Alabama built the country’s best recruiting class and then added more.
With 25 players already signed on Wednesday’s national signing day, the Crimson Tide received two more letters of intent: from Camar Wheaton, a five-star running back, and four-star safety Terrion Arnold, who was previously undefeated.
According to 247 Sports’ rating, the incoming class in modern history is the highest rated.
“For the most part, we were able to achieve what we wanted to achieve with this site class,” Nick Saban said.
Time will tell whether the class is the best of Saban. At the moment, performance on the field is important, and the credentials of the 2017 group of the school will be difficult.
But with 14 members of the class already enrolled and another 13 in the summer, what can we then take away from the 27 total players that make up the 2021 signing class?
The rich get richer: Is the historically dominant yard class of Alabama a problem for college football as a whole? This is a complex question in which one’s opinion is largely formed as to whether he is a fan of the school or not. But from a macro perspective, the years-long debate over whether Alabama’s continued success is good for the sport will certainly be fueled after Wednesday’s signing day.
The topic was at the center a month ago, but outside of the games themselves, much of the national conversation surrounding the College Football Playoff was about the redundancy of competing schools and the centralization of power at the top. The television audience for Alabama’s national championship victory over the state of Ohio was the smallest of the playoffs, leading to more talk of ‘Alabama fatigue’ and the dominance of some schools.
The incredible recruitment opportunity of the Tide may just raise the question of how, or if, the playing field in college football can be leveled to prevent a lack of interest among fans outside of some regions.
During an interview with Rivals.com on Wednesday, Saban was asked last month about a USA Today story that investigated the dissolution of Alabama’s monopoly. With the suggested idea that he should retire, Saban smiles, shakes his head and laughs before answering the question of whether winning has become ‘too easy’ for him.
“It’s not easy,” Saban replied. “It’s never easy.”
Saban also insisted that building up the country’s top classes for recruitment is also not as simple as asking players to come. “We do not choose guys. There is a lot of competition in recruiting people against whom we are recruiting – whether it is USC, Texas, Georgia, Florida, LSU, good programs in our league and across the country – they also all have a lot to offer. ”
The success of LSU in 2019 can be used as proof that the system has not been broken. The Tigers went undefeated, knocking down Alabama and winning a national championship with a quarterback, Joe Burrow, who was the 280th player in his yard class. Alabama won a title with the 399th player, Mac Jones, out of his class. Having a class full of five-star talents is no guarantee of success, and year after year, different programs can win.
However, the eye roll over another gilded Alabama yard class will continue, and it is in the best interest of the sport that it does not turn into apathy from fans.
2. Immediate impact on recipient: Saban made it clear after the early signing of the day that Alabama needed to replenish a wide player after losing his four top players to the NFL in draft last year and this year. The Tide made its mark with the signing of three of the top six and four of the top 10 receivers, as judged by 247 Sports. The four extensions – Jacorey Brooks, Agiye Hall, JoJo Earle and Christian Leary – could all have a chance to play as freshmen, which Saban apparently emphasized on Wednesday.
“I use the example many times when we played Georgia in the national championship game,” he said. ‘[DeVonta Smith] the touch succeeds; he was a first-year student. [Henry] Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy were both in there. [Alex] Leatherwood played left tackle, Najee [Harris] was playing fullback and Tua [Tagovailoa] played quarter. So there will be a lot of opportunities in a lot of positions, but especially at a wide receiver for these guys to make a contribution. ‘
3. Quarterback should not be overlooked: This spring and summer will focus all eyes on the upcoming second quarterback Bryce Young, a five-star recruiter in last year’s class. But early first-year writer Jalen Milroe is more than just a throw-in for the 2021 class. “We already had Jalen in the camp when he liked a lot of his skills,” Saban said. “He’s really athletic. He is really accurate as a passerby. He has a strong arm. He has a good attitude about himself as a leader and a great personality that I think people can follow. And we’m excited to have him here. He was according to us one of the best guys in the country, and we were very happy to get him here. ”
As you would expect, Saban referred to the competition at quarter, and while Young is the best favorite to start in 2021, Milroe can also see the field. The fact that both Tagovailoa and Jones appear as a high-end NFL draft from the 2017 class is a reminder of that.
4. Basketball aspirations for two: Two of his players, Ga’Quincy McKinstry, and the newly signed Tallahassee, Florida safety Terrion Arnold, also want to play basketball. McKinstry, an early entrant, had already joined the basketball team for practice and was on the bench during matches, although he was not uniformed. Coach Nate Oats discussed the benefits of being able to play next season, as well as the challenges he has had due to football due to his time. Saban also discussed the topic on Wednesday.
“I told players they could play other sports,” he said. ‘We’re good at what they have to do what they have to do in football when they’s freshmen, so they learn the ropes. We’ve already let guys walk here, several guys. We do not have problems with guys who do other sports. [Keith] Holcombe played baseball. And I had several guys in Michigan State who played basketball, tried to play basketball, and tried to do both.
‘I’m happy with these guys, and Coach Oats and I have a good understanding of how we try to do that. It’s a little harder to play basketball because the seasons run a little more together, but if guys here can contribute to our basketball program, I’m totally for it. And we’re going to do anything to help them develop as footballers, and if they do not have football responsibilities, they can definitely go and play basketball. If they can contribute to our team, I will be happy for them and happy for our basketball program. ”
Hawer visited Arnold on Wednesday night.
“He’s tough. [Assistant] Coach [Bryan] “Hodgson recruited him hard,” Oats said after a win over LSU. ‘He and Kool-Aid [McKinstry] are both guys who can both play [sports]. We worked with football to recruit him. He’s a tough, dirty point guard type who can get in the ball. We like him. Shoot, I faced him this afternoon. Excited to bring him in. ”
5. Any weakness in the class? Alabama added two five-star offensive lineouts in this class, along with a five-star full-back, edge rusher, defensive line, cornerback and wide receiver. It sharpened many other places with four-star players judging the country’s best. But the one position where the program has been digging deeper into the talent pool lately has been close point.
Alabama named Robbie Ouzts, 31st place out of 247 Sports, in this class. Last year’s class included a tighthead prop, Caden Clark, who was the 20th player in his position. Clark is dressed in gray due to injury and will join the team this year. The three-star outlook may be better than expected, but the position has the potential to be a thinner group outside of promising junior Jahleel Billingsley.
Part of the issue with recruiting a leading high school in the country is presumably that Alabama’s offense has evolved to focus heavily on wide receivers eating up targets in the passing game. The statistical output at the position has declined since the days of Irv Smith and OJ Howard, the latter being a five-star recruit in 2013.
Alabama dropped into the transfer portal last year, adding Carl Tucker in an effort to boost tighthead strength, but he was not a factor last season. Instead, the Tide used offensive linebacker Kendall Randolph at the tight end to provide a blocking presence while leaning on Billingsley and the now-deceased Miller Forristall in the passing game.
When Alabama’s new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien last played for the New England Patriots in 2011, his second and third leading receivers during a Super Bowl series were Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. This season, O’Brien wants to rely more on a wide reception room with some of the country’s best fellow talent.
Mike Rodak is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.