Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer didn't come out of the January transfer portal window, which lasted from January 2 to January 16, as a big winner. In fact, his performance left more questions than answered.
The question Saturday Down South's Spenser Davis has is an ode to Marvin Gaye and 4 Non Blondes: "What is going on?"
Simply put, it's been that much of a head-scratching haul for DeBoer going into what should be a make-or-break year for a tenure in Tuscaloosa that already feels broken.
A wonderful silver lining for Auburn Tigers fans who also saw most of their top talent jump ship: Cam Coleman chose Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns over becoming a supervillain in East Central Alabama for being a turncoat.
The true damage done to Alabama was losing EDGE Jordan Renaud to the Ole Miss Rebels, WR Isaiah Horton and OT Wilkin Formby to the Texas A&M Aggies, EDGE Keon Keeley to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and EDGE Qua Russaw to the Ohio State Buckeyes, though, as Davis points out.
"It’s been a rough transfer portal period for Alabama so far. Perhaps Kalen DeBoer and his staff are on the cusp of some big acquisitions, but it’s been a very mixed bag in Tuscaloosa over the past couple of weeks," Davis prefaced before saying, "Alabama has lost a lot in the portal. Here’s a list of 4-star transfers (per 247Sports) who have left Alabama for another SEC program or a top-level team such as Ohio State or Notre Dame: Jordan Renaud, Isaiah Horton, James Smith, Qua Russaw, Keon Keeley and Wilkin Formby. That should be alarming for Alabama fans. For context, Alabama’s 2025 outgoing portal class only had a few players who met that criteria.
"As for incomings, Alabama’s efforts have produced underwhelming results. The Tide had a high-profile miss with Cam Coleman, who ended up signing with Texas. Alabama also had running back Hollywood Smothers committed for multiple days before he ended up flipping to the Longhorns as well."
Davis's silver lining for the Tide was the program's 2026 High School Football class. The mere mention of relying on freshmen is already a loss for Alabama's title hopes.
Look at the Indiana Hoosiers. Old wins in College Football. Not youth.
Is Kalen DeBoer cooked after meager transfer portal class?
No, DeBoer is not cooked just because his portal class didn't grade out well on paper. Alex Golesh isn't building Auburn via the top recruits at every position. Though, to be fair, he did a lot better than DeBoer.
Alabama can't win on talent in the rev-share era, but DeBoer isn't looking to do that. He isn't looking to win with a culture of relentlessness, as the team used to under Nick Saban. DeBoer is looking to win with his schemes, with handpicked talent doing it his way.
Maybe that works. It's not like his Washington Huskies had the most talented roster en route to a CFP national championship game appearance just two years ago.
Every early return on the DeBoer era in West Central Alabama is that it's not working, and probably won't work, though. Their January portal window performance only affirms that belief.