5-Star Deangelo Gibbs on Alabama Visit: 'Stadium Was Rocking'

Among the throng of recruits on hand for Alabama’s showdown with Ole Miss last weekend was 2017 5-star corner Deangelo Gibbs.

It was his second trip to Tuscaloosa this year, as the top rising junior from the Peach State attended a Crimson Tide junior day earlier this year.

However, the electric atmosphere for the matchup between SEC West powers definitely made an impression on him.

“It was great. The atmosphere was pretty live,” Gibbs told Bleacher Report. “The fans were crazy. It was a great game overall watching both teams go up and down like that. It was really loud. The stadium was rocking.” 

Gibbs, who has held an offer from the Tide since May 2014, said that despite the loss, he was paying close attention to the Tide’s secondary and was mostly impressed with what he saw.

“[Alabama] had a lot of turnovers that really hurt them,” Gibbs said. “It’s tough to win like that, especially in a big game against a good team. From a DB standpoint, I thought they played pretty well. I thought Cyrus [Jones] played well. There wasn’t much he could do with that [Laquon] Treadwell [touchdown] catch. Overall, I thought the DBs played pretty good. Really, the defense overall did pretty good. I think it was just those turnovers that hurt them. That was my viewpoint of the game.”

Given that Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has been recruiting him since last spring, Gibbs is a prospect who has been on the radar of Tide head coach Nick Saban for quite some time. 

Among the coaches recruiting him for the Tide are Smart, secondary coach Mel Tucker and linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi—all of whom spoke with Gibbs before the game.

Their message to the nation’s No. 4 overall player in the 2017 class was simple.

“Keep working hard and stay in touch. We need you here and things like that,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs, who plays for a loaded prep squad at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Georgia, wasn’t alone on his visit. He made the trek to Tuscaloosa with a pair of prep teammates in 2016 4-star safety Nigel Warrior and 2017 4-star linebacker Breon Dixon—both of whom hold early offers from the Tide.

“It’s a cool experience to get a chance to go to the game with them,” Gibbs said. “We may try to analyze things a little bit and just have fun. We got to talk with some of the players before and after the game. We talked a little bit about comparing ourselves to the guys that are playing our same position for them. We even made comparisons to the defense we run in high school. Just that whole experience, and sharing it with them, that’s pretty cool.”

While the visit left him with a favorable impression of the program, Gibbs insists he is still in the infant stages of his process.

Gibbs, who has more than 30 offers to his credit, has a long list of programs who are coming after him.

“I think everybody is, honestly,” Gibbs said when asked who is recruiting him the hardest. “There isn’t a leader or anything like that. A lot of schools are coming at me hard.”

He doesn’t have any immediate plans set on returning to Alabama, but he notes that it is a possibility in the future.

Still, he may get another look at the Tide in a few weeks as he could be in attendance for their game at Georgia on Oct. 3.

As for what he is looking for on his visits to programs during the fall, Gibbs said a few key factors will be paramount. 

“I just want to see how the coaches act around the players and vice versa,” Gibbs said. “Not necessarily the facilities and things like that because I’ve seen them before. A lot of them are the same, with maybe one or two little things that may be different. It’s just mainly about learning about each school and seeing how I fit in to what they are doing.”

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani