Alabama Football: Alabama Signs Top JUCO Defensive Back Travell Dixon

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)  The rich just keep getting richer. With the flip earlier this week of running back TJ Yeldon from Auburn to Alabama, that pushed Alabama's recruiting class right to the No.1 ranking.

Adding the nation's top defensive back, Travell Dixon, will just solidify that ranking.

Travell Dixon is one of the rare corner backs with size, speed, muscle and attitude. At 6'2'' and 200 pounds, he can bully receivers down the field and support the run game like few corners can. He hits and tackles like a 6'6'' 250 linebacker and rarely ever needs help in bringing down anyone he makes first contact with.

He's got an attitude that makes him not afraid to be put on an island covering anyone one on one and he disguises coverage well in the zone packages and can be a pick off threat too. He is expected to come in and fight for playing time right away if not just going ahead and nailing down a starting job.

At Eastern Arizona College last year, he finished with 30 tackles, four interceptions, five pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Dixon, one of the nation's top corner backs, hails from Miami and had narrowed down his choices to Alabama and Florida State. For a while it looked like a big push from the Seminoles would pay off. Many thought he would go that way, but the Tide has to thank Dixon's grandmother for this one.

He said, "After careful consideration on the behalf of my parents & family. I decided that in the best interest Academically and Athletically I chosen." on his twitter page. His grandmother, who has always been a big influence is his life, was always firmly in the Alabama camp and always in his ear.

He broke the news on his twitter page ONLY_1_TRILL TRILL "THE ADAGE"- A picture is worth a thousand words. (and the picture was the one used at the top of the article)

and followed up with many tweets like:

ONLY_1_TRILL TRILL TO DA BAMA NATION.. IM LOOKIN FORWARD TO WEARIN #1... LET IT B KNOWN..ROLL TIDE!

Dixon becomes the third defensive back commitment for Alabama, which also have verbals from high school standouts Geno Smith (corner back), from Atlanta, Ga. and Eddie Williams (safety) from Panama City Beach, Fla. He will also be on campus next month to enroll early and start learning the system.

His pickup was crucial for Saban, who is losing Mark Barron from safety and DeQuan Menzie, Phelon Jones and quite possibly Dre Kirkpatrick to the NFL from the corner back position. The Tide will indeed have big holes to fill in the defensive backfield.

Of course with the talent they have on stock besides this year of signees, they also will return Robert Lester at safety and Dee Milliner to help be the on field leaders in the group and last year's top safety recruit, Hasean Clinton-Dix, who has finished his freshman year and will be ready to take the field after a year of polishing and possibly fill the slot left open by the graduation and NFL draft of Mark Barron.

Even though the Tide will miss the players leaving, from a pure talent level, this could be one of the best defensive backfields the Tide has had in years. That said, remember the mistakes that were made last year when Alabama had a lot of talent, but combined it with inexperience.

Besides his grandmother, the other thing Dixon said attracted him to Alabama was Nick Saban. He wanted to learn from the best and put himself in the best position to take his game to the next level one day, and no one has a better history of helping players from his position do that better than Nick Saban.

Mohammed Seisay, another 6'2 200 4 star JUCO DB, committed yesterday to Nebraska. He was a team mate at Eastern Arizona College.

Could another big commitment flip be coming now that Dixon is talking it up with his buddy?

Dixon said that he will be on campus on January the 10th to settle in and he will start classes the next day, so he'll have plenty of time to start working with his new team, getting team chemistry down and learning the system.