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

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CLAY WEBB - RIVALS 3 STRIPE CAMP ATLANTA

A veteran of the Rivals Camps who earned his second invitation in as many years to the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge in June, Webb had to work to earn MVP honors at a talented Atlanta camp that featured several Rivals250 prospects. Just the second five-star rated center in Rivals.com history, Webb is not the biggest lineman at 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, but he maximizes his size and strength with fundamentals that are well ahead of the curve for a high school lineman. His quick feet and active hands allow him to stay engaged and frustrate defensive tackles.

The battle for Webb’s services is heating up, and he could join Amari Kight - whom he just edged for Atlanta Offensive Line MVP - at Alabama. But Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and others have designs on adding the five-star to their class.

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Notre Dame apparently made a favorable impression on Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa punter Jay Bramblett when he visited last weekend.

Bramblett committed to the Fighting Irish on Wednesday, making his decision public on Twitter. He also received recruiting attention from LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State and Missouri.

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Devonta Lee torn between receiver, safety

AMITE, La. — By recruiting ranking standards, Devonta Lee is a big-bodied wide receiver with four stars beside his name and within the top-100 prospects in the country in the Class of 2019. Upon further review, that may not be the case.

Lee, who checked in at 6-foot-2 and 219 pounds at the end of the spring, is still trying to settle on a position. The 4-star athlete lines up at both wide receiver and safety for Amite (La.) High School, and different colleges are courting him at both positions.

For instance, LSU likes Lee at wide receiver. That was his original position before seeing snaps in the secondary as a junior. Alabama prefers Lee at safety. Over the next few months, he’ll weigh his options at each position, which should go a long way in ultimately making a decision.

“Some schools — like Alabama — like me at safety,” Lee told SEC Country. “Other schools like me on both sides of the ball. LSU wants me at receiver, but they want to put me anywhere on the field. I’ll play whatever. It doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll play safety or receiver; I just want to make plays. Wherever they need me, I’m going to play.”

Lee dealt with two bum ankles this spring but saw most of his action at receiver for Amite High School. Even hobbled, Lee has proved he’s the most dangerous red-zone threat in Louisiana’s 2019 class and arguably the best in the country.

The U.S. Army All-American released a top-12 list at the start of the spring. He doesn’t have a leader and admitted several schools are doing a good job of maintaining daily communication.

“I have no top schools right now that stand out,” Lee said, adding that he can count on hearing from LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Alabama and Mississippi State every day.

Those six schools, which all cracked Lee’s top 12, are selling the blue-chip prospect on the family feel at each campus.

Lee has made visits to LSU, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky this spring and will be back on the road throughout the summer as he continues to try to narrow down his list of options.

“The best thing I’ve heard is that it’s family there, you know?” Lee recalled. “These schools are letting me know that they’re going to take care of me on and off the field … education, too. Most of those schools have said that.”

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Since Jan. 8, nothing has been the same. The moment Tua Tagovailoa heaved that 41-yard touchdown pass to win Alabama a national championship, everything changed.

Not just for Alabama, winner of its fifth national title in nine years. Or for Georgia, which seemed almost destined to make its own history before Tagovailoa entered the game after halftime. Or even for the true freshman quarterback, who in an instant became the face of the sport and earned a legacy of being talked about in Alabama for decades no matter what comes next.

But for a family, which had relocated 4,000 miles from its home in Hawaii and become local celebrities in Alabaster, Alabama, facing unanticipated greetings at Walmart and photograph and autograph requests.

And for the younger brother, who was merely a spectator that night but whose life changed as the ball flew through the air toward the outstretched arms of DeVonta Smith.

Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua's younger brother, can barely recall anything about that moment, even though he was in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium stands with his father, mother and two sisters.

"It's all still such a blur," he says, nearly five months after Alabama's 26-23 overtime win.

But he knows exactly what that game meant for his own life.

"This is forcing me to be good," Taulia says. "It's pretty much mandatory now. To me, it wouldn't make sense for Tua to be this good and his brother to be so-so. Now that I'm in it, I love it. I feel like I could be as good as him or maybe even better."

Taulia was already coveted by programs around the country after he accounted for 41 touchdowns and threw for nearly 4,000 yards as a junior at Thompson High. After Tua made "Tagovailoa" a household name that night, the interest—from those programs and the media—in 247Sports' No. 8-ranked pro-style quarterback became all the more intense.

Then in April, Taulia committed verbally to Alabama, where he could very well join his brother after he plays one more high school season.

