Grading Kalen DeBoer’s First Year at Alabama
Published January 9, 2025 - 9:05 AM CST
This Sunday will mark the first anniversary of Kalen DeBoer’s tenure as Alabama’s head football coach. It has been an incredibly eventful first season filled with extreme highs and lows. When you take a step back and put the season in perspective, you really have to appreciate how emotional a roller coaster it was.
After Ryan William’s late-game heroics propelled Alabama to a massive, early-season victory over Georgia, DeBoer’s squad rose to #1 in the polls for the first time since Alabama lost in Knoxville to Tennessee on October 15, 2022. This feat started what I hope is another long run of seasons where Alabama reaches #1 at some point. Starting with his second season (2008), Nick Saban accomplished this feat for an impossible 15 consecutive seasons before failing to reach #1 during his final season (2023).
Grade after Georgia: A
Just a week after beating Georgia and receiving everyone’s praises, Alabama plummeted back to earth against an upstart Vanderbilt program that had no business beating Alabama. The “Saban would never” takes came, and DeBoer caught the scorn of fans, alumni, and former players around the country. After struggling to put away South Carolina, Alabama fell on the road at Tennessee in a game that many fans probably felt Alabama should have won. The defense shut out the Vols in the first half, but could not get out of its own way to the tune of 15 penalties. Despite another tough loss, most observers knew that Alabama could still make the playoffs if it won out and finished the regular season 10-2. How many people believed that would happen is another story.
Grade through October: C-
After a big shutout win over a struggling Missouri squad, Alabama entered Death Valley in a de facto playoff elimination against LSU. Largely seen as a tossup and a gut-check for DeBoer’s squad, Alabama demolished LSU 42-13. That score was misleading because Alabama led 42-6 up until the final seconds of the game. After that game, the narrative on Alabama turned, and many felt that Alabama would win out and play for the SEC Championship. After going from the ultimate high to the lowest of lows, Alabama was seemingly back on top of the college football world and gearing up for another championship run under a different coach. It looked like Alabama football again.
Grade after LSU: A-
Then just two weeks later in Norman, everything changed. Given a chance by no one credible, Oklahoma stunned Alabama 24-3 (24-10?). Jalen Milroe played his worst game of the season just two weeks after some pundits had him near the top of their NFL draft board. And just like that, Alabama had once again gone from the penthouse of college football to its outhouse.
Grade after Oklahoma: D
Phew. What a season. At two different times during the season, it felt like Alabama could beat anyone in the country. And, at two different times in the season, it felt like Alabama was a 6-6 team that could lose to anyone. We remember the extreme that happened most recently. Remember when Ohio State lost to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl after most of its key players opted out? Neither does anyone else. It makes for good offseason content to pile onto a team that finishes the season poorly, which is exactly how Alabama ended things against Michigan, but does it really carry over to the next season? No.
Final Grade: B
How in the world can you give that man a B?
There’s one thing I have yet to mention in all of this: RECRUITING. And it’s not just the 2025 class rankings that DeBoer has had Alabama at the top of since last spring. It’s also in the transfer portal where he’s picked up many pieces in each of his two offseasons at Alabama. Most importantly, it’s how Kalen DeBoer RETAINED the core nucleus of this roster after Nick Saban abruptly retired. DeBoer has done such a good job keeping this team together that I believe we take it for granted. Want to see how bad things could be? Look no further than how one of the other “front-runners” for the job is doing, Mike Norvell and Florida State. Many people picked Florida State to grab a first-round bye, yet somehow they finished 2-10 in the ACC. Yes, in the ACC. This transfer portal game can be a brutal one.
Does this not look like a Saban class? Source: 247 Sports
These are the only two scenarios where I could give Kalen DeBoer any grade below a C:
He would have to lose at least 5 games in the regular season and fall out of playoff contention by October. This clearly didn’t happen.
Players would have to leave via the portal without being replaced by someone just as capable through either the portal or recruiting. Clearly, this isn’t the case either.
If you want to give DeBoer a C for losing to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, I have no issues with that. However, to give him a failing grade after just hitting the one-year mark of following the GOAT in an era where ANY player on your roster can quit on ANY day of the week is complete nonsense. You have to take a step back and put things in perspective. Did you know Alabama only played two teams that failed to reach the postseason in 2024? Wisconsin (5-7) and Auburn (5-7). Those aren’t exactly the yummiest rat poison cupcakes ever, are they?
Heading into the offseason, I prefer to focus on the positives: DeBoer is getting key pieces out of the transfer portal to fill needs. He has signed a top-three HS recruiting class. As well, he finished his first season undefeated at Bryant-Denny Stadium and had a 4-1 record against top 25 teams. To top it off, he beat Little Brother in one of the least dramatic Iron Bowl games of this century. Even the GOAT himself failed to do that in his first season.
