Kalen DeBoer is forging his own path at Alabama with quiet confidence after replacing Saban.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Kalen DeBoer’s plane hadn’t even landed in Tuscaloosa when he approached Alabama’s top recruit.

It was a Friday night in January, after DeBoer’s whirlwind courtship to become the successor to Nick Saban, a seven-time national champion and tireless recruiter. DeBoer was on the air when he called coveted wide receiver Ryan Williams, who had decommitted from the Crimson Tide after Saban retired.

Twelve days after that call, Williams recommitted to Alabama, where he hopes to make an immediate impact as a freshman.

It didn’t hurt that Jeff Kelly and Williams (his star player, a top-five prospect nationally) were watching together as DeBoer’s high-powered Washington offense outlasted Texas in the College Football Playoff when two Huskies receivers topped 120 yards.

“I really thought Ryan was going to go somewhere else,” recalled Kelly, Williams’ coach at Saraland High School in suburban Mobile. “He took a couple of official visits and then went and spent the weekend (in Tuscaloosa). He really came back with a great deal of confidence and a feeling of being a guy I could play with.

“When he came back from that visit, I think he knew that this was the place for him. It felt like home.”

Different but effective

Saban was a serious, larger-than-life figure as he walked into high schools and recruits’ living rooms, drawing attention and top prospects like a magnet.

DeBoer is more low-key, affable and calm. He shows no signs of feeling the pressure that comes with replacing a coach who won seven national championships (including one at LSU) with deep, talented teams year after year.

“He’s just one of the guys. He’s personable,” Mark Freeman, coach at Thompson High School in suburban Birmingham, said of DeBoer. “Coach has a lot to offer. I think he does a great job of hiding his stress points and some of the struggles he has with the job. He hides them.”

Saban built his program on the recruiting trail, accumulating top-tier prospects and future high NFL draft picks from Julio Jones to Tua Tagovailoa to Bryce Young, the Tide’s fourth Heisman Trophy winner under Saban and in history.

Saban, a fiercely intense and sometimes glowering force on the sidelines, was as effective as any coach in living rooms and high schools across the Southeast and beyond.

“When Coach Saban shows up on your campus, it’s kind of like what I imagined it was like when Elvis showed up back in the day,” Kelly said. “He had a huge presence, respect and following.”

DeBoer is still building that in Bama Country.

Replace a legend

The question comes up so often that it would no doubt have frustrated Saban: What is it like to be the man who replaces The Man?

Each time, DeBoer takes it in stride as if it were the first time he’s heard it.

“I totally get it. I understand there’s only one Coach Saban,” DeBoer said at SEC media days in July. “There will always be one Coach Saban. This program is special and I think I take it as a great honor to be the one to do everything I can to continue the tradition.”

Maybe it’s his nature to not be intimidated by such things. A lesson from his coach at Sioux Falls in South Dakota, Bob Young, also hit home for him. DeBoer said Young told him he started out as a young high school coach trying to be like his idol Vince Lombardi. He found that “you just have to be who you are” and find your own way to lead a team, the Alabama coach said.

“We’re all different, right? We all have our own way of leading a team,” said DeBoer, who noted that there are certain “non-negotiable elements,” such as discipline and commitment.

“I think a lot of those things are very similar,” DeBoer said. “They can just be done in different ways. Obviously, there’s a recipe for success with what Coach Saban did, which was outstanding, probably the best thing ever done. I just know there are different ways to do things and they can all be done well, they can all be effective.”

Quiet confidence

Ron McKeevery recalls being a member of the off-field staff at Eastern Michigan and sharing a two-bedroom house with then-offensive coordinator DeBoer (who was once an on-field opponent as players) and Ryan Grubbs.

Two rooms. Three residents. The highest-ranking DeBoer kept the living room, where he wrapped himself in a blanket and slept on the floor.

“He’s one of those guys who does things nine times before he asks you to do them even once,” said McKeevery, who remains DeBoer’s special assistant. “He’s going to be the hardest-working guy in the room. He grew up on a farm in South Dakota, so he’s been a model of the intensity and hard work it takes to win at a high level. But he balances that with compassion and humility.”

McKeevery says DeBoer is “100 percent the same guy” who happily gave up rooms to his colleagues.

“That’s probably the biggest thing about him, why he’s the perfect guy for the job,” McKeevery said. “He’s got the right balance of humility and reverence for a place like Alabama combined with a quiet confidence in his abilities and his knowledge of the game.

“The bright lights of SEC football won’t be too big for him, but he’ll be the same player I played against.”

Building a base

So far, DeBoer has built a 2025 recruiting class ranked No. 2 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Its biggest accomplishments have come outside the state, including the signing of Texas quarterback Keelon Russell. Meanwhile, rival Auburn has landed commitments from eight of the state’s top 10 recruits for 2025.

Still, DeBoer got to work. Sarasota’s Kelly believes the new Alabama coach’s first call “was probably on his flight” to Tuscaloosa.

DeBoer general manager Courtney Morgan said the coach attended as many meetings as he could after his arrival. They quickly went to the state’s four largest cities — Montgomery, Mobile, Huntsville and Birmingham — and set up social gatherings on recruiting trips to meet as many coaches as possible.

DeBoer can’t be Saban and doesn’t put in the effort in recruiting or anything else. “It’s like Phil Jackson coming into a house,” Morgan said of Saban.

But unlike some of his previous coaching assignments, DeBoer now runs a program where he can recruit nationally. Combine that work ethic with the Bama logo, and “that’s where the magic happens,” Morgan said.

“I think Coach DeBoer is just who he really is as a person,” Morgan said, noting his boss’s sincerity. “That’s the number one characteristic that jumps out at everyone who meets him: how friendly and down-to-earth he is.”

Another coach who made a similar long-distance move, Boise State’s Bryan Harsin, had a tough time landing in-state recruits at Auburn. Freeman said he’s already met with DeBoer three times, three more than Harsin.

When Western Kentucky visits No. 5 Alabama on Aug. 31, the on-field comparisons to Saban will begin, too, though DeBoer is clearly already carving out his own niche, his own approach.

“Coach Saban is an iconic hero, particularly in our state. And I think Coach DeBoer will become that in some ways,” said Freeman, who is a longtime friend of Tide assistant and Saban player Freddie Roach. “There’s never been another Coach (Bear) Bryant, in my opinion.

“I don’t think there will be another coach Saban there, but that doesn’t mean Coach DeBoer doesn’t have the same place. Just different styles.”