Minutes after the conclusion of Wednesday’s practice -- the third day of preparing for the SEC Championship Game -- Alabama coach Nick Saban recapped the first day of the early signing period, which saw the Crimson Tide sign all 24 players committed to the program.
Saban pointed out the difficulty of juggling both the final step of the recruiting process and the preparation for the No. 7-ranked Florida Gators, but he also praised the work of his staff.
“I think the coaches did a really good job of preparing for practice, continuing to do the things they need to do but stay in contact with all the players,” Saban said. “We didn’t have any issues today in terms of guys we thought were coming, they all signed and came. I continue to have Wednesday and Thursday as my phone call, video, setups and all that. I’ll continue to do that tonight. It’s more difficult, but it’s manageable. We didn’t have a lot of guys that were vacillating. These guys, for the most part, have been committed for quite some time now.
“We were very pleased and happy with the decisions they made. We didn’t have any issues.”
Alabama currently has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rankings. Listed by position, the Crimson Tide added five linebackers, four defensive backs, defensive linemen, offensive linemen and wide receivers and one player apiece at quarterback, tight end and athlete. The class includes players from 11 states.
Saban said Alabama identified its needs early on and “got some really good players at each one of those positions.” One of those was at receiver, where the Tide signed four players that are among the top 68 prospects in the country in Jacorey Brooks -- one of six 5-stars to sign a letter of intent with UA on Wednesday -- JoJo Earle, Agiye Hall and Christian Leary.
“I think that sometimes when you have four guys like we had -- the two that went out last year, Jerry and Ruggsy, and the two we have this year, Waddle and Smitty -- everybody knows they’re on your roster, so it becomes a little bit difficult and we’re probably a little bit thin in numbers at receiver,” Saban said. “And knowing that there’s the potential to lose a couple more guys this year, we thought it was really important for us to sign a minimum of three wide receivers, and we were happy to get four.
“These guys are of different types, I’ve talked about receiver, the position, before. It’s kind of like a basketball team. You need a point guard, a shooting guard, a power forward. You need different kinds of players to make an effective receiving core and I think that we have some big guys and we have some fast guys, so I’m really pleased with that group.”
Earle was one of two prospects from the 2021 class that flipped their commitments from LSU to Alabama on Wednesday’s signing day, along with weak-side defensive end Keanu Koht.
“We’ve been recruiting these guys for a long, long time, and I think both guys started, several weeks ago, showing a little more interest, maybe not being satisfied with where they were in their recruitment or whatever,” Saban said. “So, we were pleased and happy to get both those guys. We think they’re both really, really good players, really good people, great families. We’re excited about those two guys, for sure. Those are two guys that we’ve had discussions with in the last couple of weeks that were still up in the air.”
Alabama’s 2021 signing class is nearly full, but some of the Crimson Tide’s top targets will wait until February to sign, including defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and safety Terrion Arnold. Saban was asked if there are any more positional needs following the early 24-player haul.
“There’s still players out there that are available,” he said. “I think you guys know the rules in terms of how many guys we can take. So we’ll manage it the best we can, but I think at this point if we can get a really, really good player, we would certainly be pleased to be able to do that.”
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