Alabama Football Recruiting Update

Nothing fancy today. Mostly bullet points. No refunds.

• The Early Signing Period (ESP) starts next Wednesday, December 21 and ends the 23rd.
• Alabama has 25 commitments with an expected target of 30, though it could go higher or lower.
• Alabama commits QB Eli Holstein, OL Miles McVay, OL Wilkin Formby, OL Ryqueze McElderry, S/TE Bray Hubbard, and DL Hunter Osborne have already joined the team.
• 5-star Alabama RB commit Justice Haynes has canceled an in-home with UGA this week. Ohio State is currently scheduled to visit him on Friday, but most likely will get cancelled. He may be in Tuscaloosa this weekend and may or may not join the team early.
• One interesting note: Charles Kelly is still out recruiting for Alabama and will coach the Tide in the Sugar Bowl. #NeverBurnBridges

• Nick Saban and staff have put the full court press on TE Luke Hasz out of Bixby, OK. The 4-star has a fraternal twin brother who is low 3-star safety Dylan Hasz. Both are committed to Arkansas. Are they a package deal? If Luke flips, Alabama would welcome his brother but it would probably have to be as a preferred walk-on.
• Alabama is still working 5-star Iowa OL commit Kadyn Proctor. Saban had an in-home visit with Proctor two weeks ago and offensive line coach Eric Wolford has been to see him several times. Word is the Tide still has a shot at him. Oregon is also on him.
• Maryland tight end CJ Dippre took an Official Visit to Tuscaloosa last weekend an earned an offer. He is going to take a few more OVs (why not?) but there is no rush on getting an answer. There probably won’t be an announcement until January. As of right now, I like the Tide’s chances.
• The drama of 5-stars DL James Smith #16 and LB Qua Russaw #31 continues to build. The duo had Official Visits to Tuscaloosa Dec. 9th-11th and all went well. Either these two are building up to some big song-and-dance shock-the-world silliness or they have been Alabama from the beginning and didn’t want to tell anyone. The other finalists are Auburn, Georgia, and Florida.
• Sadly, Ole Miss LB Suntarine Perkins tweeted that he is, “1,000-percent going to Ole Miss.” I really think he loved Alabama (he once said Alabama was his “dream school”) and wanted to flip but the people around him were pressuring him to stay in-state so that he can be there when the Rebs finish third in the SEC West.
• The Tide is picking up momentum with 4-star CB Damari Brown. He attends American Heritage in Fort Lauderdale, FL - the same school that pipelined fellow corners Patrick Surtain II and Earl Little Jr. to Tuscaloosa. It’s looking like a two-team war between Alabama and Miami.
• It has been up and down for 5-star DB Desmond Ricks. One day it feels like Bama is out of it and the next it feels they are favored. Many of the “experts” figured this was a slam dunk to LSU but Saban won’t go down without a fight. Ricks is OV-ing to Baton Rouge this weekend. Florida is also in the mix for the IMG student-athlete.
• Alabama hosted 3-star CB Tyler Scott on an OV a few weeks ago. It is thought the staff wants to get at least one more cornerback in this class and this guy seems like a Plan C should Ricks and Brown land elsewhere. Personally, I am not sure what to think about Scott. He has a low rating by all the recruiting sites but he is an intriguing prospect. He is tough and aggressive. He has good size (6’2”/185) and plays at one of the highest levels of Georgia high school football. However, he probably needs some better technique and field discipline. He won’t remind anyone of Kool-Aid McKinstry but he would be a solid special teams player for Alabama until he transfers to UCF.

• One last note on cornerbacks: Miami commit Cormani McClain and Texas pledge Malik Muhammad are probably not going to flip.
• 5-star OT Samson Okunlola announced his top four schools as Alabama, Florida, Miami, and Michigan State. However, most observers think he’ll land in the Sunshine State.

If you have any questions, leave them in Comments and I will do my daredest to not leave a half-assed vague reply.