Some might be scorched by that bright a spotlight or even try to hide from it.

Taulia is running right into it.

Here off Exit 256, in a gas station parking lot tucked away in Homewood, Alabama, Galu (pronounced NA-loo) Tagovailoa is having lunch from the Tacos Dos Hermanos food truck.

Since moving to Alabama from Oahu—Hawaii's most populous island—last April, this has become one of his favorite spots. He rarely gets recognized, and it's on his way home from work. The food is also delightful.

Today he's having chorizo and pork belly tacos along with tacos de sesos—cow brains—for the first time.

"This is pretty good," he says with a smile after only a few bites. "I should've gotten two."

All this is still so new. The food. The culture. The daily commute, which typically begins before 4 a.m. The ritual of being recognized and appreciated by perfect strangers.

"When Tua threw that ball, it changed everything," Galu says between bites. "At the same time, it didn't change us as a family. We took the blessings and have moved forward. We're not running around thinking we're special."

When Tua enrolled at the University of Alabama, Galu knew both of his sons would likely play major college football stateside. The family moved to the small town—a brisk hour-and-10-minute drive from Tuscaloosa—to ensure it would see those games.

Back in Hawaii when Tua's recruitment began, things were different.

"With Tua, I think they were exposed slowly," 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons says. "He was a Hawaii quarterback who was mainly insulated from the recruiting world. It wasn't until we saw him in person that we knew what he was. Taulia is in Birmingham. He's in SEC country and committed to Alabama. This is totally different."

The Tagovailoas are people-pleasers by nature, so what interview and media requests they received while Tua was starring at the Saint Louis School, they naturally accommodated.

"With Taulia, we changed a lot," Galu says. "We've been much more guarded."

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Shortly after Taulia enrolled at Thompson High, the SEC Network requested an interview with him. Taulia agreed to do it under one condition: He wanted the team's backup quarterback, Sawyer Pate, to join him.

"I saw that, and I told my coaches later on that night that we have received one of the biggest blessings we could have possibly received," Thompson head coach Mark Freeman says. "As a person, it was over. I knew what we had."

Here in Ontario, Canada, a week before CFL training camp begins, Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones isn't reveling over the recently signed Johnny Manziel. Instead, he is fixated on four simple words. Even now when he speaks to Taulia, whom he coached for one season at Kapolei High in Honolulu, the conversation ends the exact same way.

"He'll tell me, 'I love you, Coach,'" Jones says. "That's why I do what I do. To work with kids like this."

Jones has coached at the high school, college, CFL and NFL levels. He coached the University of Hawaii for nearly a decade. After a stint at SMU, he returned to Hawaii, where he stumbled upon a rising high school senior: Tua Tagovailoa.

Jones, widely regarded as one of college football's brightest offensive minds, worked with Tua on limited occasions. He advised him to stay in the pocket longer, which was difficult given the success he had running the ball.

"He was also probably the best running back in Hawaii when he pulled it down," Jones says.

When Jones met Taulia, he saw a different player—maybe not the same athlete his brother was but a powerful, accurate quarterback with a unique sense for the position.

"He has the instincts and the accuracy that the great ones have," Jones says.

Jones was so intrigued about the possibility of working with Taulia that he phoned Kapolei High head coach Darren Hernandez, a longtime friend, about serving as the team's offensive coordinator. He migrated into that role, replacing Galu, who was glad to finally be able to watch his children play rather than coach them.

Jones' unique, pass-heavy play-calling jelled with Taulia's playing style. Taulia threw for 3,919 yards as a sophomore—just 66 from the single-season state record. He once attempted 73 passes in a single game.

"I'm putting some pressure on him, but I really believe he can be a No. 1 draft pick by the time he gets done," Jones says of Taulia. "Even though he's probably only going to be 6'1" or 6'2", he's going to be a special player. ...

"And he's going to keep getting better."

When the family moved to Alabama, Freeman was thrilled. He had previously spoken with Galu about coaching Tua for his senior year, and he saw the same qualities in Taulia that Jones had: a smooth quarterback with a remarkable arm and a remarkably quick throwing motion.

Freeman also knows what it takes to produce a successful collegiate quarterback. He has worked with gifted signal-callers over the past 15 years, including Jameis Winston before he won the Heisman Trophy at Florida State. In Taulia's first year playing for him, he had 3,820 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns (with only eight interceptions) and five rushing TDs.

On down the line, coaches keep lining up to sing his praise—three from the Power Five approached Freeman after a recent practice.

