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re: Class of 2027 Football Recruiting
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:32 pm to Bear88
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:32 pm to Bear88
Nice! Load up with some great QBs and let them compete.
It really is an interesting approach by the staff in that they are treating the roster like it’s the NFL. Can’t break the bank in free agency and if you don’t have a QB then you have nothing.
I could see where QB will be even more important in the era of way less depth.
It really is an interesting approach by the staff in that they are treating the roster like it’s the NFL. Can’t break the bank in free agency and if you don’t have a QB then you have nothing.
I could see where QB will be even more important in the era of way less depth.
3
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:34 pm to Sandkhan
We will have QBs and TEs with this staff
Posted on 6/28/26 at 10:49 pm to Sandkhan
QB is definitely even more important...but I'd like to see some 4-5 stars on the OL and DL. I know it's a smaller class for various reasons, but we still need to win in the trenches.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 11:28 pm to Bear88
…and WRs. Only a RB or 2, then a few “guys”. Mostly TEs with specific skills, with maybe 1 or 2 complete, elite QBs.
Great corners, opportunistic safeties, 1 or maybe 2 great edge rushers, others are primarily either edge setters or pass rushers, adequate ILBs, adequate 3 down linemen, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.
I’ve been guessing about how they spend their money.
Of course with all of the “adequate” and “specialist” types they want complete or great players but these are the areas where they are economizing. They think IMO rightly, that they will either occasionally develop or stumble across later developing players, having gotten them at a discount and be able to keep them thru loyalty, a fun & nurturing environment, elite development, etc. in contrast to primarily money.
IMO, this staff leadership (primarily DeBoer, as well as Morgan) is highly intelligent, with a sophisticated and very well defined, but also flexible, approach to the “new world” of talent acquisition. It helps immensely that they appear to be great talent evaluators and care nothing about recruiting services’ opinions.
Great corners, opportunistic safeties, 1 or maybe 2 great edge rushers, others are primarily either edge setters or pass rushers, adequate ILBs, adequate 3 down linemen, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.
I’ve been guessing about how they spend their money.
Of course with all of the “adequate” and “specialist” types they want complete or great players but these are the areas where they are economizing. They think IMO rightly, that they will either occasionally develop or stumble across later developing players, having gotten them at a discount and be able to keep them thru loyalty, a fun & nurturing environment, elite development, etc. in contrast to primarily money.
IMO, this staff leadership (primarily DeBoer, as well as Morgan) is highly intelligent, with a sophisticated and very well defined, but also flexible, approach to the “new world” of talent acquisition. It helps immensely that they appear to be great talent evaluators and care nothing about recruiting services’ opinions.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:32 am to tattoo
The bottomline, is that the true-Freshman through the 3rd year players are STACKED. The staff clearly wants to retain and continue to develop what they feel like are really good players.
The past 3 classes were #3/#2/#3 (depending on the site), plus the transfers. Guys are staying until they are out of eligibility now, whereas prior to NIL they would take 1-2 years (defensively) to learn CNS’s scheme/system then get 1 awesome year from them before moving on early after their red-shirt Sophomore or Junior season.
Bama cannot afford an elite class every single year, but the good news is that they do NOT need one.
The strategy is to have an elite year recruiting at a specific position group and then basically only take low-rated/ diamonds in the rough at that position group the following year, and then go after elite players at that position group the year after that. This does TWO things:
Allows them to sign ELITE 5-star caliber players at positions of need, and prevents them from log-jamming positions with lower caliber talent that will inevitably lead to massive transfers and ultimately a giant waste of money.
Would you rather have the best CB or Tackle in the nation or 2-3 three stars of each?
Stacking 4-5 classes in a row with the 25 best players you can afford will inevitably lead to the following scenario for ANY school regardless of NIL budget:
- Elite signees leaving for even more money after just 1 season (2 at the most) if they are not starting, along with a mercenary mentality in the locker room….everything you hear about Bama is how close the team is and how it feels like a family environment in the locker room, hence the extremely high retention rate.
- Elite PROVEN players being bought away by other programs desperate for a player to fill a hole at that particular position…..so now you spent 2 million dollars on the #1 RB, got a decent Freshman year out of him and now he’s on your schedule playing against you the following season bc you can’t afford to continue to pay him, and Miami is foaming at the mouth to drop a bag and steal him away.
