re: Class of 2017 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: Say Your Goodbyes Edition

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The sudden transfer of quarterback Blake Barnett has put Alabama on high alert to make sure both of its quarterback commits remain 100 percent solid with their pledges to the Tide.

Barnett, a former 5-star recruit, decided to transfer — Nick Saban said Wednesday night Barnett’s status is unclear — leaving Alabama with some depth concerns at quarterback. Cooper Bateman likely is going to be Alabama’s backup to Jalen Hurts with David Cornwell being the third-string quarterback.

The good news for Alabama is that there are no major concerns with either Tua Tagovailoa, a 5-star recruit from Honolulu, and Mac Jones, a 4-star recruit from Jacksonville, Fla., with where they stand with their commitment and whether one or the other de-commits from Alabama.

Tagovailoa is expected to take multiple official visits to other schools while Jones has stuck by his decision to only visit Alabama, which virtually ends his recruitment.

Cornwell, who is a redshirt sophomore, could decide to transfer at some point, too, especially because it appears unlikely he’ll get serious playing time at Alabama. Bateman is a junior, so it’s unlikely he’d depart from Alabama.

Both Tagovailoa and Jones are content with Alabama bringing in two quarterbacks in the Class of 2017. Jones even flipped his commitment from Kentucky to Alabama this summer to join Tagovailoa in this class.

Tagovailoa’s mother spoke to SEC Country this summer and put an end to any rumors about him rethinking his commitment. There was talk this summer that Oregon and Southern California were more likely to sign the Hawaiian prospect than Alabama.

“I don’t believe that he’ll waver from his verbal commitment to Alabama because he’s prayed hard on it,” Diane Tagovailoa told SEC Country at The Opening, the premier summer camp in the nation, held at Nike’s world headquarters. “Once he makes up his mind, he’s a man of his word. Once he makes up his mind, that’s what he’s going with.”

When Jones decided to commit to Alabama this summer, there was a lot of criticism that came his way.

The main question was why would Jones choose a school with another highly ranked QB in his class when he could have possibly coasted to the starting job at Kentucky one day? To Jones, the chance to square off against Tagovailoa excites him. It doesn’t scare him off.

“A lot of thought went into it,” Jones said this summer. “I was sitting in my bed every night and thinking of what to do. I had to just make the decision and I went with it.

“But I didn’t really think about Tua (during the decision process) very much. I’ve seen Tua throw and I think Alabama’s offense is really good for me. I just decided that I needed to make the move. With Tua, we have a good relationship. We have different personalities with us being from very different places, but I think we’re going to be great together.”

Keeping these two committed is one of Alabama’s biggest priorities in this class, and it looks like the Tide have already accomplished that goal.

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Moses giving LSU every opportunity to sign him

We sure have talked quite a bit about Dylan Moses over the past week. I guess that’s what happens when you are the nation’s No. 4 overall player.

Moses, a 5-star outside linebacker from IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), was in the news once again on Wednesday when he announced that he was no longer committing on Dec. 15. He’ll now announce his decision at the Under Armour All-American game on Jan. 1.

The nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker said the reason for his decision to back up his commitment date was because it conflicts with a possible high school national championship on Dec. 16. Do I really believe he is pushing back his commitment date solely because of that? Absolutely not. The reason should be attributed to the presumed favorite school in his recruitment, LSU, firing Les Miles.

Pushing back his commitment date, in my opinion, shows me that Moses is giving LSU as much time as possible to get accustomed to its new coach, if it doesn’t decide to keep Ed Orgeron. He also told reporters on Wednesday that he may now visit LSU before he makes his commitment. That was not likely going to happen before the new commitment date.

Moses also said he now plans on taking an official visit to Houston. UCLA, which was going to receive an official visit, now likely won’t get one. He has visits set up to Alabama (this weekend), Ohio State, Miami and Texas, in addition to Houston. The visit to check out Houston will come in early December.

I think the visit to check out the Cougars is a big deal when evaluating where Moses’ recruitment stands. Tom Herman, one of LSU’s top targets for its coaching job, coaches Houston, so the official visit will give the 5-star recruit a very good opportunity to see the Tigers’ potential coach up close.

Alabama would love to add Moses in this recruiting class. He is one of the team’s top targets regardless of position. But his decision to push back his commitment date, potentially visit LSU and take an official visit to Houston shows me he’s doing everything he possibly can to give the Tigers the best shot at landing his signature.

