Alabama QB Keelon Russell Achieves Major Recruiting Accolade

Alabama Crimson Tide freshman quarterback Keelon Russell has been on campus for nearly a month and now heads into the spring with a distinct recruiting honor.

247 Sports released their final batch of rankings for the 2025 recruiting class last week and Russell finished the cycle as the No. 1 ranked player in the service's composite rankings. With a composite score of 0.9998, the Duncanville, TX, native is now Alabama's highest ranked player in program history.

This honor only adds fuel to the hype surrounding Russell heading into the 2025 campaign, as he will compete with returning veterans Ty Simpson and Austin Mack for the starting job over the next several months. The Gatorade National Football Player of the Year carved out a nice legacy for himself in high school, leading Duncanville to a state championship as a junior before a strong senior season where he threw for over 4,000 yards and 55 touchdowns.

For clarity, the 247 composite score is a metric used by 247 that combines its own rankings along with rankings from ESPN and Rivals to gauge how the industry at large rates a prospect. For instance, 247 still has Russell ranked No. 2 behind Michigan's Bryce Underwood in its individual rankings, but the combined score of the other services vaults him to the top spot in the composite.

Russell claiming the Crimson Tide's top composite score is impressive considering the who's who of elite high school prospects turned future stars that have come to Tuscaloosa over the years. The names he beat out in the top five includes Bryce Young (0.9994), Andre Smith (0.9994), Cyrus Kouandijo (0.9993), and Julio Jones (0.9992), all of whom would go on to claim All-American status during their respective collegiate careers.

That is certainly a good omen for the freshman QB and head coach Kalen DeBoer as he continues to put his fingerprints on the program. Only time will tell how soon Russell will actually see the field.