Alabama Football Recruiting Update: June Visitors

With the advent of the ill-conceived Early Signing Period in December, June has transformed into the biggest recruiting month of the year. U.S. high school spring terms come to a close and rising seniors and juniors with hopes of playing college football begin camping at various colleges across the country. June 1 is also a beginning of an NCAA Quiet Period in which coaching staffs are not allowed to have off-campus contact or scouting. Thus, getting prospects on campus in that stretch is vital. The time is crunched further since this span is then followed - for absolutely NO good reason - by a Dead Period from June 27 to July 24.

In the next 25 days, Nick Saban will host ten high school camps (plus one youth camp that is already sold out). It is a time for in-person evaluating by the Bama staff, some of which will result in offers. It is also the new popular time for Official Visits. As of post, Alabama will be hosting 23 recruits on OVs for the month of June.

RBR will attempt to share all the crootin news we can muster from various sources over this span.

2022

First off, we can close the book on the Class of 2022 as the remaining newcomers have all arrived on campus and moved in.

By all accounts, everyone showed up and found their rooms okay. However, rolltide.com has not updated the roster as of yet.

NEW RULE

The NCAA recently announced that it has removed the 25-man limit on scholarships for football in order to combat player attrition - a crisis which was created by the NCAA. This is the NCAA in a nutshell: come up with a poorly-thought out rule, and then follow it up with MORE dumb rules to offset the original rule.

DECOMMIT?

Not exactly. What Elliot Washington II is doing is unclear but at this point he is still considered committed to Alabama. The timeline of the 4-star safety is a bit out of sorts. He camped at Alabama last June 2021 and soon after earned an offer like many others do. Whether he had the green light or not, Washington committed in January of this year. For roster management reasons, Nick Saban would prefer recruits wait to announce until after the previous class has their final Signing Day, the first Wednesday of February. That is not to say that Washington is not wanted in Tuscaloosa. Yet, his actions of late will make one wonder what his intentions are.

In April, Washington took an unofficial visit Michigan State - an act which had all the Sparty crootin’ experts all atwitter that there would be a flip forthcoming. He has scheduled an official visit to lovely East Lansing for June 17. Last Thursday, he sent out a cryptic tweet with the ironic title of “Trusting the Process”. His statement mentioned wanting to “fully evaluate and compare all my opportunities as a student-athlete”. Maybe he is looking for NIL money. Maybe he is truly interested in what Mel Tucker is building. Maybe, he likes that the Sparty uniforms look like his high school unis. Who knows? But maybe like many before, he is just “enjoying the process”.

The fact that Washington has yet to take an official visit to Alabama should not be lost on anyone. Alabama still has the opportunity to host him and seal the deal. In addition, he is the son of Elliot Washington Sr. who played basketball at the Capstone for Wimp Sanderson in the early 1990s. For these reasons and the more obvious, it would make sense that in the end he signs with the Tide.

On a related note, 5-star DB Bama commit Jahlil Hurley will be on campus this weekend for an unofficial visit. Recent rumors of a flip to Auburn have been . Getting him back in Tuscaloosa will certainly aid the Tide’s relationship with the Florence, AL native.

COMMIT

Rivals of the Crimson Tide are going to say that Bama whiffed on Arch Manning, so they are settling for Eli Holstein. This notion is far from the truth. Holstein is a guy they wanted regardless of what the other guy does. The 4-star recently shattered the SPARQ scores at an Elite 11 event and has a great work ethic.

In college football recruiting, it is good to get out ahead of the “Quarterback Dominoes” and get your guy early. After zeroing in on Holstein, Manning, and Dylan Lonergan, it became clear the more they saw of Holstein, the more they liked him. In their eyes, he was dead even as a take as Arch was. That said, a second signal caller in this class is not out of the question. In a perfect world, it is highly recommended to have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Alabama has had a run of field generals leave school early for the bright lights of the NFL with eligibility still remaining that left the Tide one QB short the last few years. #BamaProblems. With the high-probabilty of Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young departing after the coming season, the Tide would again be in that hole. Alabama would most likely still take Manning if he wants to commit. It just doesn’t feel like that will happen as of now.

Holstein made his pledge to Alabama on May 24. He hails from Zachary, Louisiana which is about 18 miles from the LSU campus. He had previously been committed to Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, which endears him that much more to Tide fans.

He is rated as the No. 54 overall player and No. 8 quarterback in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite.

OFFICIAL VISITS

The Crimson Tide will be hosting six intriguing prospects this weekend starting June 3.

• QB Dylan Lonergan (Snellville, GA) 4-star, 6-2 / 198 - As mentioned above, Bama has their QB but could take a second one. However even if that happens, it won’t be this guy over Manning. If Alabama does accept his commitment, it won’t be until very late in the process, so that Alabama can fill other needs first and then run the numbers. We’ll see if he makes the trip at all. Most crootin experts have him pegged for South Carolina.
• TE Luke Hasz (Bixby, OK) 4-star, #66 overall, 6-3/ 220 - What is it with Alabama and tight ends? The Tide has struggled mightily when it comes to lassoing a top-shelf TE in recent years. For every Irv Smith or OJ Howard, there have been a Caden Clark, Jahleel Billingsley, Michael Parker, Major Tennison, Kedrick James, etc., etc. Hasz has a potential to be an Irv or an OJ. The problem is, he is already committed to Arkansas. He committed to the Razorbacks in January after a four-month commitment to Oklahoma. He re-opened his recruitment after Lincoln Riley departed Norman for the smoke and mirrors of South Central California. For the Crimson Tide’s part, getting him to visit is the first step. Getting him to return for a game in the fall would be another. After hearing 101,000 fans roaring “Roll Tide!” as compared to 65,000 doing that embarrassing “Soooiee Pig” thing, he may come a-runnin’... to Tuscaloosa! The nation’s No. 2 TE also has plans to OV Michigan on June 10.
• TE Riley Williams (Portland, OR) 4-star, #95 overall, 6-6 / 230 - Another top tight end will be in T-town, but the deck is stacked against the Tide for his signature. Mainly because he is from Oregon - a state that Alabama has not had any luck recruiting as far back as I can recall. He has June OVs scheduled in consecutive weekends for Bama, Miami, Ohio State, and a final one for ... wait for it ... Oregon. I’m not so sure he is not anything more than a “sight-seer” this weekend.
• WR Cole Adams (Owasso, OK) barely 4-star, #327 overall, 5-10 / 180 - Coach Holmon Wiggins has been mighty busy in the Sooner State. Along with Hasz, he has this slot receiver visiting this weekend. His first visit to Tuscaloosa was on March 5 for Junior Day. He has an offer, but it is unclear how firm it is. [4-star outside linebacker Bai Jobe from Norman, Oklahoma is expected in an unofficial capacity.]
• WR Brandon Inniss (Fort Lauderdale, FL) 5-star, 6-0 / 190 - Saving the best for last is the nation’s top-ranked receiver and No. 10 overall prospect. The blue-chipper plays at American Heritage, alma mater of Pat Surtain II and Tide freshman Earl Little. As you probably recall, Pat Surtain Sr. was the coach of that team. However, he took a position with the Miami Dolphins in February of this year. One of his longtime assistants, Mike Smith, has taken over. For much of 2021, Inniss looked like a future Oklahoma Sooner but his interest shifted west to Southern Cal along with Lincoln Riley. There has been some talk that Inniss’s family is a little concerned about him playing so far from home. He is also eyeing Ohio State and is being recruited by former Buckeyes and Dolphins wide receiver Brian Hartline. Nobody does OV hosting better than Alabama. They will need to bring out the big guns this weekend.