re: 2020 FB Recruiting & Roster

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Summer enrollees have a mountain to claim in an Alabama football depth chart, but a handful could populate the two-deep at the end of fall camp.

Fifteen members of the 2019 Alabama football signing class got a winter head start by enrolling early. A dozen of their classmates will have joined them in Tuscaloosa with a day or two of Memorial Day. Exact arrival dates are impacted by some late graduations.

The 15 got a big boost by going through the fourth quarter program and spring training. Some of them have a good opportunity to be in a Crimson Tide two-deep by the end of fall camp. A couple might earn starting roles.

The 12 come in behind, needing to quickly acclimate to college life and with much football knowledge to absorb in a limited amount of time. Most important for the summer group is their physical condition when they arrive in Tuscaloosa. All of them have had nutrition and weight directives for months. Summer workouts will soon reveal if they are close to being physically ready to contribute as freshmen.

Based on little more than broad speculation, let’s look at true freshmen with a two-deep chance by the end of fall camp. Special-teams roles other than kicker are not included.
Alabama Football Early Enrollees
Possible First Team Chances
Will Reichard And D. J. Dale (see article for analysis)

Possible Two-Deep Chances(see article for analysis)
John Metchie
Evan Neal
Shane Lee
It would be unfair to rule out the next group as having some two-deep chance: Taulia Tagivailoa; Darrian Dalcourt; Justin Eboigbe and Antonio Alfano.
Alabama Football Summer Enrollees

Predicting quick success probability for a summer enrollee is little more than guessing. Our best guesses below are a mixture of recruiting profiles, positions of need and position learning-curve difficulty.
(see article for analysis)
Byron Young
Ishmael Sopsher
Trey Sanders
Jahleel Billingsley
Demarcco Hellams
Fitting the ‘unfair to count them out’ roles are Braylen Ingraham and Christian Harris. For any early two-deep shots, this pair will have to shine in fall scrimmages.

That is a large group of young guys with possible chances for significant early playing time. One reason so many can be considered is Alabama football will be a young team in 2019. Quite a few guys ahead of the true freshman don’t have much playing experience.

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Highly sought-after recruit Ishmael Sopsher had the likes of Oregon, LSU and Alabama going after him, and it was a surprise to many in his home state of Louisiana that he chose to roll with the Crimson Tide.

If you spend five minutes with Sopsher, you will learn he likes to challenge himself -- and part of that formula was moving away from what is familiar to him.

The 6-foot-3, 334 pounds of brute force is ranked No. 47 in the 2019 signing class by 247sports Composite. His accolades include being first team All-State all four years of high school and on the roster for Under Armor All-America Game.

Get to know the four-star defensive tackle in the video above.

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Five-star Julian Fleming is ready to announce his commitment. A few weeks after explaining how he would take his official visits and commit in August or September, the Catawissa (Pa.) Southern Columbia receiver is going to end the process. Fleming, who is scheduled to announce his commitment on Friday, broke down each of his finalists ahead of his big decision.

IN HIS OWN WORDS...
“Everything was stressing out my family for the most part and once you find your spot you kind of feel like you’re home and that’s kind of where we’re at right now,” Fleming said. “My mom has been saying that if I find a place I want to go at any point in the process then it’s my decision. That’s where we’re at right now.”

Alabama- “Everybody knows that Alabama is a football factory,” he said. “I’ve been there twice and I’ve built really good relationships with all the coaches. That’s why they’ve stayed in the race.”

Clemson- “That’s ‘Wide Receiver U’,” said Fleming. “I had a really good time on my visit there and I really enjoyed the coaches. It was a great visit overall and I feel like a really fit in well with the guys at Clemson."

Georgia- “My first visit really set the tone for Georgia,” he said. “My mom loved it and I loved it. We had a really good time.”

Ohio State- “When Urban left I was a little concerned but coach Day does a great job with the offense,” he said. “We saw that in the beginning of last year. You can see the progression they made throughout the year and I have a really good relationship with coach Hartline, the receivers coach. They made me feel really welcome. I spent a lot of time with the players when I was up there too.”

Penn State- “I’m home grown and I’m a Pennsylvania kid,” Fleming said. “I’ve been here pretty much my entire life. The school is right up the road and I can’t count how many times I’ve been there. They got on me really early in the recruiting process at the beginning of my sophomore year. I’ve been in touch with them for so long and I have a really good relationship with the players.”

RIVALS' REACTION...
Fleming has been very secretive throughout the recruiting process and that isn’t changing ahead of his commitment. There is a growing consensus among people that have followed Fleming’s recruitment closely that Ohio State will get his commitment on Friday and there is plenty of evidence to support that claim. Penn State seems to have fallen off the pace in recent months but you can never fully count out the hometown team. Alabama made a great impression on Fleming and his family when they were in town and so did Clemson and Georgia. He knows he can have success at any of these five schools but finding the best situation for him is another matter entirely. My FutureCast is on Ohio State because it sounds like that is where he is most comfortable but only time will tell.

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Four-star running back Sam Adams II (247) included Alabama among his top six, the Sammamish (Wash.) Eastside Catholic product announced late Tuesday night.

Along with the Crimson Tide, Florida, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Washington made the cut.

An Aggies legacy, Adams II made a trip out to Tuscaloosa earlier this spring. Nick Saban offered him during his stay.

“It feels really amazing,” Adams II told BamaOnLine at the time. “It’s been a dream of mine for long, long time.”

Adams II says Saban sees more in him than maybe just playing the running back position.

“He kind of gave examples of how he recruits players and sometimes changes their position based on where he thinks they better fit,” Adams II said. “He told me how I can play running back and DB and that’s just useful for him, really. He likes to do that with players and experiment with them.”

At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, Adams II is rated the No. 16 running back and the No. 174 overall player in the country per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite Rankings.

In an interview earlier this spring, Adams II said Bama will “definitely” get an official visit.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama football's game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14 is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on CBS, the network announced on Wednesday morning.

The Crimson Tide and Gamecocks will meet for the 15th time overall, with Alabama owning a 10-4 edge in the series. The two teams last met in 2010 with the then-No. 19 Gamecocks knocking off the top-ranked Crimson Tide in Columbia by a score of 35-21.

The game between Alabama and South Carolina marks the first of 16 "SEC on CBS" games during the 2019 year, with doubleheader dates set for Sept. 21 and Nov. 16. Matchups will be announced at a later date.

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“I just wanted to say to all the coaches I am truly sorry for making statements about the coaching staff that was not true,” the early signee wrote. “[T]hey were always honest with me and did everything they could to try to make my situation better at LA Tech.

“I made some unwise decisions through the recruiting process and a lot of mistakes at LA Tech to try to overcome the decision.”
Wren was the highest-rated member of Tech’s 2018 recruiting class, listed as a three-star prospect on 247Sports.com‘s composite board. Coming out of Mesquite, Tex., that same composite board had the 6-3½, 216-pound Wren listed as the No. 26 athlete in the country and the No. 58 player at any position in the state.
Prior to signing with Tech in December of last year, Wren held Power Five offers from, among others, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Purdue, Texas Tech, Utah and Washington. In early August of 2017, he committed to Arkansas; nearly two months later, he decommitted from the Razorbacks.

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