Kalen DeBoer Gives Early Assessment of Transfer Portal Class

Alabama rounded up 19 players from the transfer portal. Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media at the Senior Bowl in Mobile Wednesday evening for the first time since the portal window closed and shared his thoughts on the transfer class.

"I feel we addressed some areas that we either needed going into the portal numbers wise, and I think there’s some areas we really strongly upgraded, so I’m excited about that," DeBoer said. "I’m excited not just about what the skillset of these guys are that are coming in, but also who they are as people and the character. We have some guys who whether they were voted team captain last year or probably we’re going to be, I think we got those type of guys in at multiple positions.

"I’m really looking forward to getting back on campus and seeing them operate. I’ve heard great things as far as how they fit in and how they’ve mixed in with our current roster, and that’s what you’re really trying to make sure of. Yeah we’ve got to have the skill, but we also gotta have the chemistry."

Offensive line was probaly Alabama's biggest position of need with the early departures of left tackle Kadyn Proctor and center Parker Brailsford to the NFL along with Kam Dewberry, Geno VanDeMark and Jaeden Roberts graduating, plus Wilkin Formby and several backups opting for the transfer portal. This left rising sophomore Michael Carroll as the only returning starter on the offensive line.

Of the 19 players that committed, six (Jayvin James, Ethan Fields, Nick Brooks, Racin Delgatty, Ty Haywood and Kaden Strayhorn) were offensive linemen.

"You know, offensive line, we needed some guys that could step in with five guys graduating— not all of them obviously were starters— a couple of guys that were leaving for the NFL with Parker and KP," DeBoer explained. "We needed the numbers, but we also needed the quality to put out on the field with the offensive line, so that was a heavy focus.”

Alabama re-bolstered its special teams with a transfer punter (Adam Watford), kicker (Lorcan Quinn) and long snapper (Ethan Stangle), while also filling in some holes on defense like Caleb Woodson at inside linebacker and Terrance Green from Oregon on the defensive line. Alabama lost a lot of depth in the wide receiver room and was able to add Noah Rogers from NC State at the position.

Filling a roster with transfers is now the norm with the current state of college football. Alabama didn't add any super flashy names but did meet a lot of needs and added some quality pieces.

Even DeBoer acknowledges, ultimately time will tell how good this portal class is. The offseason hasn't even really started yet, and we are still a few weeks away from spring football beginning.

"Can’t say we’ve batted 1.000 because I haven’t spent enough time with them," DeBoer said. "I really like the group we’ve brought in."

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