Alabama Football: Daily Recruiting Update Dec. 15

Check out the Bama Hammer Alabama football ‘Daily Recruiting Update’ for Dec. 15, as we count down to the Early Signing period on Dec. 19.

If you have been following our daily updates you already know we do not claim any inside scoops. We do not communicate with Alabama football recruits. We do carefully follow what a dozen or so good sources believe is happening on any given day. None of those sources (and certainly not us) are soothsayers and none have a direct line to Nick Saban’s Big Board. But we offer carefully considered best guesses.

For the benefit of our Bama Hammer readers, a daily update is offered leading up to the Early Signing Period.

At the bottom of this post is our review of how Alabama football can add up to as many as 30 players from 2019 recruits. There are 24 current verbal commits.

Through Dec. 18, we are providing a daily list of top targets for what we project to be eight open slots. Outside the primary list is a small group of contingency players.

Alabama Football Remaining Top 10 Recruits – minus one.

There are changes as our Top 10 list is now a Top 9.

• 5-Star, DE Kayvon Thibodeaux – announcement on Dec. 15. Thib is hard to predict but top recruiting experts believe he will announce for the Tide on Saturday. We think those experts are correct.
• 5-Star, ILB Nakobe Dean – announcement Dec. 19. Tide and LSU battle with Tide lead. UGA may have made it a three-team battle. Best guess today is Nakobe Dean to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Dec. 19, but the key word here is – guess.
• 5-Star, RB Trey Sanders – announcement on Dec. 19. Sanders is another hard to predict recruit. Suddenly it is looking like Georgia leads with the Crimson Tide and Texas close. Too soon and too close to predict, but several legitimate recruiting experts think Sanders will be a Bulldog.
• 5-Star, OL Evan Neal – announcement on Dec. 19. The Tide leads with UGA pushing hard. Best guess is Alabama football closes the deal.
• 5-Star, DT Ishmael Sopsher – no decision until February. The more we learn about his brother, Rodney’s situation we think LSU trying to package both is not a risk to the Crimson Tide. There is a long way to go yet.
• 4-Star, DB Jordan Battle – Looking more like Jordan will flip from Ohio State and sign early. All signs are the Tide is trending up.
• 5-Star, OL Darnell Wright – no decision until February. Tennessee probably leads.
• 4-Star, LB Henry To’oto’o – To’oto’o recruitment has been pretty quiet but Alabama football appears in a strong position to lure him away from the Pac 12. Tennessee is also in the hunt. Even potentially pulling in Nakobe Dean, the Alabama football staff wants to add To’oto’o. He is not an early enrollee and currently is not scheduled to sign in the Early Period.
• 4-Star, DE Khris Bogle – announcement in January. Bogle is a take for Alabama football whatever Thibodeaux does. He might be convinced to move up his January announce date.

The next group and not all should be considered contingency

• 4-Star, Deondrick Glass and 3-Star D.J. Williams. If Sanders does not choose to become the next Alabama football running back, Glass is a good option. Glass will not commit until Sanders makes a decision. Williams is also highly rated despite having only three stars. The Tide could end up with both of them if current commit, Keilan Robinson looks elsewhere. To make it even more interesting 4-Star, RB and LSU commit, Tyrion Davis is visiting Tuscaloosa this weekend.
• The Alabama football staff would like to add another tight end. 4-Star, Keon Zipperer is the preferred option.
• Assuming Jordan Battle flips from Ohio State and joins the Tide, 2019 defensive back recruiting may be finished. 4-Star, Nola Pola-Gates and 4-Star, CB Marcus Banks are backup options.

The magic number for the 2019 class is 28. That is 25 new commits plus three slots carried over from last season. Does the Crimson Tide have only four open slots? We don’t think so.

We guess two (maybe as many as four) of the current 24 verbal commits will flip to other schools. Currently, the most probable defection of the current verbal commits is Christian Williams. Williams will not sign early and plans on continuing to take visits. The old Saban rule is “you shop, we shop” and Williams may lose his slot while he toys with LSU and others.

So 22 verbal commits leaves room for six more players. Another guess is a couple of future grayshirts will mean the working number of open slots is eight more players.

All the star ratings in this post come from the 247Sports Composite.

Stay tuned Alabama football fans. It is crunch time and changes may happen quickly.