- You will dilute your money no matter how much of it you have, IF you try to sign the 25 best players you can afford every season. Instead of the #1 ranked LB (Xavier Griffin), you would have 2-3 low 4 stars instead for example
Clearly it comes down to this:
If you do not have the money to RETAIN the players you spend heavily on (and evaluate extremely well) then none of it matters at all. What good is it to sign six 5-stars and only have e 2 of them left by their Junior season???
You basically need a 55 man roster that consumes 95% of your NIL budget bc those are the best players you can afford, develop, believe in, and can afford to keep, and you need to try and keep them until they are either out of eligibility or they are a guaranteed 1st round pick before that happens.
So far, I give the staff an A+ at stocking up every single position group. There are young stars at every position on the team and the younger they are the more talented they are.
What would bother you more?
A. A recruit not signing with Bama that we would all love to have that plays RB, WR, Tackle, etc
B. Losing a player on the current roster who was a top100 or even 5-star player in one of the past 3 classes who is either already a stud or the staff believes will be soon?
For example, Dijon Lee goes to Miami this offseason as a result of over-spending on a recruit you HOPE will develop into what Dijon already has proven he is.
The best players on this roster are TF/2nd and 3rd year players, meaning they all have 3-5 years of eligibility left.
Also, look at NEXT YEARS class in-state. It’s the strongest in over a decade. Bama can sign a top5 class just by signing the top15 players in-state (of course they won’t get them all but I’m pointing out how strong the class is).
This past season (regardless of how it ended), they won 11 games, regular season SEC champs, made it to Atlanta, made it to the Playoffs, won on the road in the playoffs, lost in the Rose Bowl to the national champs. Most anyone would’ve taken that in year 2.
I may be completely off-base and I will gladly re-visit this post and bump it if I’m indeed incorrect, but I think this is the best TEAM, Bama will have fielded since 2022.
They are much bigger and very DEEP on the Dline. They have a 1st round pass rusher, to go along with possibly the best Secondary in the country. The offensive line is an improvement (how much of course is yet to be seen), and the WR corps is stacked. I believe Keelon Russell is a Deshaun Watson type talent and that he will guide this team to a 10-2 record and a return to the Playoffs. I also believe this is the weakest roster Bama will have over the next 4 years.
Byrne has been here awhile now, and made many hires across many sports. The very first adjective he used to describe CKD was that he’s “smart”. The only other coach he used that adjective for (going back to his hires at previous schools as well) was Coach Nate Oats. He said “smart”, and stopped right there before eventually moving onto other attributes much later. TIFWIW
The past 3 classes were #3/#2/#3 (depending on the site), plus the transfers. Guys are staying until they are out of eligibility now, whereas prior to NIL they would take 1-2 years (defensively) to learn CNS’s scheme/system then get 1 awesome year from them before moving on early after their red-shirt Sophomore or Junior season.
Bama cannot afford an elite class every single year, but the good news is that they do NOT need one.
The strategy is to have an elite year recruiting at a specific position group and then basically only take low-rated/ diamonds in the rough at that position group the following year, and then go after elite players at that position group the year after that. This does TWO things:
Allows them to sign ELITE 5-star caliber players at positions of need, and prevents them from log-jamming positions with lower caliber talent that will inevitably lead to massive transfers and ultimately a giant waste of money.
Would you rather have the best CB or Tackle in the nation or 2-3 three stars of each?
Stacking 4-5 classes in a row with the 25 best players you can afford will inevitably lead to the following scenario for ANY school regardless of NIL budget:
- Elite signees leaving for even more money after just 1 season (2 at the most) if they are not starting, along with a mercenary mentality in the locker room….everything you hear about Bama is how close the team is and how it feels like a family environment in the locker room, hence the extremely high retention rate.
- Elite PROVEN players being bought away by other programs desperate for a player to fill a hole at that particular position…..so now you spent 2 million dollars on the #1 RB, got a decent Freshman year out of him and now he’s on your schedule playing against you the following season bc you can’t afford to continue to pay him, and Miami is foaming at the mouth to drop a bag and steal him away.
- You will dilute your money no matter how much of it you have, IF you try to sign the 25 best players you can afford every season. Instead of the #1 ranked LB (Xavier Griffin), you would have 2-3 low 4 stars instead for example
Clearly it comes down to this:
If you do not have the money to RETAIN the players you spend heavily on (and evaluate extremely well) then none of it matters at all. What good is it to sign six 5-stars and only have e 2 of them left by their Junior season???
You basically need a 55 man roster that consumes 95% of your NIL budget bc those are the best players you can afford, develop, believe in, and can afford to keep, and you need to try and keep them until they are either out of eligibility or they are a guaranteed 1st round pick before that happens.
