re: Class of 2019 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: That's a Wrap Edition

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Sleeper Recruit

After the Early Signing Period ended, many schools were scrambling for cornerbacks. One prospect many turned to was Eddie Smith out of Slidell, La. The long and athletic 6-foot, 180-pound prospect's film shows him making plays in all three facets of the game, but his future is at corner, where his upside is through the roof. The 247Sports Composite ranks Smith as the No. 436 overall prospect in the 2018 class. It’s hard to envision there being that many better than Smith. The former TCU commit gave Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi State a look, but it was Alabama who he ultimately signed with.

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'll help out as much as I can while your gone.

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I'm fricking kicking myself for doing this again.

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Alabama’s 2018 Signing Day did not resemble those of the past.

Part of the reason for that was majority of the class signed in December during the early signing period. But the Crimson Tide entered the day in position to fill out its class and compete for a No. 1-ranked group of players -- at least a top-three signing class.

But with three de-commitments and several top targets electing to sign elsewhere, Alabama only signed five players Wednesday to give it a 20-member class for the 2018 recruiting cycle.

Despite signing the smallest class in his 11 years at Alabama, head coach Nick Saban praised the caliber of the new players from a character standpoint.

“I think sometimes quality is misconstrued with quantity,” Saban said during a press conference. “Every player that we’ve had here was told at some point in time in recruiting that they probably couldn’t play here, they could play faster somewhere else.

“But we attract the guys that are good competitors, that want to see if they can meet the standard of playing here with a lot of expectation and a great tradition, having a chance to play in big games. And at the end of the day, we’re probably better off with those kind of competitors, and that’s worked out pretty well for us.”


Alabama signee Patrick Surtain Jr.
(Photo: Andrew Ivins, 247Sports)

The Tide currently sits with the No. 7-ranked class in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite, while the Georgia Bulldogs sit atop the recruiting rankings. It’s the first time since the 2010 recruiting cycle that Alabama has not signed a No. 1 class.

The Crimson Tide’s average player ranking is 92.78, however, is the fifth-best average in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite, trailing on Ohio State, Georgia, USC and Clemson.

Although Saban was pleased with Alabama’s 2018 haul, he would have liked to have seen one area in particular add another player before turning the page to the 2019 recruiting cycle.

“We’d have liked to get two inside linebackers, we got one. So does that mean we struck out? No,” Saban said. “We’d have taken another defensive lineman, we would have taken another offensive lineman, we got the right number of DBs, we got a punter. We redshirted a kicker from last year’s class (Joseph Bulovas), who really counts in this year’s class, so we couldn’t really take a full class this year from a numbers standpoint.”

UA signed five players from five different states on Wednesday’s Signing Day to go along with its 15 early signees in 5-star cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr. (Florida), 4-star wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (Texas), 3-star cornerback Eddie Smith(Louisiana), 3-star inside linebacker Jaylen Moody (South Carolina) and 3-star tight end Michael Parker (Alabama).

Along with edge rusher Jarez Parks, a grayshirt candidate from 2017, these are the members of the Crimson Tide’s 2018 recruiting class, along with their 247Sports Composite rankings:

Alabama Football 2018 Signing Class

“We’re really excited about the players that we were able to attract here in this recruiting class,” Saban said. “I know this was a little bit different in terms of having an early signing date and then finishing up today. But we were pleased with the guys that we were able to attract.

“I think in every recruiting class there’s always a guy that you get that you thought might not get, and there’s also a guy that you thought you might get that you didn’t get. But overall, I think we solved a lot of needs in this class … and I think we had to recruit by need. We had to have a punter, aight, we needed to get some defensive backs because we’ve never lost this many guys at one position at one time and I think we did a great job in that area.”

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I got caught up watching The Thing.

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