re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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Dorian Thompson-Robinson played wide receiver for Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas) in 2016. He had 22 receptions, 397 yards and eight touchdowns. He also rushed for 171 yards and scored three touchdowns. Thompson-Robinson also completed 21-of-31 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns.

Thompson-Robinson has a total of 48 pass attempts in his two years at Bishop Gorman, but he’s one of Alabama’s top quarterback targets in the Class of 2018. How is this possible you may ask?

The nation’s No. 4 dual-threat quarterback was behind Tate Martell for the past two years. Martell was the nation’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2017 before he signed with Ohio State. Thompson-Robinson came into games as Martell’s back-up when the team was blowing out its opponents.

There wasn’t an opportunity for Thompson-Robinson to get meaningful snaps as the team’s starting quarterback because Gorman and Martell were 43-0 during his time there. Now, Thompson-Robinson will get his chance to be the team’s starting QB.

Just because he has limited experience in games, it doesn’t mean that coaches are blindly offering Thompson-Robinson. College coaches are frequently at Gorman when the recruiting calendar permits because of the team’s talent, and they’ve seen him throw in practice. They’ve also seen film of him at camps and 7-on-7 tournaments.

Alabama and Nick Saban offered him after watching his film at a 7-on-7 tournament in Los Angeles in February.

“Dorian has been in a unique situation with being a back-up, but at the same time, coaches have recognized his skills,” Melva Thompson-Robinson, Dorian’s mother, told SEC Country. “There has been some hesitancy for some because he hasn’t started and doesn’t have enough varsity film for people to offer. Some people have seen that skill and talent are there.

“When he comes in during back-up duties, he comes in and performs well. The other part of it has been during spring football, several coaches are usually out there and they’ve been looking at Tate, but they also see Dorian as well and have been impressed with him.”

Thompson-Robinson got a text from Alabama outside linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi on Feb. 20 to call him. When he did, Lupoi put him on the line with Saban. Several months before picking up the offer from Alabama, Melva and Dorian spoke about which offers he was hoping to get. Alabama was one of those schools.

Melva said when Dorian got word from Saban that he had a scholarship to attend Alabama, he reacted very differently than the majority of his other offers.

“He called me and was just like, ‘Ahhhh! I got the Alabama offer!”‘ Melva said with a laugh. “He was already texting me when he was on the phone with Coach Saban that he had gotten the offer.

“His thing was that once you get an offer from Alabama that really means that you are a legitimate player and well-qualified. Receiving that offer just confirmed it with him. It was a confidence booster. You’re a legit Division I, top-10 in the class, top whatever quarterback in the country. Given that he’s someone who hasn’t started a varsity game is huge.”

Now that he has the opportunity to play for the Crimson Tide, where is his interest level on committing to them? Melva acknowledges that whenever Alabama offers any recruit, the interest level always is going to be there because it’s one of the top programs in the country.

But, Thompson-Robinson is hoping to make a commitment at some point from the end of April to the end of July. That’s not much time to build a relationship and get familiar with a school they haven’t visited.

Alabama made it work this past recruiting cycle, though. Tua Tagovailoa considered Southern California the leader in his recruitment for over a year. Once Alabama offered, things changed. The family made the trip from Hawaii to Tuscaloosa and several weeks later, he committed and never looked back.

Alabama will try to execute the same plan this year with Thompson-Robinson.

“It’s kind of a weird situation,” Melva explained. “How can you compare schools coming in now with schools that you’ve had a longer relationship with because they have offered earlier. Right now, that’s what we’re trying to figure out — where does Alabama fit within that bigger scheme of other schools.”

Those schools she has a good relationship with are UCLA, Michigan, UNLV, UNC, South Carolina and Texas. Each one of those schools, except Texas, made his top schools list which he released three days ago.

Melva hasn’t heard from the Alabama staff once since her son got the offer. That is going to be an issue if the Tide want to sign her son.