So far, I give the staff an A+ at stocking up every single position group. There are young stars at every position on the team and the younger they are the more talented they are.
What would bother you more?
A. A recruit not signing with Bama that we would all love to have that plays RB, WR, Tackle, etc
B. Losing a player on the current roster who was a top100 or even 5-star player in one of the past 3 classes who is either already a stud or the staff believes will be soon?
For example, Dijon Lee goes to Miami this offseason as a result of over-spending on a recruit you HOPE will develop into what Dijon already has proven he is.
The best players on this roster are TF/2nd and 3rd year players, meaning they all have 3-5 years of eligibility left.
Also, look at NEXT YEARS class in-state. It’s the strongest in over a decade. Bama can sign a top5 class just by signing the top15 players in-state (of course they won’t get them all but I’m pointing out how strong the class is).
This past season (regardless of how it ended), they won 11 games, regular season SEC champs, made it to Atlanta, made it to the Playoffs, won on the road in the playoffs, lost in the Rose Bowl to the national champs. Most anyone would’ve taken that in year 2.
I may be completely off-base and I will gladly re-visit this post and bump it if I’m indeed incorrect, but I think this is the best TEAM, Bama will have fielded since 2022.
They are much bigger and very DEEP on the Dline. They have a 1st round pass rusher, to go along with possibly the best Secondary in the country. The offensive line is an improvement (how much of course is yet to be seen), and the WR corps is stacked. I believe Keelon Russell is a Deshaun Watson type talent and that he will guide this team to a 10-2 record and a return to the Playoffs. I also believe this is the weakest roster Bama will have over the next 4 years.
Byrne has been here awhile now, and made many hires across many sports. The very first adjective he used to describe CKD was that he’s “smart”. The only other coach he used that adjective for (going back to his hires at previous schools as well) was Coach Nate Oats. He said “smart”, and stopped right there before eventually moving onto other attributes much later. TIFWIW
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 2:31 am
Posted on 6/29/26 at 9:48 am to Cover1Key
quote:
I think this is the best TEAM, Bama will have fielded since 2022.
While I think this will be the best defense KDB will have at Alabama with a new starter at qb and all the turnover on the offensive line I'm a little hesitant to agree. If Alabama is able to retain the vast majority of the roster I do believe next season will be DeBoer's best shot at a title.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 9:54 am to Chris ALL Capps
Everything about this team hinges on LOS transfers being hard hits that stabilize that part of our roster.
Back 7 on defense is almost entirely sorted. I think we’re going to be fine at ILB despite turnover.
WR ought to be very good. QB ought to be very good.
The question is whether we can run and stop the run when we need to.
Back 7 on defense is almost entirely sorted. I think we’re going to be fine at ILB despite turnover.
WR ought to be very good. QB ought to be very good.
The question is whether we can run and stop the run when we need to.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 10:26 am to Bear88
QB and TE is the new linebacker.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 10:45 am to Carlton
quote:
QB and TE is the new linebacker.
Courtney Morgan to ChatGPT: “Create a roster with only QBs, TEs, and LBs with the HS and transfer pool between 2024-27. Make no mistakes.”
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:10 am to Cover1Key
Agree with all that. I think there are a few different ways to build a roster under the current system and all of them have drawbacks. What we are doing with recruiting and the portal makes plenty of sense and there is a consistency to it. Whether someone agrees with that strategy or not is up to the individual, but I don't think they're just throwing darts or anything. Even if we had Oregon or Texas money I don't think they'd do anything all that differently.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:33 am to Chris ALL Capps
I do agree that the following season will be the team that has all the pieces to win a national title.
However, this upcoming season, I believe with the combination of an elite defense and a competent Punter (this cannot be understated) will take a lot of pressure off the offense early in season.
But, I really believe that Keelon Russell will be the most surprising player in the Conference.
I think he’s an extremely special talent that can put an offense on his back. He has an elite group of WR’s to throw to, and he is a very adept runner when he scrambles….he extends plays to throw the ball down the field to create explosives after the coverage breaks down as opposed to just taking off with his feet. He will also pick and choose when to take off from the pocket on a 3rd & 8 and pick up the first down.
CKD’s offense MUST have an elite passer who can also hurt you when he needs to with his feet. Penix wasn’t known for scrambling, but he would pickup 2-3 first downs on 3rd down to keep drives moving, and more importantly he would extend plays with his feet and hurt defenses down the field through the air.
