Nick Saban addresses addition of Georgia receiver Jermaine Burton

Former Georgia star Jermaine Burton is officially signed to the Alabama roster for the upcoming 2022 season. Head coach Nick Saban called the Calabasas, California-native a big get for the program — Burton was someone he recruited out of high school.

Burton announced his intentions to transfer to Alabama over a week ago. After being on the winning side of the national championship during the 2021 season, Burton will now be trying to get revenge on his former team with the Crimson Tide.

According to the On3 Transfer Rankings, Burton is ranked as the No. 5 player currently in the NCAA Transfer Portal in the current cycle.

“He had a fairly productive season at Georgia,” Saban said of the 6-foot, 200-pound wide receiver. “They had a lot of good players at his position and he had some production this year. But [he] probably might have seen a better opportunity [at Alabama] because we’re a little bit more wide open and throw the ball more with a good quarterback and that might have been his intention.”

Burton had 53 career receptions with Georgia, accumulating 901 receiving yards and eight touchdowns with four carries for 50 yards. He was the second-leading receiver for the Bulldogs last season, working well with quarterback Stetson Bennett. Now, he will have Heisman Trophy winner Byrce Young throwing the passes.

After Burton entered the transfer portal, Chris Hummer of 247Sports reported Alabama could be a possible destination. Two other SEC programs were mentioned as well, including LSU and Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide were able to win out for the talented wide receiver thanks, in part, due to his prior relationship with Saban.

Coming out of high school, Burton was a four-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Alabam did originally offer the wide receiver from the state of California, where he ranked at No. 16 nationally for his position.

“To get a more experienced player that has some playing time in this league, probably is a good thing for us and we like his ability and hopefully he’ll be able to be very productive for us,” Saban said.

Burton will join former five-star recruit Eli Ricks out of LSU and Georgia Tech transfer Jahmyr Gibbs in Tuscaloosa next season. They’ll join the 25 incoming freshman in Alabama’s No. 2 overall recruiting class in 2022. They trail only Texas A&M.