Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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Alabama hanging in the race for 5-star DE

DAVENPORT, Fla. — Xavier Thomas, a 5-star prospect, was arguably the best player at the Orlando Opening regional on Sunday, but South Carolina and Clemson have a stranglehold on his recruitment.

Thomas, the nation’s No. 1 defensive end in the Class of 2018 from IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), told SEC Country that there is a 99 percent chance he attends either South Carolina, his dream school growing up, or Clemson. The only other school he’s considering is Alabama, but Thomas said there is only a 1 percent chance he winds up in Tuscaloosa for college.

“It’s a school that you have to consider because it’s Alabama,” Thomas said with a laugh.

The Army All-American is originally from the state of South Carolina. Thomas transferred to IMG Academy from Wilson High School (Florence, S.C.) to finish his senior season.

He recently released his top two schools and said Clemson and South Carolina were the only two schools he was going to consider moving forward. He even joked on Sunday that maybe he’ll pull a LeBron James and announce his commitment via a magazine cover where it says, “I’m coming home.” Playing in the Palmetto State is important to Thomas, but the door — ever so slightly — is open for Alabama.

“Alabama is Alabama,” Thomas said. “With them, (outside linebackers) coach (Tosh) Lupoi tells me all of the time that 56 (Tim Williams) and 22 (Ryan Anderson) are leaving and going to the league this year. They didn’t sign many on the defensive line this year. If I go to Alabama, I could make an immediate impact as a freshman. To go to Alabama and make an immediate impact as a freshman would be big.”

Alabama’s coaching staff has told Thomas that he is the No. 1 overall target on the defensive side of the ball in the Class of 2018. Lupoi is spearheading Thomas’ recruitment, and that’s important because the coach has established himself as one of the nation’s most elite recruiters. In the Class of 2017, he played an instrumental part in getting 5-star running back Najee Harris, 5-star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, 5-star linebacker Dylan Moses and 4-star linebacker Chris Allen committed.

Clemson is the school that most recruiting experts believe Thomas will wind up at when he makes his decision. He doesn’t have a set timeline for when he’ll exactly end up committing, but it will come before the new year, he said, because he’s an early enrollee.

Thomas views the Tigers and Tide in a similar light. The Gamecocks present a different opportunity, but one that, he said, doesn’t matter too much when it comes time to make a decision.

“With South Carolina, I can go there and try to rebuild the program,” Thomas said. “With Clemson, I can go there and keep building what they have built. It’s a pretty hard decision. Alabama separates itself from the other (non-South Carolina) schools because of its name and the legacy the school has. I still talk to the coaching staff all of the time.”

Thomas seems dead set on playing in his home state for college, but it is good news that if he decides that he doesn’t want to stick to that plan, he’s very likely going to choose Alabama. At this point, that’s all the Tide can ask.

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Breaking Down the Top 10 Highest Rated Offensive Tackles in the Midlands Region

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The NCAA’s Division I Council voted to approve a propsal that would allow an early college football National Signing Day rule Friday, setting up the Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) to give final approval in June.

The existing date of the first Wednesday in February will remain, but to it will be added a date right before Christmas, coinciding with the traditional junior college signing date. In 2016, that would have meant Dec. 14, but in 2017, will be Dec. 20. The new signing window would last for three days.

Why?

The NCAA says that by mid-December, most prospects are far enough along in the recruiting cycle that they have their minds made up about where they want to attend. They are tired of incessant texts and calls and want to have some certainty about their college destinations shortly after the fall semesters of their senior years.

The early signing period will provide clarity for prospects and schools.

Throughout the process, schools extend verbal offers to recruits, who in turn make verbal commitments. But neither are binding. Signing is.

When it comes time for the early National Signing Day, schools will be expected to extend binding letters of intent for their verbal commitments to sign, and those commitments will be expected to sign them.

If a school does not send a letter of intent to a prospect who believes he is verbally committed to the school, that will be a major red flag to the prospect, indicating that the school is not as committed to him as he believed. While that will be disappointing, the prospect will still have adequate time to visit other schools and find a better option by February’s Signing Day, or wait to see if the school feels differently come the traditional date.

“I think the general consensus is, there is a pool of guys that are legitimate, solid commitments,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. "If you can sign them and that part would be done, it would be good. ... No one’s fighting the early signing in the discussions I’ve been a part of."

Conversely, if a prospect claims he is verbally committed but does not sign the letter of intent a school has sent him, the school will know that he is not truly committed and might be looking at other options. The school will likely do the same.

There will be some measure of embarrassment associated with these inevitabilities, so expect the overall number of verbal offers to decline slightly.

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KN had another VIP article up on JJ Peterson 

Travis Williams is the main reason AU went from not really in his recruitment to #2. He claims that it's close between Auburn & Bama. Peterson lost his dad went he was younger to Lupus so he likes idea of having a father figure on campus and sees that in T-WILL. Says like how Williams came from a tougher beginning to "changing the game" in college and how he coaches his players. Plans to visit in the next 2-3 weeks, KN believes it will be for BCW. Peterson plans to commit the 2nd round of the playoff which is an oddly specific time ? 

This is gonna be an interesting battle. Once again T-WILL is doing work but not sure if it will be enough. Lots of AU/Bama battles over LB targets this season in Peterson, Quay Walker & Richard Jibunor

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A night after rushing for 195 yards and four touchdowns in Mountain Brook (Ala.)'s 56-24 win over Gulf Shores (Ala.), four-star running back Harold Joiner is visiting Alabama for the Tide's Saturday practice, he announced on Twitter. 

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