Why Brent Calloway Could Be Alabama's Perfect Recruit

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fla.) If you accept that very few things can ever be perfect, then this is about as close to perfect as you can get when it comes to recruiting.

You need an outstanding player with extraordinary skills.

You find him and he's one of the best in the nation, a five-star recruit, a great student, and an all-around great guy, and to top it off, he says yes and commits almost right off the bat. Then he helps you bring in other great talented players.

If it gets any better than that, then I haven't heard of it.

This is the case of Brent Calloway, one of the nation's top linebacker prospects who is also a total athlete. He's 6'2", 225 pounds, runs a 4.5 forty-yard-dash, and hits like a Mack truck. He's from Russellville, Alabama, and according to Rivals, he's one of the top-10 recruits in the country as a whole, No. 2 at his position, and No. 1 in the state of Alabama.

He also plays running back and has scored 56 touchdowns in the last two years of high school ball as a sophomore and junior, 32 of them just last year.

Combine that with his 22 sacks and more than 100 tackles as a linebacker and you are beginning to see why all rating services rated him as a five-star prospect.

If Nick Saban borrowed Dr. Frankestein's books, he couldn't build a better Saban-type outside linebacker prospect. Not only in physical skills, but in instinctual abilities to always be where the ball is. Being a running back himself helps him know what the back is thinking as he comes toward him.

And when he's on campus, he offers encouragement to other prospects to sign up and join what may be destined to be the best recruiting class in the Saban era yet.

"I'm here at Alabama all the time," Calloway was quoted as saying. "When I am here, I am always greeting guys and players are greeting me back. It feels like I am already part of the program.

“I know it’s a little unusual to commit so early. I thought about it afterward and started thinking maybe I should have waited. But everything sounded so good. I really like Alabama’s campus, and I already know some of the players. It really feels like a family there.”

Calloway committed in his junior year.

“I know I’ll be done with running back at some point because of my size,” Calloway said. “Alabama is recruiting me as an athlete. They said I would probably play linebacker, or maybe be a slot receiver. I didn’t play much defense last year, but I might play there more this season.

“Right now, I don’t see anyway I would change my commitment from Alabama. There are schools I would like to go visit, but I have never really been out of the state much and would like to see some other schools like Georgia Tech for starters. That doesn’t mean anything is wrong with my commitment to Alabama. I am as solid as I can be.”

If that's not the perfect player with the perfect attitude for a school, a coach, or a fan base, it's hard to imagine a better one.