Alabama Football: Nick Saban still the King and other recruiting takeaways

Nick Saban and the Alabama football staff slam-dunked 2021 recruiting, with locks, flips and more to come.

With 23 new Alabama football players and one more cued, Nick Saban showed again he is the King of College Football Recruiting. The Alabama Crimson Tide, when it gets JUCO Khyree Jackson’s LOI Wednesday night, will have signed every one of its 2021 verbal commits.

Alabama football fans are rejoicing. Not long ago, with Early Signing Period flips from the Crimson Tide to other programs, Saban’s time was said to be rapidly passing. So much for that claim. Nick along with top Crimson Tide recruiters, Charles Huff, Karl Scott and Jeff Banks took nearly every recruit they wanted in the 2021 class. In the 247Sports Recruiter Ranking, Huff, Scott and Banks are No. 1, No.2 and No. 3.

The 2021 signing classes are not finished. The Early Signing Period has two more days and Signing Day in February. The Crimson Tide is expected to sign two more players. It has a strong lead in the race for the No. 1 class. Only Ohio State, with three fewer recruits, is still in contention. The No.1 battle is not officially over but the Buckeyes will not catch the Crimson Tide.

Alabama Football 2021 Class Superlatives

• The Crimson Tide signed seven Top 50 players from the 247Sports Composite. Six of them are 5-Star players.
• Alabama Football signed six more Top 100 players.
• The 2021 class is arguably the best offensive line class, ever, for the Crimson Tide. The No. 1 and No. 2, offensive tackles in J.C. Latham and Tommy Brockermeyer; the No. 2 offensive guard in Terrence Ferguson, and the No. 1 center in James Brockermeyer.
• The Crimson Tide signed the No. 2, No. 5, No. 7 and No. 9 wide receivers in Jacorey Brooks, JoJo Earle, Agiye Hall and Christian Leary.
• On the defensive line, the Crimson Tide added the No. 3 defensive tackle in Damon Payne; the No. 1 weakside defensive end in Dallas Turner and the No. 7 strongside defensive end in Monkell Goodwine.
• At inside linebacker, Alabama football added No. 3 Deontae Lawson and No. 8 Kendrick Blackshire.
• There other players in the currently 24-man class that, in their Crimson Tide career, could equal or surpass the players highlighted above.

As always, Nick Saban and Alabama football recruited for need. Saban often tells his team, “it is all about finishing.” Nick finished today. He also talked about recruiting competition.

"We don’t worry about other schools. We don’t talk about other schools in recruiting. We don’t get stimulated or whatever by what they say or do.A lot of people did a really, really good job… We’re really pleased to have this group of players to be part of our program and part of our team."

While Nick doesn’t worry about other programs, they certainly worry about him. Flipping two prize recruits from LSU today has caused a meltdown in Baton Rouge. All we can say is that is what you get when you mess the ‘King.’

Check out how it all went down on the first day of the Early Signing Period. The link will continue to be updated with new information.