. "Eat well."
Easy enough, right?
Alabama produced 10 top-ranked recruiting classes in the Nick Saban era, per 247Sports' composite rankings. DeBoer is expected to maintain that standard this week with the arrival of the early signing period. The Crimson Tide has the second-ranked class in the country in DeBoer's first year in Tuscaloosa.
What do DeBoer and his staff look for in evaluating recruits? Prospects have parameters to meet if they want to fit the Alabama puzzle, ones that separate athletes before the relationships even begin.
And it's not simply those that play football in the backyard.
"We're trying to find the best people and the best players in the United States of America," Alabama co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist said.
Here's a look at what Alabama coaches seek at each position grouping in assembling a signing class.
The job sounds simple.
In a quarterback, DeBoer wants an athlete who is going to "deliver the ball," one who gets the ball to the players around him efficiently.
"We're recruiting a lot of skill around him," DeBoer said. "That skill's got to be used."
But that is just a starting point.
DeBoer wants poise. He want someone to lead both vocally and by example, who knows what playing football at a high level is like. He wants a well-rounded athlete who can carry the load of headlining the future of the Crimson Tide offense.
On paper, it's what Alabama has in Texas five-star Keelon Russell, who is the Crimson Tide's highest-ranked quarterback commit since Bryce Young in 2020. DeBoer's staff flipped the SMU commit this past summer.
Russell looks the part, standing at 6-foot-3, 175 pounds. He's accurate, completing more than 70% of his passes in each of his two seasons as a starting quarterback at Duncanville High School, where he's thrown for 81 touchdowns in 26 games compared to five interceptions per MaxPreps. And he's won, leading Duncanville to a 6A Texas state championship in 2023 and on a path for another in 2024.
In what will be a defining signee in the DeBoer era, Russell seems to fit the mold.
When asked what he wants out of an all-around running back in the Alabama offense, Robert Gillespie turned the question around.
"Explain it to me," the Alabama running backs coach said. "You tell me what it is."
It's a running back who can block, one who can catch passes out of the backfield, one who can run between the tackles and over the tackles. Gillespie nodded.
"You hit those things on the head," Gillespie said. "I think you answered your own question."
It's what Alabama feels it has in Akylin Dear , a 6-1, 200-pound back out of Quitman, Mississippi, who the Crimson Tide flipped from Ole MIss, a prospect who is the second-ranked running back in the 2025 class. He averaged more than seven yards per carry, broke 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash and 4.4 seconds in the short shuttle, per 247Sports.
It's what Alabama feels it has in Jace Clarizio , a 6-foot, 190-pound back out of East Lansing, Michigan, who averaged 8.4 yards per carry with scored 18 touchdowns as a junior at East Lansing High School, per MaxPreps.
It's what Gillespie expects of current running backs Justice Haynes and Jam Miller . It's what will be expected from Dear and Clarizio when they arrive.
To fit DeBoer's offensive system, Alabama doesn't need a cookie-cutter wide receiver.
JaMarcus Shephard has developed all shapes and sizes from the extremes of Rondale Moore at Purdue and Rome Odunze at Washington to current UA freshman Ryan Williams .
But there is one thing that separates Alabama wide receiver prospects from the rest. It's something Shephard says is incredibly hard to teach.
"To me, it's about can you learn? How well do you learn? Can you make people miss?" Shephard said. "And those guys did that at a high level."
While Alabama could add another to its wide receiver room, the Crimson Tide has onecommitment who fits that bill: Lotzeir Brooks , a 5-9, 170-pound New Jersey four-star Alabama sees as its " Deebo Samuel ," one who is a play-making and dynamic tool who has set high school records with 4,543 career receiving yards and 66 receiving touchdowns.
Shephard saw it with Moore, Odunze and Williams. Brooks is next in line.
Bryan Ellis did not sugar-coat things.
"To me, there's five or six guys a year in the entire country that can play tight end at Alabama," the Alabama tight ends coach said.
Ellis seeks players with the size and strength to match up and block future first-round draft picks at defensive end each snap in the SEC, who can seamlessly transition between run-blocking and pass protection while showcasing enough athleticism to run routes and catch the football.
Marshall Pritchett and Kaleb Edwards fit the billing.
Both stand at 6-6. Pritchett, who flipped from North Carolina , is viewed more as a receiving-first threat at 225 pounds, serving as a red-zone target at Rabun Gap High School in Georgia. Edwards, at 240 pounds, is already built more as a blocker, but was a target in the passing game at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, California , with more than 2,000 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns since 2022.
