Kalen DeBoer shares early impressions of 5-star freshman QB Keelon Russell

Keelon Russell arrived at Alabama with all kinds of hype.

A splash commitment for Kalen DeBoer, The Duncanville (Texas) High School standout was graded the No. 2 recruit overall in the 2025 recruiting class on the 247Sports Composite. He enrolled at UA in January, and is now getting his first taste of Alabama football as the Crimson Tide have opened spring practice.

Following Monday’s first practice, DeBoer was asked how Russell compares to other freshmen QBs he has coached.

“He’s up there. He certainly is,” DeBoer told reporters. “He’s got a long ways to go because I think that’s the way he looks at it. He’s excited about what this growth’s going to be, even during this spring. But his ceiling and what he accomplished through what you can see on the high school film, he’s a pretty elite quarterback coming in as a high school senior, current freshman for us.”

DeBoer likes what he sees from Russell in the early going, and expects the young QB to benefit greatly from his first spring experience.

“He looks good right now. Strong. Moves around. He’s just a good all-around athlete,” DeBoer said of his new QB.

“The weight program for him, for any new guy, is going to be critical. It’s good to get that first phase under your belt. That’s why being an early enrollee is so important. Obviously now and through the spring, the reason — there’s multiple reasons, but one of the reasons why we go every other day and not back-to-back ever is just so we can get big days of lifting in, really, a minimum three times a week.”

Alabama fans will get a chance to see Russell in action during A-Day on April 12.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.