Jumbo Package: By promoting Mike Locksley, Alabama adds another excellent recruiter to the staff

Alabama has promoted former New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley to a full-time offensive assistant.

Locksley worked as an analyst last season with new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Alabama didn't say Monday which position he would coach.

Former Maryland OC Mike Locksley has been promoted to a full-time assistant gig in the wake of Cristobal’s departure with duties TBD, although his field coaching is probably the least of the reasons he was promoted. Locksley did not have success as a head coach at New Mexico, but he has been a stud recruiter at every stop in his career and was a hot commodity running offenses for the Terps. For those wondering about the recruiting impact of losing Mario Cristobal, this is the answer (and probably was always the answer, knowing Nick Saban.) The “analyst” position at Alabama may as well be called Second Chance U — over the previous 18 months the analyst gig was staffed with three former and current head coaches — Keisau, Sarskisian and Locksley.

Crootin’

This really isn’t my wheelhouse — I couldn’t tell you how big of a class Alabama can or will sign, the remaining targets, etc. I do occasionally fall in love with a prospect and opine (Tua, for instance,) but I’m far more likely to just spread the word. That said, I’ll leave you with these links and those of you with the recruiting acumen can decide what it all means, or generally data-dump in the comments.

"I really enjoyed talking to him," Jones said. "He seems really laid back. We can relate by talking football, but we didn't really talk that much football. We really just got to know each other. I told him we can talk football on my official visit. We got to hang out and get to know each other. It almost seemed like I wasn't talking to a coach. It was pretty cool to get to know him like that."

Jones had built a good relationship with Lane Kiffin, but knew it was likely Kiffin would get a head coaching job after the season.

I have no idea where he [Aubrey Solomon] will go. Solomon told me during the Army All-American Bowl week that Alabama leads, but he has changed his visit plans around several times. Michigan and Georgia do not think they are out of this race, despite his unflattering comments about the Wolverines.

Alabama will probably sign the No. 1 class for the seventh consecutive year, and maybe its best ever.

Alabama’s class has 25 current commitments, including four five-stars and 17 four-stars; a ridiculous 84 percent of the class is comprised of blue-chip prospects. Najee Harris, of California, is the nation’s No. 1 running back. Dylan Moses, of Baton Rouge, is the No. 1 linebacker. The Tide also added the No. 1 JUCO offensive lineman in Elliot Baker, and the No. 1 JUCO defensive lineman in Isaiah Buggs.

And it could get even better. [Explanation follows in the article.]

Well, this sucks...

As recently as this month Ruiz maintained a firm commitment with the Tide, reaffirming his status at the Army Bowl in San Antonio.

A source at the Army Bowl with knowledge of Ruiz's recruitment told BamaOnLine that Arizona State had been making a heavy push for the Gilbert (Ariz.) Williams Field product as of late.

I understand the allure of being close to home and wanting to open up his recruiting a bit and take some officials, and that’s fine. I’m not sold that he’s a done deal to Tempe though or that Alabama is necessarily out of the race here, and that’s certainly borne out by the “at this time” verbiage in his brief letter. That said, Ruiz better know the operative language around these parts: You shop, we shop.

Good luck with that, morons.

After getting outmaneuvered (again) by Alabama — this time in the athletic director stakes, the Viles are turning to a man who summarizes the worst of Tennessee, Phil Fulmer. This is a man who backstabbed a legendary coach to take his job, turned secret witness, seemingly ran a sexual assault summer camp for his skills players (some things never change there,) and cheated with impunity because he had a crooked SEC Commish that ran cover for the Vols. By all means, Tennessee, put this rube in charge — it’s a different game and a different world of athletics. I doubt seriously after a decade he’ll be flexible enough to be a competent administrator. (But, if it does happen, we will sadly see the end of the inept, underachieving Butch Jones era.)

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Sorry, y’all, there’s just not much out there at the moment. Everyone is gearing up for recruiting or flogging the dead horse of a game that concluded over a week ago — and I’m not going to make you read those brain-dead think pieces.

So, in the comments, recommend a new book series for me. I’m on a contemporary scifi binge ATM. I really enjoyed “We are Bob,” and I’m halfway through with the clever, oft-hilarious first book of the Columbus Day series, “Expeditionary Force.” I also am a big fan of history, high fantasy, science, urban fantasy, good speculative fiction, historical fictions, tech, geography...just about anything except biographies (I’d rather live my life than read about another’s) and sports (I do not like reading full-length books about sports or coaches: never have, never will.) So, dust off your literacy and impress me.