National Signing Day Recruiting Wrap-Up

On Wednesday morning, college football coaches across the country woke up to an exceptional day. It was National Signing Day. Some felt dread and some felt excitement. Yes, it was a special day for all indeed... except for one man. For Nick Saban, it was just another day - another day to dominate, another day to get better - just like he approaches every day. Instead of being happy with the top-ranked class in the nation, the Crimson Tide coach looked to improve his program. And improve he did.

Per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite Team Rankings, this Alabama Class of 2021 is now the highest-ranked recruiting class in history of such rankings. They surpass the previous high of the 2010 Florida Gators. It is the ninth top-ranked class in the last 11 recruiting cycles for Alabama.

Although the algorithm for the 247Sports composite is a guarded state secret, it is widely accepted as the most accurate ranking of recruits. Each prospect is graded up to a perfect 1.0000. Alabama is led by JC Latham who was given a score of 0.9990. Only Southern Cal’s Korey “Don’t Call Me Feldman” Foreman is ahead of him by 0.0004 for the top spot in the nation. The Tide AVERAGE is 0.95 per signee with 27 signees, which is nothing short of astonishing. Consider the fact that many programs will not have a single signee this year with a score higher than Alabama’s average.

This one’s a keeper.

ALABAMA CLASS OF 2021

Not only is this a talented class, but it is one of variety. This group could truly field a full team (minus kickers) with players at every position.

WR Jacorey Brooks
WR JoJo Earle
WR Agiye Hall
WR Christian Leary
LT JC Latham
LG Terrence Ferguson
OC James Brockermeyer
RG Jaeden Roberts
RT Tommy Brockermeyer
TE Robbie Ouzts
QB Jalen Milroe
RB Camar Wheaton

DE Dallas Turner
DT Tim Keenan
DT Damon Payne
DT Anquin Barnes
DE Monkell Goodwine
JACK Keanu Koht
MIKE Deontae Lawson
SAM Kendrick Blackshire
WILL Ian Jackson
CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry
FS Terrion Arnold
SS Kaine Williams
CB Khyree Jackson
NKL Kadarius Calloway
DIME Devonta Smith

If the freshmen all took a separate bus to a game and the other buses were delayed, you would have to still feel pretty good about their chances against most 2021 foes.

BAMA CROOTIN BINGO

Alabama was one of the few programs to continue to pull in prospects from all over the country. Below is where the 21ers call home.

• Texas (7)
• Florida (6)
• Alabama (5)
• Maryland (2)
• Georgia (1)
• Louisiana (1)
• Michigan (1)
• Mississippi (1)
• Ohio (1)
• South Carolina (1)
• Wisconsin (1) - Latham played at IMG in Florida but is originally from cheese country.

They just need Washington to get “BINGO”.

2021 TEAM RANKINGS

(SEC teams are indicated in bold letter.)

1 Alabama 27 Commits 95.00

2 Ohio State 21 Commits 94.52

3 Georgia 20 Commits 93.50 - UGA struck out on NSD. They REALLY thought they were going to lasso Terrion Arnold.

4 LSU 22 Commits 92.61 - The Cajun mafia worked overtime ensuring that local products stayed local, punctuated by 5-stars Maason Smith and Sage Ryan. I expect it looked something like this but less animated and more creepy scary.

5 Clemson 19 Commits 94.02 - The Dabo Cult still managed to brainwash a few good ones.

6 Oregon 23 Commits 92.35 -

7 Texas A&M 24 Commits 91.98 - Jimbo did well in-state with 14 Lone State signatures. He also managed the unthinkable - signing a top 100 prospect out of Oklahoma!