"They all said the same thing," Freeman says. "They have never seen a release as quick as his."

Here on the Thompson High practice field, with the temperature nearing 100 degrees, Taulia greets coaches from three major college football programs who have come to watch him during the tail end of spring practice.

He is grateful, even if he is still mighty comfortable with his commitment to Alabama. But rather than make this moment about himself or his lifelong competition with his brother, he introduces these coaches to Pate, his backup, and starting running back Shadrick Byrd.

The hope is that such encounters will elevate his teammates' recruiting statuses.

"He wants everybody to get better, and I think that's one of his best qualities," Pate says of Taulia. "I'm shadowing him, and I want him to teach me everything he knows. It's just an honor to have Taulia in front of me."

For some, he will always be the younger brother of the quarterback who beat Georgia in the national title game. A shadow of some kind will always exist.

But to Pate and others, Taulia will be something more. Something bigger than the biggest play on the biggest stage. Bigger even than his brother, whose football reputation right now feels larger than the sport itself.

Whether or not he stars at Alabama after Tua has moved on is of no importance.

To them, he will always be the superstar quarterback who made time to do right by those around him.

Here inside the enormous shadow, Taulia is trying to celebrate and emulate all that his brother is capable of—while also carving his own path.

Celebrating Tua has never been something he's had to force. It has come naturally for the little brother who served as the big brother's center until sixth grade.

"I really admire the way Tua plays," Taulia says. "In my eyes, I believe he's the best quarterback in college football. Of course I will say that because he's my brother, but I try to take a part of everything he does and put it into my style. He taught me everything I know and how I play."

There has always been competition between the two, as well—from checking box scores in the local paper to trying to understand each other's playbooks.

"When Tua would throw, Taulia would throw," Galu says. "When Tua would eat, Taulia would eat the same thing. When Tua would speak, Taulia would try to sound just like him."

It wasn't until Taulia saw what his brother was capable of that he decided to give the position a try. And as Taulia's profile grew, there was always Tua and the reality of trying to match his older brother.

"He's been in this shadow his whole life, not just now," Jones says.

And maybe that explains why he hasn't shied away from it.

Alabama—once it had Tua locked in—made Taulia a verbal scholarship offer when he was just a freshman. While that kind of offer typically jump-starts interest from other coaches, many programs assumed Taulia would follow his brother after his family's move.

But since Taulia verbally committed to Alabama this spring, teams have started to recruit him harder. With his senior year still to come, they want to see if they can change his mind.

"It was challenging for me," Taulia says of his commitment. "I want to make a name for myself, and I don't always want to be in Tua's shadow. But it came down to family. My parents won't have to travel far to see my games, and Tua and I are also really close."

Taulia has taken in his share of his brother's games at Alabama, and Tua has returned the favor. Because they play so close to one another, Tua will often come home and attend Taulia's Friday night games—creating quite the spectacle.

Through it all, their relationship has not budged. If anything, they've grown closer with the frenzy swarming around them.

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Considering Kirby Smart’s Georgia program just ended Alabama’s reign as the SEC’s top recruiter by signing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2018, his take on college football recruiting carries significantly more weight these days.

During his media availability down in Destin for the SEC Spring Meetings, Smart was asked about negative recruiting when it comes to Nick Saban. The former Saban assistant claimed he doesn’t partake in the practice and even tells recruits that the Alabama coach may out-live him.

“If a kid asks me that, I’m like, he may coach forever because he may out-live me the way he takes care of his body,” Smart commented. “I think that’s to each his own.”

The Georgia coach then shared his overall feelings on negative recruiting and why the practice isn’t as valuable as many may make it out to be.

“Negative recruiting, to me, never works on the kind of kids that you want in your program,” Smart said. “Because if they are listening to that and they buy into that, they are probably a little gullible. Where I would much rather be very honest and open because you attract better quality people who respect the fact that you respect the other people in your league.”

If that’s an accurate representation of the way Smart handles himself on the recruiting trail, it’s clearly paying off. After signing the nation’s top recruiting class last recruiting cycle, the Bulldogs are well on their way to landing another elite class in 2019. While the Bulldogs “only” rank No. 8 in the 247Sports team rankings at the moment, Smart’s program only holds commits from eight prospects — three of which are five-star recruits and the remaining five are four-star prospects. Once the class builds some depth, it’s sure to climb into the top five at the very least.

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Kirby is such a lying POS. I can only imagine what Saban would think reading this garbage

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Kirby is such a lying POS.

I can only imagine what Saban would think reading this garbage

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