“That’s definitely important so that I can look a coach in the eye and see who he is as a man, what he brings to the program and what his expectations are for the program and for my son because quarterback is a high-profile position,” Melva said. “That is very important that it happens, and it’s not just with Alabama, but every school.”

Plans to visit Tuscaloosa haven’t been discussed yet. They still are in the process of figuring out which schools they definitely want to see. Because recruiting changes by the day, their plans already have been curtailed.

They were going to visit Miami, but the Hurricanes just added a quarterback commitment a few days ago from 4-star prospect Artur Sitkowski. They are rethinking their plans on visiting Miami.

Quarterback recruiting is different than every other position because most schools only take one per class. It’s also rare to see a QB de-commit from a program, unless there’s a drastic change such as a coach getting fired.

The expectation nowadays for quarterbacks is that they commit early, stick with their decision and become the leader of the class before the season begins. Thompson-Robinson wants to do that, which is something that his predecessor at Bishop Gorman did not do. Martell de-committed from Washington before committing to Texas A&M and ultimately committed to Ohio State.

That will not happen with Thompson-Robinson. Once he commits to a program before the end of the summer, that’s it. So, getting him and his mother in Tuscaloosa this spring or summer is going to be very important for Alabama’s chances with one of the nation’s top quarterbacks.

“I think one thing that we did pick up on (watching Martell) is wherever you do commit to, be ready to commit and not de-commit and re-commit and do all of that,” she said. “I told Dorian that we are not doing all of that. Wherever you commit, that’s where you need to prepare to be for the next four to five years.”

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Number assignments for Tua, Najee, Moses, and the other newcomers.

Alabama has quietly updated the football roster on rolltide.com. That can only mean that Spring Football practice is right around the corner.

Observations:

98 players are listed; 21 of them, including kicker Andy Pappanastos, LB Jamey Mosley, and DB Levi Wallace, are walk-ons. Wallace and Mosley were granted Fall 2016 scholarships which likely run until Fall 2017 begins. Despite asking for and receiving a release from his scholarship, Raheem Falkins is still on the roster. Some quick math for you: 98-21-1 = 76.

Three players have been assigned #6: B.J. Emmons, Hootie Jones, Dylan Moses (?). Emmons wore #21 last season.

Josh Jacobs will now wear #8. He was #25 last season.

Jared Mayden moves from #8 to #21.

Xavian Marks from #19 to #31. Xavian’s walk-on brother, Torin, is not on the roster as of now.

Johnny Dwight #36 to #95.

No quarterback will wear the hallowed #12. However, Chadarius Townsend will. Listed as a running back with safety also a possibility, he was a QB in high school (wore #7).

Tosh Lupoi is listed as the Co-Defensive Coordinator, but Jeremy Pruitt is Defensive Coordinator.

In the same vein, Michael Locksley is listed as Co-Offensive Coordinator with Brian Daboll as Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks.

Aren’t you glad you hung onto your #22 Mark Ingram jersey?

As far as I can tell, measurements have not been adjusted for returning players.

Early Enrollee Number Assignments and Measurements:

3 Daniel Wright DB 6-1/187 Fr. 
4 Jerry Jeudy WR 6-1/175 Fr. 
6 Dylan Moses LB 6-3/235 Fr.
10 Mac Jones QB 6-2/185 Fr. 
12 Chadarius Townsend RB 6-1/190 Fr. 
13 Tua Tagovailoa QB 6-1/215 Fr. 
14 Tyrell Shavers WR 6-6/202 Fr. 
22 Najee Harris RB 6-2/225 Fr. - #2 in high school but Jalen Hurts has dibs.
24 Brian Robinson Jr. RB 6-1/224 Fr. 
25 Xavier McKinney DB 6-1/192 Fr. 
26 Kyriq McDonald DB 5-11/190 Fr. 
45 Thomas Fletcher LS 6-2/220 Fr. 
49 Isaiah Buggs DL 6-5/290 Jr. 
70 Alex Leatherwood OL 6-6/327 Fr. 
78 Elliot Baker OL 6-7/295 Jr. 
88 Major Tennison TE 6-5/240 Fr.

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