Don’t call it a comeback
I’ve been here for years
I’m rocking my peers
Puttin’ suckers in fearLL Cool J, “Mama Said Knock You Out”
After Nick Saban’s 2018 recruiting class came in at (sarcastic shudder) fifth best in the nation, the Original OG has dropped the mic on the rest of the college football world with a historically good 2019 class of 24 signees that has only one player below a 4-star ranking - and he just happens to be the nation’s top kicker.
National Signing Day Eve.
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) February 6, 2019
Here’s a recap of our early signing day! ⤵️#ROLL1N9#OutworkYesterday pic.twitter.com/ynCU2nnl2W
Today, the Crimson Tide rounds out that class, expecting to finish with a total somewhere between 26 to 30 singees.
Your faithful RBR servants will be updating this Open Thread throughout the day, so...
UPDATE: Khris Bogle 4-star DE (Fort Lauderdale, FL) FLIP: Alabama, Miami, Florida.
UPDATE: Byron Young 4-star DT (Laurel, MS) LOI RECEIVED: Alabama, OM, MSU, LSU.
UPDATE: Christian Williams 4-star CB (Daphne, AL) SIGNED: LSU, Miami. NOT A FLIP (see below).
- WR George Pickens flips from Auburn to UGA. FYI, Alabama was never really interested. Thought to have severe academic issues.
- Lane Kiffin signs the sons of Warren Sapp and Terrell Owens to play at FAU! LOL
- Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson publicly disses the USM President and ends up not hiring Art Briles after all.
- Alabama received a preferred walk-on commit from Mobile Christian Academy WR Eric Poellnitz. According to 247sports, he had offers from Memphis, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Troy and The Citadel, although I am not so sure how firm those offers were.
- The Tide is also expecting a PWO from QB Stone Hollenbach of Pennsylvania who had offers from some FCS schools.
UPDATE: Jerrion Ealy 5-star RB (Flowood, MS) Ole Miss, Clemp, Alabama but he will probably never play a down.
- Mike Locksley flips quarterback Lance Legendre from FSU to Maryland. The Seminoles have no other QB committed and no back-up plan. Deondre Francois is kicked off the team and James Blackman is in the transfer portal. If you ever wanted to be a college QB, go walk on at FSU!
- More bad news for FSU: 4-star saftey Nick Cross is not signing today after reports of disagreements with his parents over the ‘Noles and Penn State. Cross is a HS teammate of Bama signee DeMarcco Hellams.
UPDATE: Quashon Fuller 4-star SDE (Lehigh Acres, FL) FSU, Alabama. No big surprise.
- In an interview on ESPNU, Nick Saban said Eyabi Anoma is now out of the NCAA transfer portal. !!!
UPDATE: Brett Seither 3-star TE (Clearwater, FL) UGA, Alabama, Ga Tech, TCU.
UPDATE: Jaquaze Sorrells 4-star DT (Winter Park, FL) SCar, PSU, Alabama. As expected.
UPDATE: Ishmael Sopsher 4-star DT (Amite, LA) - LOI RECEIVED: Alabama, LSU. ROLL TIDE!
UPDATE: Javonne Shepherd 4-star OT (Houston, TX) Texas, Alabama. Again, not a surprise.
UPDATE: Henry To’oto’o 4-star OLB (Concord, CA) COMMIT: Alabama, Washington, Tenn, Oregon. This stinks of Fat F*** Phil Fulmer.
UPDATE: Keilan Robinson 4-star RB (Washington D.C.) LOI RECEIVED: Alabama.
UPDATE: Corliss Waitman Punter (Milton, FL) Grad-transfer punter from the University of South Alabama. Reportedly signed with Mississippi State, reunited with former USA head coach Joey Jones who is now Special Teams Coordinator at MSU.
Mystery Recruit - ?????
Nick Saban will hold his signing day press conference at 4pm CT.
* All times are tentative and subject to change at the whims of 18-year olds.
SIDEWALK CROOTIN FOLLOWERS
If you don’t follow recruiting too closely, that is totally fine. It is not for everyone but it can be fun to see who in NEXT MAN UP! For those of you who are new to this craziness, here are a few things to know when that jerk in the office who is fan of an orange team comes to gloat.
DID NOT BEAT OUT ALABAMA
Some simpletons will look at 247sports.com or Rivals.com and see a big list of offers. They may think “WOW! Alabama offered him! And we got him!” First off, those databases are not official - and often in alphabetical order. Second, the term of “offer” is open to interpretation. Alabama may have said they would be interested in offering that 3-star back in 2017 and he Tweeted out that he is “blessed” to receive it, but that doesn’t exactly mean he got a firm sign-on-the-dotted-line offer.
NOT A FLIP
Thirdly, if a guy has not been contacted since July that offer is probably no longer on the table - even if he hasn’t decommitted. See below.
Boy, did Christian Williams screw up. The Daphne, Alabama defensive back committed to the Crimson Tide way back in April of 2018 but for some reason did not sign during the Early Signing Period. And it is a good thing for Bama that he did not. The Tide went out and lassoed 247sports 5-star Jeffery Carter and high 4-star Jordan Battle - both of whom are now enrolled. There is a slim chance Williams signs with Alabama on Wednesday. Now he might be getting squeezed out at LSU as well. Miami could be his landing spot.
TV LISTINGS:
“National Signing Day Special” 11am-1pm CT, ESPN2
“National Signing Day Special” 1pm-2:30pm CT, ESPNU
“College Football Live” 3pm-4pm CT, ESPN2
“College Football Live” 4pm-5pm CT, ESPNU (R)
“College Football Live” 5pm-6pm CT, ESPNU (R)