The inks barely dried on the Class of 2014 National Letters of Intent that were received on Wednesday but the coaches and staff have already turned to their plan of developing those guys as well as begin to zero in on their targets for the 2015 class. Mekhi Brown, a strong-side defensive end from Columbus, GA (Carver) was the one of the first few commitments of the 2015 class that gave his verbal to Coach Saban and staff back in April of last year. Just from following on Twitter, he is already showing that leadership role as you see him reach out and welcome the new commits as they come in. The 6 ft 6 in, 230 pound prospect is ranked as 5-star on 247Sports’ Rankings. Brown is also ranked as the 23rd player in the country and the 3rd best at his position coming out of the state of Georgia.
We had the pleasure to talk to Mekhi for a bit today on his future plans, his feeling on this year’s National Signing Day, plus what is going on with him this off season.
Brown was no different from your average Bama fan, tuning in to see all of the National Signing Day surprises. “I thought the class we had this year was crazy good” said Brown. Brown added that his class would be trying to compete with this year’s signing class. “We got a lot of big time commits; Christian Miller, Rashaan Evans, (David) Cornwell, Cam Robinson, and (Marlon) Humphrey.” Rashaan Evan’s decision to attend Bama also caught Brown by surprise. “I thought he was going to Auburn”, Brown told us. Brown knows the 5-stars are coming for his class and wants to push past Texas A&M’s class of 2015 soon. Brown says he is close with a lot of the 2014 commitments.
Brown tells us that he has been staying in contact with the Bama coaches through the off season and working hard to stay in shape. There is no rest for someone as driven as Brown and he has been working hard since the football season ended. “I realize this year if I can get stronger, I will be harder to deal with”, Brown told me. Brown said that last season he felt he got pushed around during games and wants to avoid that this year. He feels that his best relationship at Bama is with Coach Kirby Smart. Brown has mentioned before that he wants to assume a big leadership role for his class, as O.J. Howard did for his class. “I feel like our class is going to be good regardless and I just try to be the leader that I can be.” According to Brown, he still “talks to who he needs to talk to” and is always working on commits to other schools to flip their pledge to the Tide.
Brown will be on hand in Tuscaloosa for A-Day and also adds that he wants to make a trip to Tuscaloosa hopefully in March as well. He also mentioned a possible trip to Georgia this weekend but said he was unsure if he would take it. Brown tells us he is taking visits to other schools just to make sure of his decision to attend Alabama. “I just want to be sure Alabama is what I want to do”.
Brown will get to showcase his talent in the U.S. Army All-American Game at the beginning of next year. “I feel like that is the best game for me”, said Brown. “I live by a military town with Fort Benning being near by and I get a lot of support for them. I get to pay my respects to all of those in the military”.
I asked Brown about two of the games he attended this past fall and his experience at those (Bama vs Ole Miss and Bama vs LSU). “The defense in the Ole Miss game was really good. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix made big plays. The front seven played great as well as the outside linebackers especially Denzel Devall and Adrian Hubbard”. Brown told me he paid a lot of attention to Hubbard’s game and wants to mold his game to him. As far as the LSU game, “I saw that coming. I knew it was going to be a blow out”
In closing, Brown had this to say: “I’d like to thank my parents and God for everything. I want to give a shout out to all Alabama fans and those that have supported me through the whole process and anyone that has given me an opportunity.”
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