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Alabama is on the hunt for its seventh straight recruiting championship. Join us here on SEC Country for a daily recap of Alabama recruiting news, insight on what’s happening behind the scenes, and for a glimpse at what’s coming next.

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Surprise visitor this weekend

Robert Beal, a 5-star defensive end from IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), told SEC Country he’ll take an official visit to Alabama this weekend for the team’s game against Kentucky. Beal committed to Georgia this summer.

Besides the fact that he’s a Bulldog, this is a big deal for the Crimson Tide because it represents a major shift from what Beal said a month ago. In early August, he told DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell that his recruitment was “done” and he planned to only visit the school that received his commitment. Despite Beal’s commitment to Georgia, Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt has made Beal a priority.

Beal will now take all five of his official visits, which means his recruitment is far from done. When he committed to Georgia this summer, Alabama was a strong player in his recruitment. Most in the recruiting industry believed his decision was going to come down to those two schools.

Alabama is recruiting the defensive end for its JACK position, which is a hybrid of defensive end and outside linebacker. The Tide are also recruiting 4-star prospects Jarez Parks and Christopher Allen at that position, too. Behind the scenes, Parks favors Alabama, and Allen once had Alabama on top of his recruitment. Allen will be an interesting prospect to track over the next several months because LSU is the other serious player in his recruitment. With Les Miles now out, he’s one of the prospects who was most affected by the news.

Beal will visit Alabama with his parents, as well as several other prospects from IMG Academy, including 5-star linebacker Dylan Moses, who is one of Alabama’s top targets; 4-star defensive end Joshua Kaindoh, who is committed to Maryland; Alabama long snapper commit Thomas Fletcher; and 2019 Alabama commit Trey Sanders.

I don’t expect Beal to flip his commitment to Alabama. It’s safe to classify him as a long shot, but the Tide’s chances with him have definitely increased now that he’s changed his mind about not visiting other schools.

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As the calendar flips to October, the second month of the college football season is littered with great games around the nation.

Week 5 features three pairs of teams ranked in the Top 10 doing battle against one another.

The loaded slate is also attractive for recruits mapping out their plans to visit schools on their short list.

Which visits should fans around the country be monitoring over the weekend?

Let’s take a look at the most important recruiting visits for Week 5 of the college football season.

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Alabama: 5-star LB Dylan Moses

Class: 2017

High School: IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida)

Size: 6'2.5", 235 lbs

Scout.com Ranking: No. 1 outside linebacker; No. 6 overall

While he’s being recruited by a bevy of powerhouses, most observers and pundits—according to his 247Sports crystal ball page—figure that the recruitment of 5-star linebacker Dylan Moses will come down to SEC heavyweights Alabama and LSU.

After LSU parted ways with long-time head coach Les Miles earlier in the week, the Crimson Tide are hoping to gain momentum with Moses. Fortunately for them, he will be on campus as an official visitor for this weekend’s matchup against Kentucky.

It’s the first official visit for Moses—who is also set to take trips to Miami and Texas in October, along with Ohio State in November.

Even though Moses is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his staff have had success pulling recruits from the Pelican State in recent years.

This weekend represents the Tide’s opportunity to make a strong push as the recruitment of Moses—who will enroll at the school of his choice in January—begins to wind down.

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Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was in the shower when he received the phone call. The former Georgia defensive coordinator had recently been announced as the successor to Kirby Smart, and although he wasn’t coaching the Crimson Tide during its playoff run, his focus was on the 2016 recruiting cycle and securing another top-ranked signing class.

Shortly after being hired by Nick Saban, Pruitt received a call from Gerald Smith, a former high school coach in the state of Texas that used to search for “high-profile kids that are not getting recruited.” He had found someone he thought Pruitt and Alabama would be interested in from Tulsa, Okla. And that someone was three-star, all-purpose back Joshua Jacobs.

At 2 a.m. the following morning, Smith received a text message from Pruitt.

“I’m on it,” Pruitt’s text read. “We want him.”

Jacobs committed and signed to play for Alabama on National Signing Day and enrolled at the university in June. Since then, he has ascended the running back pecking order and claimed the No. 2 spot in the backfield behind Damien Harris.

In four games, Jacobs is the Crimson Tide’s third-leading rusher with 150 yards and two scores on only 18 carries, trailing Harris and dual-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts in terms of yards. The true freshman has the fewest carries of the four Alabama tailbacks, but his success isn’t a surprise to those that saw him run before his on-field debut in Arlington almost a month ago.

