Alabama Recruiting News: Crimson Tide Signs 15 for Class of 2018 on Day 1 of ESP

Day 1 of the Early Signing Period experiment is in the books. But it felt ... odd ... and incomplete. That could be because there are two more days to the ESP and then Part 2 on National Signing Day comes on Feb 7.

By now you have probably seen UGA fans acting like they are kings of football after yesterday’s signing of six 5-stars. They did pretty well but this thing is far from over. Not only is this just round one of NSD but the player rankings are FAR from being finalized. For all anyone knows, Alabama signee Stephon Wynn tears it up at the Under Armour All-American Game while UGA’s Brenton Cox gets dominated. The stars might just realign. It is still so early.

As for Alabama, there were no big surprises on ESP-Day 1 but there were a few minor ones. The Crimson Tide signed fifteen players, all of whom were expected.

SIGNEES

Early Enrollees are signified by EE.

1. Eyabi Anoma DE Baltimore, MD 6’5”/230 ***** - One of the Top 10 overall players in the nation. He had 98 tackles, 22 sacks, forced four fumbles and recovered three. He has only been playing football for two years, so he is just going to get better. Think about that one for a minute.
2. Jarez Parks DE Sebastian, FL 6’2.75”/253 **** Part of the 2017 recruiting cycle, he agreed to a greyshirt and will count towards the 2018 class. Already practicing with the team. EE
3. Stephon Wynn DE Anderson, SC 6'5"/285 **** From IMG. EE
4. Jordan Davis DE Memphis, TN 6'5"/225 **** Committed back in Dec 2016. EE
5. Josh Jobe CB Miami, FL 6’1”/180 **** Flipped from Miami.
6. Emil Ekiyor OL Indianapolis, IN 6'4"/339 **** Flipped from Michigan.
7. Cameron Latu DE Salt Lake City, UT 6'5"/235 **** Projects as a Jack linebacker.
8. Jalyn Armour-Davis DB Mobile, AL 6'0"/160 ****
9. Xavier Williams WR Hollywood, FL 6'0"/180 ****
10. Tommy Brown OL Santa Ana, CA 6'7"/315 **** Rising in the ratings.
11. Christian Barmore DT Philadelphia, PA 6’5”/290 **** Committed early Wednesday morning.
12. Saivion Smith CB Tampa, FL 6'1"/175 **** Formerly of LSU and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC. Already practicing with the team. EE
13. Slade Bolden APB West Monroe, LA 5'11"/190 ***½ EE
14. Jerome Ford APB Seffner, FL 5’11”/190 ***
15. Skyler DeLong P Fort Mill, SC 6'3"/180 *** Heir apparent to JK Scott. EE

* These fifteen come from ten different states: Florida (5), South Carolina (2), Maryland, Tennessee, Indiana, Utah, Alabama, California, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana.

SURPRISES

• Nadab Joseph CB 6’1.5”/180 Miami, FL **** Former LSU commit, former Alabama commit, flipped to UGA. Kirby is definitely off my Christmas card list.
• Dominick Wood-Anderson TE San Diego, CA (Arizona Western Coll.) 6'6/225 **** This top-rated Juco TE was supposed to announce his commitment yesterday morning on the Good Morning, San Diego TV show (no Ron Burgundy, sorry) but then cancelled. He later committed to Tennessee several hours later via Twitter. [Unsubstantiated speculation says he may have not had a firm offer from Alabama. Tight end is NOT a big position of need for the Tide and they already have a firm commitment from Michael Parker (see below). With only a reported 22 slots, taking two TEs would not have been wise.]

COMMITTED TO ALABAMA, NOT PLANNING ON SIGNING THIS WEEK

• Quay Walker OLB Cordele, GA 6’4”/220 **** - He is still firm to the Tide. It is believed he may need to hit the books a bit first.
• Michael Parker TE Huntsville, AL 6’6”/230 *** - May be asked to blueshirt or greyshirt.
• Vernon Jackson ATH Boling, TX 6’3”/240 *** - Listed as an “Athlete”, he played quarterback and linebacker for Boling. The Tide staff is REAL excited about this guy but he is not rated very high. There may be a numbers issue (i.e. blueshirt/greyshirt). He plans to sign somewhere in February.