The ONLY thing I would add to this team if I had the power to do-so, would be a premier RB. CNS absolutely left the cupboard bare at RB. He always had multiple NFL caliber Backs until Roydel Williams and McClellan in 2022-2023, and then Jam and Daniel Hill….those guys clearly don’t stack up at all to the caliber of Backs CNS had from 2008-2022.
I know Daniel Hill is improved, but I’m really hoping the Freshman Traeshawn Brown will be a major surprise. He reminds me a lot of a young T.J. Yeldon. Then of course getting Crowell healthy would provide another possibility.
The defense and improved kicking game is good enough to win 9 games on its own imo. Keelon Russell will get them to 10 wins, and if one of the RB’s is the real deal then they can win the Conference imo.
However, this upcoming season, I believe with the combination of an elite defense and a competent Punter (this cannot be understated) will take a lot of pressure off the offense early in season.
But, I really believe that Keelon Russell will be the most surprising player in the Conference.
I think he’s an extremely special talent that can put an offense on his back. He has an elite group of WR’s to throw to, and he is a very adept runner when he scrambles….he extends plays to throw the ball down the field to create explosives after the coverage breaks down as opposed to just taking off with his feet. He will also pick and choose when to take off from the pocket on a 3rd & 8 and pick up the first down.
CKD’s offense MUST have an elite passer who can also hurt you when he needs to with his feet. Penix wasn’t known for scrambling, but he would pickup 2-3 first downs on 3rd down to keep drives moving, and more importantly he would extend plays with his feet and hurt defenses down the field through the air.
The ONLY thing I would add to this team if I had the power to do-so, would be a premier RB. CNS absolutely left the cupboard bare at RB. He always had multiple NFL caliber Backs until Roydel Williams and McClellan in 2022-2023, and then Jam and Daniel Hill….those guys clearly don’t stack up at all to the caliber of Backs CNS had from 2008-2022.
I know Daniel Hill is improved, but I’m really hoping the Freshman Traeshawn Brown will be a major surprise. He reminds me a lot of a young T.J. Yeldon. Then of course getting Crowell healthy would provide another possibility.
The defense and improved kicking game is good enough to win 9 games on its own imo. Keelon Russell will get them to 10 wins, and if one of the RB’s is the real deal then they can win the Conference imo.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:49 am to Diego Ricardo
Agree completely about the O line improvement. It can't be overstated how critical it is that they improve. While they don't have to be dominant, if they can be consistently decent to better than average, this will go a long way in determining how good this offense will be.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:44 pm to Cover1Key
quote:
The ONLY thing I would add to this team if I had the power to do-so, would be a premier RB. CNS absolutely left the cupboard bare at RB. He always had multiple NFL caliber Backs until Roydel Williams and McClellan in 2022-2023, and then Jam and Daniel Hill….those guys clearly don’t stack up at all to the caliber of Backs CNS had from 2008-2022.
I know Daniel Hill is improved, but I’m really hoping the Freshman Traeshawn Brown will be a major surprise. He reminds me a lot of a young T.J. Yeldon. Then of course getting Crowell healthy would provide another possibility.
Yep I avoided this because I believe the LOS element of this is most important to sort out but the tailbacks own a bit of the lacking performance in 2025 too. Other than the Gibbs leaser year, we’ve mostly been average at tailback and even then we greatly underutilized Gibbs because the OL was not dominant.
Edit: BRob was good but not elite in 2021 and spent most of the year playing through one injury or another.
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 12:46 pm
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:54 pm to Diego Ricardo
I think you're selling BRob a bit short. Among 2021-present Alabama RBs I'd say BRob is closer to Gibbs than anyone else is to BRob. 1600+ yards from scrimmage, 5 ypc, and 16 TDs is elite production.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 1:38 pm to Robot Santa
That’s fair. He is our last 1k rusher after all!
Posted on 6/29/26 at 1:45 pm to Robot Santa
Yeah, I think we all would be overjoyed to have a Back the caliber of B-Rob. He is underrated by a lot of fans bc of being overshadowed by Najee most of his career, but he was a horse that ran angry.
I don’t know if it was NIL having a stronger impact earlier than we all realized (Jimbo’s 2022 A&M recruiting class is a great example), or if CNS was a culprit of negative recruiting from getting older along with all the coaching turnover he dealt with every year (probably a combination of all of these factors), but his recruiting dropped off severely towards the end.