“When I saw his film, I was like, ‘You know what, this kid can play at Alabama all day long,’” Smith told BamaOnLine. “‘I don’t care what they say, who says he can’t -- because he’s not a high-profile back and he doesn’t have 25 offers.’ I just thought totally different about it, and I kind of just went from what I knew. I just had a gut feeling about it.”

His recruitment was an intriguing one, to say the least.

Jacobs, a late bloomer in terms of exposure, did not appear on Saban’s radar until after the national title game against Clemson. The tailback who operated out of a wildcat offense then became one of running backs coach Burton Burns’ top targets. He visited him after Pruitt and wide receivers coach Billy Napier saw the film Smith sent them and an offer quickly followed.

But what was the reasoning behind his late arrival to the recruiting scene? Jacobs hails from a part of the country that isn’t heavily recruited. According to Smith, once a player receives an offer from in-state powers Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, the likeliness of that player leaving the state is slim. Jacobs, however, is an exception to this belief. Before the Tide offered him Jan. 29, Jacobs only held interest from teams like Wyoming and New Mexico State.

Smith, who finds hidden gems and sends their film to big-time programs for free, noticed something in Jacobs. After searching for a character issue or reason for the lack of interest, an opposing coach told Smith, “He just came out and played.” At that point, he felt comfortable sending Jacobs’ film out to bigger schools, because he saw the player that ranks third in the SEC with a 8.33 yards per carry average as Alabama’s No. 2 running back.

“The way he played. He played angry. He played like a guy that was the best player out on the field, every snap, every down,” Smith said. “I watched some actual game film on him to see does this kid play this way the entire game. One thing about it, I looked at the backs that Alabama was bringing in, and I was like, ‘You know what, when I watch this film and watch these guys, he’s right there. He’s right there.’ The only difference is no one knows about him.”

Jacobs played in only six games as a junior at McLain (Okla.) High School in 2014 because of an injury. He rushed for 948 yards and 13 scores in just over four games before his senior year where he was able to bounce back and amass 2,704 yards and 36 touchdowns. Jacobs finished his high school career at McLain with 5,372 rushing yards and 56 touchdowns.

That tough running style of his has also stood out in the early portion of the Crimson Tide’s 2016 schedule. Jacobs isn’t running like a player that was rated the 464 overall player in the country in last year’s recruiting cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite, but he does resemble one that wants to prove teams that overlooked him or said he would never play at Alabama wrong. That was evident from the very moment he stepped on campus.

“I saw Josh during fall camp have a couple of great days in the two scrimmages we had in the fall,” senior tight end O.J. Howard said. “I could tell he had some good talent. He made some plays that were positive because he was breaking tackles he shouldn’t have been able to break. I thought, ‘Yeah, this kid has some juice.’ That’s when I really noticed he was so good.”

Jacobs joined four-star B.J. Emmons as the two running backs Alabama signed in 2016. The latter was a top-35 player and the No. 2 running back recruit, per the 247Sports Composite, and the former was relatively unknown until after the New Year. Both players have provided depth at a position of need for the Tide this season, and Jacobs, as he did on the recruiting trail, has surprised a lot of people with his rise up the depth chart in Tuscaloosa.

A week ago against Kent State, Jacobs stepped up in a big way after Harris left the game with a sprained ankle. The freshman rushed for a game-high 97 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and was named one of the Players of the Week following the 48-0 win over the Golden Flashes and received some high praise from the coach that offered him eight months ago.

“We found Josh a little late in recruiting but we were happy that we were able to get him,” Saban said. “We were very impressed with him. Typically a guy that shows great maturity and understanding and is very instinctive as a football player, and I think it shows up in his play and how he plays, and it’s certainly showed up in how he’s developed to be able to play.

“Hopefully he’ll continue to improve and get better and he’ll be able to be productive as we move forward.”

With Harris’ status for Saturday’s homecoming game against Kentucky in the air, Jacobs could face an increased workload in Alabama’s second taste of SEC play of the season. That’s quite an accomplishment for a player that only held a handful of offers from non-Power 5 programs less than 10 months ago. But it isn’t a surprise to those that saw his tape from Tulsa, Okla.

“If he starts against Kentucky, I think he’s gonna put a stamp on his name,” Smith said. “I think he’s really gonna justify why he should be there, and a lot of people are gonna regret that they didn’t recruit him.”

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