With Pritchett and Edwards, Ellis believes Alabama has two of the five or six 2025 tight ends who meet his expectations.
To Chris Kapilovic , it really doesn't matter what Alabama's offensive line class looks like.
The Alabama offensive line coach has two incoming five stars in guard Michael Carroll and tackle Ty Haywood along with a 6-7, 290-pound, athletic tackle in Jackson Lloyd and players like tackles Micah DeBose or Mal Waldrep who fit the mold of a Crimson Tide offensive line prospect.
The jump to Alabama is never easy. There's nothing that can be done at the high school level to simulate what is expected when they play in the SEC.
What is Kapilovic looking for? An athletic lineman who can mentally handle challenges.
"You want them to be super confident when they come in here, and they can do it," Kapilovic said. "That's OK. But, again, it's like anything else in life that you do: People can tell you and prepare you for it. But until you actually do it, it's not real. And it's just part of the deal."
There is one test a defensive line recruit must pass to get Freddie Roach's attention.
"I always say, if they're not bigger than me," Roach said, "I don't want them."
For Roach, who played linebacker for the Crimson Tide from 2002-05, it's not solely about a player's current size or length, but "growth potential," the weight the player can put on once he gets to Tuscaloosa.
Athleticism is also key for Roach, who seeks prospects who can easily change direction even with the requisite size and length.
In 2025, Roach is also getting experience in two prospects. Interior lineman Steve Mboumoua ,a 6-4, 290-pounder who played high school football in Quebec and originally was a member of the Crimson Tide's 2024 class. He spent his freshman season playing at Southwest Mississippi Community College. Kevonte Henry , a 6-4, 220-pound defensive end, is a former Oklahoma signee who played his 2024 season for Cerritos College in California.
London Simmons , a 6-3, 295-pound interior lineman out of Flowood, Mississippi, finished his high school career with 67 tackles for loss and 34 sacks.
In terms of responsibilities for an Alabama linebacker, Christian Robinson has a long list.
It starts with size when facing current UA offensive linemen like Kadyn Proctor and Tyler Booker on a daily basis, and bringing a violence and tenacity to match up. It's an athleticism to play off the ball, to guard tight ends and running backs in man and zone coverage.
It's what Robinson tells players currently in his room: They have to be some of the most versatile players on the field. And that's what will get a linebacker to the NFL.
"We're trying to find guys that love the math and the scheme of football and don't just want to be, 'I just want to set edges,'" Robinson said. "That's great. But then they are going to pay you to run the field when you're playing at the next level. The guys that have historically done that here have been able to do that."
Robinson and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack have players for each spot in 2025, with four-stars Justin Hill and Abduall Sanders Jr. as the primary rushing linebackers at Wolf, four-star Luke Metz as a prototypical Will linebacker and Darrell "Duke" Johnson as the Mike linebacker with a chance to be a versatile weapon at multiple linebacker spots and even the nickel in pass coverage.
Linguist knows defensive backs come in all shapes and sizes. And there are numbers he could throw out, criteria he could say each recruit should meet.
But the thing that separates defensive backs whom Alabama covets from others is their competitive resolve, recruits who shine when things get difficult, who can match the production of past heralded DB rooms.
"We want to find capable guys that we feel can turn into high-level SEC players, draft pick-type players for us that we can continue the tradition of putting guys in the NFL and continue to hold trophies over our head," Linguist said.
Alabama's 2025 defensive back class is not one that is standard, highlighted by 6-4, 190-pound five-star athlete Dijon Lee , whom the Crimson Tide staff sees as its future boundary cornerback. Chuck McDonald , standing at nearly 6-1 and 190 pounds, is more of a prototypically-built corner who is the No. 64 player in the national rankings, while Ivan Taylor is the only committed safety at 6-foot, 174 pounds, built similarly to current strong safety Malachi Moore .
For Alabama kickers and punters, Alabama special teams senior analyst Jay Nunez is looking for attributes not everyone possesses.
For punters, it's all about hang time, expecting them to hit 4.5-to-4.6 seconds on each kick to "give you a chance" on punt coverage.
"This league is unforgiving," Nunez said. "You hit the wrong ball, you got someone who's going to make you look stupid really fast down there."
Alex Asparuhov , the Crimson Tide's three-star punter commit, landed 14 of 32 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line, per 247Sports, and averaged 43.5 yard per punt.
When scouting kickers, like Alabama commit Peter Notaro, Nunez said he looks at how fast the ball moves after a kick and its speed and height off the foot after four or five yards.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What do Kalen DeBoer, Alabama football want in recruits? Inside the process
