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

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TIDE ROLLING BACK IN?

It's no secret that Alabama isn't recruiting at the same clip in the 2018 cycle compared to recent years. Nick Saban's squad just entered the top 30 of the 2018 team rankings earlier this month, but things look like they will return to normal in the 2019 class. The three-player class features elite offensive linemen Pierce Quick and Dayavie Hammond as well as running back Trey Sanders. All three players are in the top 65 of the Rivals100 and there are still plenty of big fish left in the pond from which Alabama can choose. The Crimson Tide will look to continue bringing in elite talent at all positions in 2019 but a potentially smaller offensive line group in the 2018 class could signal that offensive line will be a point of emphasis in the next cycle.

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Early Returns: How last year's top 10 recruits are faring

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1. Najee Harris, RB, Alabama

Harris has been getting "a LOT of run with the 1's" according to TideSports' Ben Jones. BamaOnline's Charlie Potter has noted his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough return for the Tide, but it sounds like college football fans will still be seeing last year's top recruit on the field this fall.

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We were never really in it for him, but I'm going to post what Scout said based on something else:

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10. Marvin Wilson, DT, Florida State

The Seminoles have a ton of depth on the defensive line. Wilson is mentioned as one of the young guys competing for time, there are ten scholarship defensive tackles on the roster.

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We can't sign a DT to save our lives and they have fricking 10 on scholarship.

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DT is the great mystery of the Saban era. We've developed underrated guys and misused prospects more than signing elite ones (though we've had a handful). It's the one position that Alabama has failed to recruit at an elite level compared to other spots. And despite churning out NFL draft picks.

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Complete speculation on my part but I wonder if the 3-4 base defense has been negative recruiting tool that has worked. It's changing now that really nickel is becoming the base look for everybody and ya'll are running more four man fronts where guys are asked to attack instead of just stuff gaps but I wonder if that is a big reason for the "struggles" at recruiting DTs.

I put struggles in quotation marks because ya'll have signed plenty of highly rated talent but definitely not the same amount of 5* guys like at LB and DB

You have to divide up the years. From 2007-2014 or so (still some remnant in 2015 on the field), we mainly recruited the shorter, thicker, heavier run pluggers. Dareus was a freak who could do anything, but he was sort of an exception. With the embarrassments against some of the Spread teams (The Barn a couple times, A&M with Manziel, and a very pitiful effort against Ohio State up front), we've sort of adjusted a bit in the way we recruit. Those teams with top notch talent and an elite dual threat guy can still score some points against us (see Ole Miss and Clemson), but we have more long, lean, quick twitch guys on the outside, and DL that can run. Payne and Raekwon are freaks, Hand will be a 1st round pick with a good senior year (as he'll put up a sub 5.0 40 at the combine), Buggs can really move, same with Quinnen Williams. Ray is a freak. Mathis can move, and has lost 20 pounds and looks great. Really the only DL on our two-deep that is more like our bigger, plodding style DL from 07-14 is Josh Frzier, who could be one of those quick guys if he had the work ethic.

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Drew Champlin and Mark Jennings are back with another edition of Champ's Corner, the Alabama recruiting podcast.

Here, we take a look at Alabama's recent pledges - WR Slade Bolden, DL Cameron Latu and OL Jarrett Bell.

We also look at some in-state prospects, including WR Justyn Ross, RB Asa Martin, LB Andres Fox and DL Coynis Miller, and answer listener questions.

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LINK with podcast

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Mark Jennings

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How much is this guy trolling or being serious? Either way he's a great Twitter follow and love him on the podcasts

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It could be speculated when Alabama was in base most of the time. But since 2012, Alabama spends as much, or more, time in four man fronts. There are also many other programs running similar styles of hybrid defenses now too.

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Agreed but I wonder if that stigma still lingers some for whatever reason (probably other teams recruiting same player )

Speaking of DT recruiting, from the UGA board:

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Chris Nee on 247 FSU reported a week or so ago that Alabama has a good shot to flip Cooper.

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Speaking of Robert Cooper, 6-2 377 from Snellville, GA.

He needs to drop like 50 pounds.