Alabama Football recruiting returns to accustomed ranking

Until Tuesday afternoon, college football recruiting rankings carried a split decision. Alabama Football was No. 1 in the On3 Consensus Team Ranking, but No. 3 according to the 247Sports Composite.

With an additional verbal commitment, Alabama Football is now No. 1 by both sources. Since both sources used player ratings from each other, plus Rivals and ESPN, the Consensus and the Composite provide unquestioned creditability.

Even in a college football world with minimal recruiting restrictions and little chance of serious penalty for breaking them – a sense of order prevails. Even in an environment when huge NIL deals are used to gain recruits; when purportedly prospects are paid thousands of dollars to attend recruiting events – order prevails.

Alabama football fans know exactly what order I am talking about. Nick Saban remains the best recruiter in college football.

No matter how accurate is the preceding sentence, the rest of college football loathes the probability Alabama Football will finish the 2023 recruiting cycle with the No. 1 class.

Some things, it seems, almost never change. Going back to Nick Saban’s first full recruiting cycle with the 2008 class, Alabama has been No. 1 in the Final Team Rankings nine times; 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Saban’s ‘misses’ at No. 1 were 2008, when the signing of the No. 3 player overall, Juilio Jones signaled the Crimson Tide was a recruiting force again; No. 3 in 2009, No. 4 in 2010, No. 5 in 2018, No. 2 in 2020 and No. 2 in 2022.

The No. Team Ranking in 2022 is a bit misleading. Texas A&M had the No. 1 class, but it was Alabama that had the highest average player ratings.

Alabama Football headed toward another No. 1 finish

Before Tuesday, Alabama was already No. 1 ranked by On3. The boost to No. 1 for 247Sports came from a Crimson Tide flip of an Ohio State Buckeye commit, tight end, Ty Lockwood. Lockwood is a 4-Star, ranked as the No. 9 tight end in the 2023 class and the No. 141 player overall.

The addition of Lockwood puts the Crimson Tide’s 2023 class at 18 verbal commits. As I wrote six weeks ago, Saban will not have room for every top recruit wanting to join the Tide.

In this cycle, there is no 25-scholarship limitation, but the 85-scholarship rule still applies. The best guess is Nick Saban will choose to take 28, 2023 recruits.

Check back with Bama Hammer soon for our next recruiting post. It will include a detailed projection of how the 2023 class can be expected to finish. Here’s a hint – it will be record-breaking.