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

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Welcome to SEC Country’s daily Roll Tide-ings, a rundown of everything happening in Alabama Crimson Tide recruiting with Chris Kirschner. In this edition, we talk the latest with one of Alabama’s top defensive back targets.

Nick Cross leaves Alabama impressed

Nick Cross hadn’t visited Alabama until he landed in Birmingham before driving to Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. It was important to get Cross on campus for an official visit because the nation’s No. 4 safety will make his commitment before DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) takes the field for training camp in August.

Before Cross returned to Maryland, his teammate, 4-star safety DeMarcco Hellams, committed to the Crimson Tide. Hellams and Cross are very close so it certainly doesn’t hurt the Tide’s chances at landing Cross, too.

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The 4-star prospect hung out with Alabama cornerbacks Saivion Smith and Trevon Diggs for most of his time in Tuscaloosa. Both Smith and Diggs told Cross how much they’ve grown as players, and also as people. It’s something that made Alabama stand out from the other visits he’s taken.

“They really spend a lot of money on getting psychologists and other people in there to help with their mental makeup,” Cross said. “Coach [Nick] Saban is big on second chances and not just giving the death sentence, so to speak, for one mistake. They really focus on making the right decisions. They bring in people to talk about every topic under the sun to help their players be role models off the field.

“That’s important to me because I’m not just a football player. I’m a person who plays football and I need to be a role model, a positive one at that, in society. I need to be able to go where that is worked on and developed so that I know how to be a better person, son, a better player and the whole nine yards.”

Cross isn’t the first person to recently tell me how big of an impact the off-field training made on him. Kevin Harris, who committed to Alabama in April, told me that the Tide’s alumni program, 1st and Ten, was a major reason why he decided on Bama.

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Saban, in particular, always has made it a point to talk to recruits about not only football but how being at Alabama helps transforms the players as people in society, which is something that Cross is looking for in a school.

“Their attention to detail and attention to treating every player as an individual stood out,” Cross said. “They just focus so much on developing their players into not only outstanding football players but outstanding people in life.”

The 6-foot-1, 208-pound prospect has one more official visit set for the summer and that’s to Florida State on June 22. Florida and Florida State are two of Cross’ top contenders and Alabama’s biggest competition. He didn’t name any leaders, but the Tide definitely made their best case to him.

“We will just have to see,” Cross said when asked where Alabama stands. “I will sleep on it over the next couple of nights, pray and ask for God’s guidance and just go from there.”

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Jeffery Carter, a 4-star prospect from Texas, has Alabama in his top four along with Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M. He’s also expected in Tuscaloosa in two weeks. From talking to some people close to the Alabama program, the Tide feel like they are in good shape here.

Akeem Dent, a Florida State commit, is also a name to keep in mind. From our last interview with Dent, he didn’t seem like someone who was 100 percent committed to the Seminoles and he specifically mentioned Alabama as one of the schools that was trying to change his mind.

And don’t forget that Jaylen McCollough, a 4-star safety from Georgia, is still in the mix. I think the Hellams commitment certainly affects McCollough the most. He’s one that the staff has gone back and forth on about whether they should accept his commitment. With Hellams on board, it makes McCollough being in this class more challenging with Cross and Hill still on the board.

There are other targets still out there, such as Jalyn Phillips, Mississippi State commit Jarrian Jones and Tyrique Stevenson, but the names above are the ones to watch closely.

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