The Alabama Crimson Tide were recruiting juggernauts when they had Nick Saban running the program for the better part of two decades. But now that Kalen DeBoer is in town, that may no longer be the case.
Once upon a time, the Alabama football program was able to get just about every high-profile recruit in the Southeast. Especially if they were born and raised in the state of Alabama like five-star edge rusher Anthony “Tank” Jones is.
Jones, the No. 27 ranked recruit in the 2026 high school class, is the top-ranked recruit in the state of Alabama. So, naturally, most would assume that this would be a recruit that Alabama would certainly be able to get.
But unfortunately for Alabama football fans, that did not end up being the case. Jones made his commitment on national television on Thursday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, shocking everyone by instead opting to play for Dan Manning at the University of Oregon.
#1 composite player in Alabama
🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆 pic.twitter.com/GLtNOdAGO8— ☘️LegalizeQuack☘️ (@Legalize_Quack) July 31, 2025
Not being able to get a hometown recruit like Jones certainly isn’t the best look for DeBoer and the state of the Alabama program as a whole. And understandably, many in the college football landscape were incredibly shocked by this decision.
Bama need Saban back. Can’t pull a hometown kid wow
— BAV (@NYJ4LIFE35) July 31, 2025
This why Saban quit lmfao 😭😭 https://t.co/U8ijLMyQyq
— CFB SZN (@CFB_SZN) July 31, 2025
@KalenDeBoer problems in @AlabamaFTBL ?
— whatever douchebag (@notsureigetthis) July 31, 2025
Oregon has now landed commitments from the No. 1 recruit in Alabama in back-to-back cycles.
2025: 5-star+ plus Birmingham (Ala.) Parker CB Na’eem Offord
2026: Rivals Industry 5-star Mobile (Ala.) St. Paul’s Episcopal EDGE Anthony ‘Tank’ Jones pic.twitter.com/AphqyQxTBf— Max Torres (@mtorressports) July 31, 2025
To be fair to Kalen DeBoer, Alabama is ranked at No. 6 in ESPN’s 2026 class rankings. So it’s not like the sky is falling for the Alabama program as a whole. But clearly, missing on a hometown kid this highly ranked is undoubtedly one of the biggest whiffs in recruiting in recent memory for the Alabama football program.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.