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Kalen DeBoer will need to do a lot of roster retooling ahead of his first season at Alabama.
Numerous Alabama players have hit the transfer portal in the days following Nick Saban’s retirement last week. Five-star freshmen Caleb Downs and Kadyn Proctor became the latest Crimson Tide players to enter the transfer portal on Wednesday. Downs started right away at safety and led the team in tackles in 2023 while Proctor started at left tackle.
Those two players were seen as building blocks for the first two seasons of DeBoer’s tenure. Instead, they could go play in their home states (Georgia for Downs, Iowa for Proctor) and leave massive holes on the Alabama roster.
Some turnover was inevitable in the wake of Saban’s surprise retirement. The seven-time national champion coach kept the possibility of retirement a secret until word trickled out on Jan. 10 that Saban was stepping down after 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide.
Saban is one of the greatest recruiters of all-time. He immediately brought five-star talent back to Tuscaloosa in droves after he replaced Mike Shula and sustained top-five recruiting classes throughout his time as coach. Before he retired, Saban secured the No. 3 recruiting class in the country according to Rivals as Alabama signed one five-star recruit and 18 four-star recruits in the class of 2024.
New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer at his introductory news conference. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
DeBoer hasn’t had that recruiting success — yet. Fresno State isn’t exactly a recruiting hotbed and he spent just two seasons as Washington’s head coach before getting the Alabama job. But DeBoer’s teams almost always win. The Huskies were 25-3 in his two seasons with the team and his teams are 104-12 overall when counting his 67-3 record at NAIA Sioux Falls from 2005-09.
It’s fair to believe that it’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/alabamas-transfer-exodus-brings-harsh-new-reality-to-tuscaloosa-after-nick-sabans-retirement-155517091.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-01-18 15:55:17
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