I know he still had 4-5 five stars and the “Bama bump” to keep the classes inflated and rated at the top. However, when you look back on it in retrospect, his classes beginning around 2022 or so, just weren’t the same caliber that he brought in for so many years prior to that.
This is not a personal attack on any of these players that gave their all for Bama, but just being realistic, there’s no way guys like: Milroe/McClellan/Roydel/Jam/Law/
Prentice/D. Hill/etc…would’ve ever sniffed the field for a Bama offense from 2008-2022.
CKD inherited a incredibly difficult situation that not many individuals could have navigated/persevered as well as he did:
- replacing the greatest coach in the history of the sport
- losing guys like Bond, Downs and a few other difference-makers before he was even hired
- losing his longtime OC that I’m sure he thought would be coming with him from the beginning
- inheriting the QB situation that was on-going from the 2023 season
- inheriting a roster that the media and most fans perceived as the most talented in the country, when in reality the defense lost 10 of 11 starters from the 2023 defense, and the offense was led by a 17 year old WR and transfers he had to bring with him from Washington
If everyone will stay patient, I truly believe he will deliver. I know losing to Indiana in a physical beatdown over-shadowed an 11 win season, trip to Atlanta, splitting with UGA, a #2 ranked recruiting class, playoffs, playoff road win, and making it to the Rose Bowl in just his 2nd season.
I don’t know if it was NIL having a stronger impact earlier than we all realized (Jimbo’s 2022 A&M recruiting class is a great example), or if CNS was a culprit of negative recruiting from getting older along with all the coaching turnover he dealt with every year (probably a combination of all of these factors), but his recruiting dropped off severely towards the end.
I know he still had 4-5 five stars and the “Bama bump” to keep the classes inflated and rated at the top. However, when you look back on it in retrospect, his classes beginning around 2022 or so, just weren’t the same caliber that he brought in for so many years prior to that.
This is not a personal attack on any of these players that gave their all for Bama, but just being realistic, there’s no way guys like: Milroe/McClellan/Roydel/Jam/Law/
Prentice/D. Hill/etc…would’ve ever sniffed the field for a Bama offense from 2008-2022.
CKD inherited a incredibly difficult situation that not many individuals could have navigated/persevered as well as he did:
- replacing the greatest coach in the history of the sport
- losing guys like Bond, Downs and a few other difference-makers before he was even hired
- losing his longtime OC that I’m sure he thought would be coming with him from the beginning
- inheriting the QB situation that was on-going from the 2023 season
- inheriting a roster that the media and most fans perceived as the most talented in the country, when in reality the defense lost 10 of 11 starters from the 2023 defense, and the offense was led by a 17 year old WR and transfers he had to bring with him from Washington
If everyone will stay patient, I truly believe he will deliver. I know losing to Indiana in a physical beatdown over-shadowed an 11 win season, trip to Atlanta, splitting with UGA, a #2 ranked recruiting class, playoffs, playoff road win, and making it to the Rose Bowl in just his 2nd season.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 1:58 pm to Cover1Key
The loses to unranked teams and ugly losses to teams like OU set folks off way before the IU loss.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:13 pm to Cover1Key
quote:
I don’t know if it was NIL having a stronger impact earlier than we all realized (Jimbo’s 2022 A&M recruiting class is a great example), or if CNS was a culprit of negative recruiting from getting older along with all the coaching turnover he dealt with every year (probably a combination of all of these factors), but his recruiting dropped off severely towards the end.
If you look at the last few years I think Saban deferred a lot more in scouting/development.
He always had the top class but a staple of those early classes were the 3 stars who he realized in camps were undervalued.
If you look at his last few classes it was pretty much star hunting. I think one of the things that started to slip was identifying unheralded guys and identifying and moving away from some highly ranked guys who weren’t actually that good or were knuckleheads.
That was even true of a few players that it worked out for. There’s one star player specifically that we brought in late in the Saban run who was really good for us but there’s no way 2007-2015 Saban would’ve let some of his craziness fly
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:25 pm to Night Vision
quote:
The loses to unranked teams and ugly losses to teams like OU set folks off way before the IU loss.
I agree, the one I still have the most trouble with is FSU. We laid a turd against Michigan to finish the prior season, the 1st game of the season we show looking unprerepaired and disinterested. You work all summer and show up like that to play your first game?
I do like the track we are on, but that still eats at me.
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 2:26 pm
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:40 pm to phaz
Phaz, are you the guy that hated Jackie Sherrill so much on another site?
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