Alabama closes in on yet another No. 1 recruiting class

A year ago during the Early Signing Period, Texas A&M was the talk of the college football recruiting world as the Aggies were on their way to signing the No. 1 recruiting class in the modern era.

During the offseason, Alabama head coach Nick Saban sparked a firestorm when he chided Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher for “buying” the Aggies’ top-ranked class. Hot takes flew in left and right about how Saban was jealous of the NIL support in College Station, how he couldn’t keep up in the new world of college football recruiting, and how his time as the sport’s elite closer had come and passed.

My how silly that all looks now. On Wednesday, the Crimson Tide all but locked up another No. 1 recruiting class, signing five-star offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor and five-star Montgomery (Ala.) Carver teammates Qua Russaw and James Smith.

Alabama’s Signing Day spree netted them as many five-stars as Texas, USC, and Miami have in the entire cycle, giving Alabama six in total when you add in elite safety Caleb Downs, top running back Justice Haynes and star pass-rusher Keon Keeley.

The class features 14 top-100 prospects in the On3 Consensus and 26 blue-chippers altogether, and it rivals Alabama’s 2021 class, which was considered to be the best in recruiting history prior to Texas A&M’s run last year.

There’s still another month and a half to go until the February signing period, when the 2023 cycle officially closes, but there isn’t a reality in which Alabama doesn’t finish with the No. 1 class when it’s said and done.

The Tide hold a lead of 1.5 points over their next closest competitor, Georgia, and even if the Bulldogs landed every uncommitted five-star, they still wouldn’t come close. In a year where a number of programs were able to snag at least one five-star, if not two, Alabama lapped them all and then did it again on Signing Day.

‘Bama is ‘Bama

The phrase most often uttered by recruits when they describe their interest in the Tide is simply, “‘Bama is ‘Bama.” What Saban and Co. have built in terms of culture, player development, and success at the highest levels of the sport is unmatched by any other program in memory.

Alabama’s NIL efforts aren’t as brash or outwardly aggressive as some other schools we’ve seen over the past year and a half, but they’re plenty competitive.

The biggest driving factor for recruits, though, is a different three-letter acronym: NFL. No program puts players in the league like the one in Tuscaloosa, and as long as that’s the case, it’s going to be hard to knock Alabama off of its perch atop the recruiting world.