A FEW OTHER KNOWN TARGETS SIGNING IN FEBRUARY

• Bobby Brown DT Arlington, TX 6’4”/282 **** - TAMU decommit not expected to sign until February. FRIDAY UPDATE: Committed to Alabama! There were some reports that Brown would perhaps sign Friday, but he will indeed wait until NSD Feb 7.
• Penei Sewell OL St. George, UT 6'5"/340 **** - Needs more time to contemplate and will likely sign in February. Also considering Oregon and Southern Cal and kinda Utah.
• Teammates CBs from American Heritage in Plantation, FL Patrick Surtain ***** and Tyson Campbell ****½.
• Four-stars WRs Jacob Copeland (Pensacola, FL), Jaylen Waddle (Bellaire, TX), and Clemson lean Justyn Ross (Phenix City, AL), LSU lean Justin Watkins (Clermont, FL).
• 4-star Kelvin Joseph, safety from Baton Rouge, LA
• Underrated 3-star Malik Langham DE from Lee HS in Huntsville, AL received an offer from Oregon yesterday. He will visit Tuscaloosa in January. Expect him to gain another star real soon.

NATIONAL

Georgia did really well and even if they stopped recruiting now, they would still finish at or near the top. However, they did not fill a few spots of need with top tier players. Two of their top needs are secondary and receivers. Three of the Dawgs starting five in the secondary are seniors and a fourth, DeAndre Baker, will probably go pro. Kirby Smart picked up three cornerbacks yesterday but it is questionable if any of them will be ready to contribute come next Labor Day. Wide receiver for UGA is turning into LSU’s equivalency of quarterback: they just can’t seem to sign any high-caliber ones. Georgia signed only one receiver on Wednesday in 4-star Kearis Jackson, the #22 wideout.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Ohio State put together a solid class but also lost a few “flippers”, including 5-star safety Jaiden Woodbey to Florida State and 4-star QB Emory Jones to Florida. Regardless, anOSU still has the #2 class. [TBH, I don’t know how they do it because Ohio is a crappy place to live and Urban Meyer always looks like a miserable old man with a full adult diaper.]

Somehow, Meyer convinced recruits from Florida (4), Georgia, and Tennessee to cross the Mason Dixon line to the frigid flatlands of Columbus.

TEXAS IS BACK... AGAIN! NO WE MEAN IT THIS TIME!

You have to wonder if the doubts have already started to seep into Aggieland. It was not a good start for the $75 million dollar man. Jimbo Fisher’s 8 signee class is currently ranked #28 by 247sports while hated rival Texas is at #3. The Longhorns managed to sign seven of the top ten from the Lone Star State while Texas A&M’s top in-state signee is rated #20. Additional bad news for Jimbo came when 4-star DT Bobby Brown decommitted from TAMU on Wednesday. Nick Saban has been after him for awhile and should be the favorite to acquire his signature in February.

Arkansas, you really screwed up. Signing the former SMU coach to a six-year deal worth $3.5 million annually just does not excite the recruits. Chad Morris signed seven players - five of whom are 3-star or lower. The jewel of this class in the #332 rated player ILB Bumper Pool. Great name. The Hogs have the #76th rated class.

Clemson signed four 5-stars but still ended up with the seventh rated class. Among them are the top rated player QB Trevor Lawrence. The Tigers also received a surprise commitment from 5-star Ohio-native Jackson Carman who admitted a little Dabo smack talk swayed him.

Oh by the way, Kirby Smart flipped Alabama commit Nadab Joseph at the last minute. Hmm, I wonder what approach he used?

UPDATE: With the Friday addition of Bobby Brown, the Crimson Tide moves up to #5.

SUMMATION

It wasn’t a mind-blowing group but Nick Saban addressed some positions of need. There are still 47 days until NSD Wednesday on February 7, 2018. Many more prospects will start to pop up on Saban’s radar. Seven or eight more recruits should join an already impressive group, maybe more.