8 Southern Cal 22 Commits 91.78

9 Notre Dame 27 Commits 89.69

10 Michigan 23 Commits 90.30 - ¯\_(⊙︿⊙)_/¯ Why?

11 Oklahoma 16 Commits 93.19

12 Miami-FL 21 Commits 90.48 - see below

13 Florida 22 Commits 90.38 - 14 Floridians.

14 North Carolina 19 Commits 90.88

15 Wisconsin 21 Commits 89.04

16 Tennessee 21 Commits 89.17 - Five Georgians, three Tennesseans. No more Happy Meals after this class.

17 Texas 21 Commits 88.87 - see below

18 Ole Miss 25 Commits 87.97 - Lane Kiffin got a big NSD pick-up in #62 overal DT Tywone Malone.

19 Maryland 23 Commits 87.37 - Locks dominating the DMV.

20 Nebraska 20 Commits 87.65 - This is surprising.

21 Penn State 16 Commits 89.07 - So is this but in a different way.

22 Florida State 17 Commits 88.54

23 Iowa 19 Commits 87.77

24 Arkansas 22 Commits 87.89

25 Mississippi State 22 Commits 86.54

26 Pitt 23 Commits 86.62

27 Auburn 17 Commits 87.98 - YIKES! Do you see the teams around them?

28 Cal 19 Commits 87.08

29 Missouri 22 Commits 86.87

30 UCLA 18 Commits 87.54

31 Utah 17 Commits 87.21

32 Virginia 24 Commits 86.14

33 Kentucky 18 Commits 87.13

34 NC State 20 Commits 86.31

35 Washington 15 Commits 87.93

36 Boston College 26 Commits 85.38

37 Minnesota 18 Commits 87.18

38 Louisville 22 Commits 86.17

39 Oklahoma State 20 Commits 86.15

40 West Virginia 16 Commits 87.21

41 Rutgers 21 Commits 85.40

42 Cincinnati 24 Commits 85.24

43 Michigan State 19 Commits 85.65

44 Baylor 17 Commits 86.47

45 Virginia Tech 27 Commits 85.02

46 Memphis 25 Commits 84.80

47 Georgia Tech 16 Commits 86.42

48 Vanderbilt 23 Commits 84.81

49 Northwestern 16 Commits 86.26

50 Stanford 16 Commits 86.12

78 South Carolina 13 Commits 85.41 - OUCH! Neighboring programs such as Clemson (#5), UNC (#14), NC State (#34), Georgia Tech (#47), Duke (#58), Wake Forest (#66), and even App State (#69) did better than the Gamecocks. That’s gotta hurt. How are they not melting down in Columbia???

Coach O, we are forever in your debt.

SWEET HOME

Alabama is the 24th largest state in population. California, Florida, and Texas make up the top three but I’ll be darned if the Yellowhammer State doesn’t hang with all of them when it comes to football prospects. Someone smarter than me can sit down and do the math but I am guessing they produce the highest per capita when it comes to quality.

Top 20 in-state players:

The Crimson Tide only snagged five in-staters but they got the top two rated ones. Auburn signed ONE of the top 20 and three overall from Alabama (fifth, 24th, and 57th in the state).

MESSING WITH TEXAS

Alabama’s biggest bonanza was in the Lone Star State. Texas A&M did pretty well, grabbing seven of the top 20 including a few Tide targets such as Shemar Turner and Tunmise Adeleye. The Longhorns got trounced, thanks in great part to the Crimson Tide who nabbed three of their top targets in Milroe (flipped) and the Brockermeyer twins.

GOIN’ BACK TO CALI, NO MAN I DON’T THINK SO

Outside of Xavier Worthy (the appeal of Michigan continues to baffle) and kinda Miller Moss, Alabama did not venture too far into the Golden State to recruit. It was not a banner year for the left coast with only one prospect earning 5 stars in Foreman.

Southern Cal did a pretty decent job of grabbing their fair share of in-staters but Oregon got their cut too. There once was a time when the Trojans would duke it out with UCLA for all the L.A.-area recruits. Go ask grandpa about them there days.

Maybe it is the Captain Trips that is keeping them close to home, but many Californians continue to buy into the mirage that is Clay Helton’s death march that will surely end in heartbreak.

CAN’T SPELL “DELUSIONAL” WITHOUT THE ‘U’

Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz employed an interesting and risky strategy of corralling as many players as he could from the Miami area. 15 of their 21 signees are within an hour’s drive of the campus (below in green). For those not familiar with South Florida, Miami has some really sketchy to downright scary neighborhoods. For many football prospects from such areas, it is best to get far far away from those streets and the bad influences. It’s not usually the athlete’s fault, but it is not good when a toxic acquaintance is just a short drive away.

Alabama has had some great luck with nabbing wide receivers out of Miami metro including Amari Cooper (Miami), Calvin Ridley (Pompano Beach), and Jerry Jeudy (Pompano Beach). The Bama staff hopes 5-star Jacorey Brooks (Miami) will be the next Tide legend to catch passes at the Capstone. 5-star LB Dallas Turner (Fort Lauderdale) also saw the value in leaving the area.

247Sports RECRUITER OF THE YEAR

Rivals also named Charles Huff their ROTY and congrats to him.

You may recall a few weeks ago, I tried to talk some Bama fans off the ledge after Sark skipped town and took Kyle Flood and Jeff Banks with him. My sentiments were confirmed in a telling quote from Blake Brockermeyer, the father of Tommy and James:

“People think position coaches and area coaches are critical and all this and that. Winning, program consistency and development is all that matters to those with great options. We love Flood and (Karl) Scott, but the equipment manager could have recruited us as long as Saban is there.”

That about sums it up.

Roll Tide

#NSD21