Alabama Football Recruiting: Tide adds another Top 100 4-Star
By Ronald Evans
Alabama football added to the 2019 verbal commit list Monday. DeMarcco Hellams, 4-Star safety from Hyattsville, MD announced his decision to join the Tide.
Except for a few insiders, Demarcco Hellams is a big surprise to Alabama football fans. Almost every recruiting expert had Hellams penciled in for Clemson. Nick Saban and his staff have been pursuing multiple top safeties and Hellams was one of them.
Based on the 247Sports Composite, Hellams is the No. 2 player in the state of Maryland, the No. 4 safety in the 2019 class. He is also rated the overall No. 92 ranked player in the nation.
Hellams had close to 30 offers, including Clemson, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, USC and Virginia Tech.
Hellams also plays wide receiver at DeMatha High School. He is expected to play strictly safety for the Crimson Tide. Offensive Coordinator, Mike Locksley was the lead recruiter for Hellams. Locksley’s connections in the Baltimore area were valuable with the Hellams family. Coach Locks had plenty of help recruiting Hellams from Nick Saban and defensive backs coach, Karl Scott.
Safety was made a priority for the Crimson Tide 2019 class. Making room for three safeties seems to have been the plan, but numbers are already tight. The Alabama football staff is recruiting three more safeties in the top 10 nationally. They are Daxton Hill (rated No.1), Jaylen McCullough (rated No. 5) and a high school teammate of Hellams, Nick Cross (rated No. 9).
The Crimson Tide is also interested in Noa Pola-Gates and Cortez Andrews. Pola-Gates is a very gifted athlete who could also take a wide receiver slot for the Crimson Tide.
Will the Tide only take one more safety?
The Crimson Tide already has a commitment from 4-Star, athlete, Brandon Turnage. Most insiders project Turnage to play safety in college. If Turnage is slated at safety, there is probably only room for one more in the 2019 class.
The Washington Post spoke with Hellams after a spring visit to Tuscaloosa. The young man talked about his conversation with Nick Saban.
"Hellams said Saban compared him to Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick — considered a lock to be a first-round pick in this year’s NFL draft — drawing parallels to his speed, the way he covers ground in the open field and his football IQ. He also reminded Hellams of Alabama’s track record of sending top defensive backs to the league,"
It is never wise to jump to quick conclusions about any recruit. Particularly those who are months in advance of an actual signing period. Despite that, message boards include glowing reports about Hellams from knowledgeable insiders. Some even suggest Hellams is good enough to start as a freshman.
Other recent news concerns a 2018 recruit. Late in the recruiting process, Georgia celebrated pulling a priority recruit away from the Tide. In reality, Alabama football backed off of Nadab Joseph because of concern over grades. The latest news is Joseph will be a JUCO player in 2018, rather than a Bulldog.