Alabama has been at the top of the college football world for the past 12 years, and their success is clearly related directly to recruiting.
The Tide have had the top recruiting class in the nation for five of the last six years, according to CBS Sports recruiting rankings.
It should be noted that there are now two separate days to sign recruits in the 2020-2021 class, and the next one isn’t until February. However, the majority of top recruits have now signed their letter to go play for their respective universities during the early signing period.
Tide head coach Nick Saban is known as one of the best recruiters of all, but the recruiting trail has gotten a lot easier through the years with results to show recruits.
Saban can tell young players that they will have a chance to play for and win titles. In addition to rings, former Tide players are maybe the easiest way to sell recruits on Bama. The Bama factor(y) is a real thing. Saban and his staff are known for turning players into NFL caliber talent, and that is the ultimate goal for a young player.
Bama can show a defensive back what Minkah Fitzpatrick and Mark Barron have done in the NFL. Or, Bama can show a running back prospect video of Derrick Henry being a star for the Tennessee Titans. Now, thanks to Tua Tagovailoa, Saban and his staff can point to a rising star NFL quarterback.
There are countless other position players in the league that are successful and from the University of Alabama, and that is how a program can keep getting top recruiting classes year after year.
According to Saban, it took a little bit of extra work to sign this premier class.
“This is the fourth year of the early signing period. It’s probably a little more challenging this year than most years because of the absence of being able to have contact,” said Saban during a video conference regarding his signing class. “A lot of people did a really good job. You know, we recruit as a team here at Alabama. We get a lot of support in the University community and we get a lot of support in every area of our program.”
This class is special in and of itself. Offensive line is hardly a need for Bama this year with 13 underclassmen at the position. Yet, for Saban, it is always a need to have the next great lineman there to step in if someone goes down. Not just that, but at Alabama, you know your time will come eventually. You just have to trust the “process.”
In the 2020 season so far, we saw how a dominant line at Bama can be the difference in a season. That shouldn’t change with the Tide bringing in JC Latham from Florida and Tommy Brockermeyer out of Texas, because they are the top line two recruits in the country.
Starting out his Wednesday press conference, Saban stated, “We identified the needs that we had in this class early on. I think we got some really good players at each one of those positions, and we are really pleased to have this group of players become a part of our program and a part of our team.”
That was evident on the line, but other positions were necessary.
Defense wins championships though, right? Alabama also landed the number one weakside defensive end Dallas Turner and the top cornerback prospect Ga’Quincy McKinstry from Pinson.
Saban and his staff have signed 24 total recruits so far in the early signing period and will most likely keep the top spot even after February’s signing day.
Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: hayden@new-yhn.local or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.
