Barrett Jones, an offensive lineman out of Tennessee, has committed to the Crimson Tide. Jones is a tackle prospect who is considered to be the top player to come out of the state of Tennessee for the 2008 class, and he is rated a four-star prospect by both major recruiting services.
Jones is actually an Alabama legacy player -- his father played basketball at Alabama in the early 1980's -- but was nevertheless not considering a lock because of the high profile schools pursuing him. His offer list included the likes of Alabama, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, UCLA, North Carolina, and others.
Credit apparently goes to the Commercial Appeal out of Memphis for breaking the story.
And if you are worried about whether or not Jones will qualify academically, don't. He currently sports a GPA above 4.0, and has scored a 30 on the ACT.
Jones is currently the third offensive line commitment that the Tide has -- John Michael Boswell and Tyler Love are the other two -- and another couple of more linemen should be expected. The next highest lineman on our board now is Cordy Glenn, who we are hoping to sway from Georgia, and then Antoine McClain, both of which are four-star prospects who are rated very highly. Glenn will be a tough sell, but it seems that McClain would commit on the spot if we would accept it. His grades, however, are a bit of a question mark, and it seems that until he makes a satisfactory score on his ACT -- which he re-took recently -- we will not be accepting a commitment from him. And now we have news that Leroy Chevalier, a four-star lineman out of Texas -- and teammate of current Tide commitment Damian Square -- is looking for an offer from the Tide. He is arguably the top lineman in the state of Texas, and sounds like he would commit on the spot with a firm offer.
Either way, regardless of just how it plays out, it seems that we will sign probably two of three with Glenn, McClain, and Chevalier. That will put us with four four-star or higher rated signees on the offensive line, and it will probably be the top offensive line class in the country. With little doubt it will be the best we've brought in since the triumvirate of Britt, Smiley, and Mathis arrived in 2000.
Why sign five offensive linemen in one class? Just look at the game film of our front five against the LSU defensive front from this past Saturday, and that will answer your question.
Incidentally, Barrett's commitment only further enhances a class that is already rated third in the country by Rivals, Inc.