Alabama Football: Tide Lands Best Recruiting Class in Years

Barrett Jones, the top player out of Tennessee, is actually an Alabama legacy.  His father played basketball for the Tide back in the 70’s.  That connection has played a huge part in his recruitment to Alabama.

Lawrence, a late bloomer in this recruiting season, was heavily recruited by Alabama before his performance in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game against Julio Jones.  Lawrence is also the number one player in the state of Mississippi and the number two corner in the nation.

Saban also used his old coaching ties from previous jobs to pull in guys from Michigan and Louisiana as well. 

Saban was able to get Mark Ingram, a running back from Michigan, and Robby Green, a 6-foot defensive back from Louisiana.

Not only did Alabama recruit well geographically, but the Tide also covered some major needs on the team.  

The Tide is losing many key players from its 2007 team, including all three starting wide receivers—DJ Hall, Keith Brown, and Matt Caddell— and two All-SEC defensive guys; Wallace Gilberry at defensive end and Simeon Castille at cover corner. 

Saban, however, managed to not only fill these spots, but made sure that there were plenty of guys in reserve to push whoever gets the start.

Alabama’s best-recruited position was no doubt the defensive line.  Eight members from this class are defensive linemen, with Saban bringing in four ends and four tackles. 

The best defensive end in the class was actually the Tide’s first commit for the 2008 class in Michael Williams out of Reform, AL. As far as defensive tackle, the best defensive tackle is JUCO transfer Kerry Murphy, but the Tide has something much bigger in the bag as well.  Try Terrence Cody, a 6-foot-5, 395 pound JUCO transfer.  The Tide boast four guys in this defensive line class over 6’5”. 

The next top-recruited position was no doubt the wide receivers, and some Bama fans will argue over which position is more dire at the moment.  With recruits such as Julio Jones, Melvin Ray, and Burton Scott no doubt hitting the field in the fall, this wide receiving core has a lot of promise in it. 

Jones will definitely take the field next year for the Tide as a top-five national recruit, and Burton Scott already has an offensive package waiting for him in Tuscaloosa.

The corner position was something important for the Crimson Tide to tackle this recruiting season, and Saban and his staff met it head on, pulling in three guys over six-feet tall.  The most impressive of these three is Lawrence, who will no doubt fill in the void left by Simeon Castille.

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