Crimson Tide on the Rise: Alabama Scores Big on Signing Day

At 6’3” and 182 lbs, this young man may very well be competing for the starting position as he steps onto campus.

Jackson's added speed, which is a 4.6 40, will be great should he need to use it. Most likely he will not have to resort to that behind an offensive line that boasts Andre Smith, the nation’s number-one lineman recruited in 2006, and this year’s O-line beast Love, looming at 6’7” and 285 lbs.

On the defensive side of the ball, Bama was also able to rack up talent left and right. Alonzo Lawrence, another out-of-state steal for the Tide, adds more young talent to the defensive back corps Bama already has in place.

At 6’1” and 187 lbs. this speedy DB from Lucedale, MS should give receivers and quarterbacks all they can handle.

However, one particular area of recruiting seemed to stand out—defensive linemen. Michael Williams and Glenn Harbin, defensive ends, each stand at 6’6” and both weigh near 250 lbs. Both young men should enhance the depth chart significantly, as well as two more defensive linemen who were added—Kerry Murphy (DT) and Brandon Lewis (DE).

The most significant factor with all four of these men is the fact that all four were rated four stars. But this list doesn't include four more defensive linemen, who signed with three-star status. That’s a total of eight defensive linemen signing with the Crimson Tide, four three-stars and four four-stars!

Bama’s incoming linebackers are not too shabby, either. Courtney Upshaw, from Eufaula, AL, is perhaps the best of the three linebacker recruits pulled in by Saban.

Along with Jerrell Harris from Gadsden and Don’ta Hightower from Lewisburg, TN, Alabama has a trio of four-star linebackers in this ’08 class.

Several other players listed as either WR or Athletes round out the rest of the four-star recruits. Now I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. Alabama ended the day with a remarkable 32 players, of which three were rated five-star and 19 were four-star. It goes without saying that Nick Saban, at least for now, is the master of recruiting. Yesterday made him look like a genius from every aspect.

Now there are a lot of contributing factors that went into this great “victory” for Bama. One, which I am sure lured so many of the young men, was the fact that depth is an issue following the scholarship reductions from recent years, and the opportunity to compete for a starting position for most of those who signed yesterday is very realistic.

Other schools which rounded out the Top 10 were probably not able to honestly throw that plug to their recruits, as was the Crimson Tide. Now, of course, this all just supposed thought, nothing of 100 percent accreditation has been said that supports this hypothesis. But it all makes sense.

Or it could possibly be that Saban has just mastered the art of luring in young talent. This will remain to be seen in the coming recruiting classes once the depth chart starts filling.

One thing remains though: the future. What will become of this class? If you have read my previous article—“NCAA Football Recruiting: Does It Really Matter?”—then I think you know exactly where I believe this recruiting class will be in three to four years.

So many factors yet unseen will be needed to contribute to the success of the ’08 recruits. I, for one, believe every factor will be fulfilled for this class—perhaps the best ever landed by the Alabama Crimson Tide!

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