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

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I agree I honestly want Harris more than any other LB prospect.

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We need Harris and Dean. We need 3 ILB's in this class.

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Fap worthy. Though, I lean toward Sophsher and Tuitele over Ika, as I think Ika might be limited to situational NT. He has too much bad weight, but IF he can drop 25-30 lbs, he'd be more versatile.

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I don't see that as a problem. When guys are that big dropping 30lbs is nothing. What's surprising is he moves just as well as guys that weigh 30lbs less already. If he gets in the 325 range imagine how crazy good he could be. He might take a year to get into ideal trim, but you can tell from the film that he's a super rare combo of size, strength, and quickness. I'd take his commitment immediately no question s

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tider04, I'm not trying to advance the subject, we back on recruiting, but just wanted to verify you saw the stats on HBCU's and Flagship Universities. I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn't pulling stats out of arse.

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I did, and some of those stats were surprising. I am proud that UA is closing in on the national percentage of AA population in it's student body. Great progress there and it many other places. If HBCUs keep working toward better diversity in their student bodies I'd say we're all well on the way to being a more healthy society where all ethnicities are equally valued. Now if we can just get churches to integrate, we'd really make some headway!

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I am definitely with you on Sospher but I want Ika now. I don't know what is going on but if they want Tuitele to wait to commit with coach Kool's ability to coach'em up, that makes me nervous. If they want Ika I think they can get him where he needs to be. His motor makes me think he has the ambition and work ethic to make it happen.

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I suspect the staff is in agreement that Sopsher is a definite take, but might be having a tough time deciding between Ika and Tuitele. If not, it seems like Ika would've already committed. I'm just speculating tho, so I may be wrong about all of that. Also, Idk if Tuitele is itching to commit before FB season. Regardless, I'll celebrate if Ika commits early -- since that would apparrently be what the staff wants.

LINK ]Tide leads Crystal Ball for nation's No. 1 DB (BamaOnLine -- embedded video)

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Alabama is out front on the 247Sports Crystal Ball for 5-star safety LINK ]Daxton Hill, after the majority of prediction went Oklahoma's way in the early going for the Tulsa (Okla.) Booker T. Washington product.

The Crystal Ball currently sits in favor of the Crimson Tide at 44 percent, followed by the Sooners at 33 percent, and Oklahoma State and Michigan at 11 percent. Hill's older brother Justice plays for Oklahoma State, but that clearly hasn't deterred the younger Hill from looking elsewhere beyond Oklahoma.

Despite living in Oklahoma, the conversation as of late has shifted more towards Alabama and Michigan duking it out for the 5-star talent. Hill visited Tuscaloosa twice this spring and summer -- once for A-Day and then again for an official visit in mid-June.

“It was overall a great experience,” Hill told BamaOnLine of his official visit. “The first time I went up there I really didn’t get a chance to see everything since it was A-Day. Second time, with the official, I got to see a lot of different stuff they had to offer like the facilities and the academics and seeing some of the players and hearing from them. It was a good second visit.”

Hill has developed a strong bond with defensive backs coach Karl Scott who he says he feels is recruiting him hardest. That coupled with Nick Saban getting involved has the nation's No. 10 overall player thinking.

“They say I’m their No. 1 prospect on their board and to always think about them and not count them out," Hill said. "They’re always the top program year in and year out — I think that’s what their message is.”

On the 5-star DB's official visit to Tuscaloosa, Hill says it was "eye-opening," especially getting to spend time with a fellow Tulsa native in UA junior running back Josh Jacobs.

“He said it’s a great place,” Hill said. “He said it was kind of an adjustment for him coming out of Oklahoma, but he said after a couple of months it felt like home for him. He was just saying it’s a great place, a college town, and everything is enjoyable there. He said people will say negative things about it, but when you go on campus and experience it as a player it’s a whole different type of deal.

“He was just showing me different things of how life will be once you leave your state. Just hanging out with Josh kind of opened my eyes a little bit of how things can be similar and different from where I’m at right now.”

It's not clear when a decision will come from Hill. At The Opening Finals he said "soon," but for now he has an official visit to Michigan locked in for Sept. 15.

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I think he was saying Bama would beat South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game.

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Exactly just trying to troll our UGA friend a bit. I got no bite, very disappointing for what I thought was a clever misdirect!!

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It's not clear when a decision will come from Hill. At The Opening Finals he said "soon," but for now he has an official visit to Michigan locked in for Sept. 15.

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I get your point. I just think the destruction of racial barriers can tend to fall on one particular ethnicity, which I get because of the whole slavery deal. But true healing and progress is only going to happen when EVERYONE takes ownership for racism (including what many call "reverse-racism") and makes effort to ensure we all value one another regardless of skin color. I've seen great progress in my 30 something years on this planet, and hope to see even more in the years to come.

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Amen

I played football (1968-72) at a brand new HS (Grissom) in SE Huntville. That area was newer white collar and up residential development from the city's NASA-related boom. Decendants of plantation owners became the developers, and the only blacks in that area of town were small pockets of slave decendant families living in modest houses on remaining segments of the original plantations. Iow, the defacto result was segregation.

My HS had about 2800 students and only about 30 or so were black. They were popular in school and not a separated group. Mike (black kid) was one of my closest friends. He played football too and we played YMCA church league basketball together for my church's team.

Mike often spent entire weekends in our home and went to church with us and I did the same with him. If anyone in either of our churches was rustled by it, they never showed it. In fact, many extended a hearty welcome to Mike and me. I loved Mike's old fashioned little wooden church, because we all "danced" while singing hymns.

The assistant principal (who had a little mild racism in him) supervised the Key Club, a HS service club affiliate of the Kiwanis Club. I was a club officer and talked him into inviting Mike and another deserving black student to join the club. The members unanimously voted them in.

I was very tight with our defensive coordinator. We studied film together in the mornings before classes started. During one of those morning sessions we talked about how the historically all black HS in town played "dirty" -- cheap shots, whitie-hate trash talking, etc. They got so caught up in doing it that it actually hurt their own team's performance. He said when it comes time to play them one thing will be made clear to our players. Anyone who reacts to it will get benched and run sprints after the next practice until they puke.

I suggested to him that we should invite them for a fall camp joint practice & scrimmage followed by catered lunch and hanging out and getting to know each other. We did and they came. It was a huge success. After that experience, they quit playing "dirty" in games and were a better team.

They were a smaller school, but we played them our first season because we had no seniors on our team (they all finished at Huntsville HS). But we continued the joint practice and scrimmage days every spring and fall camp. That was great. It helped teach kids on both teams something very important...

Racism (any direction) is a stupid, terrible, tragic waste of energy. Nothing good comes from it.