Alabama one of three finalists for impact 5-star defender in the 2026 class

Alabama's recent hot streak on the recruiting trail isn't slowing down anytime soon. Alabama is projected to land impact players on Friday and Saturday, and on Thursday, it learned that it was one of three finalists for one of the best available prospects in the country.

5-star EDGE Anthony 'Tank' Jones from Mobile trimmed his list down to three, with Alabama joined by Texas A&M and Oregon:

For a while, many pundits believed Jones' recruitment would come down to Alabama and Auburn. Now, Auburn's recent run of misery continues as they don't even make the final cut for Jones. It means the Tigers are likely to strike out on the top five prospects in the state in this cycle.

Alabama already holds commitments from three of the top five: WR Cederian Morgan, RB Ezavier Crowell, and CB Zyan Gibson. If Kalen DeBoer and the staff can reel in Jones, the Crimson Tide would sign the top four players in the state for 2026, a complete 180 from striking out with in-state prospects a year ago.

Jones is a consensus 5-star prospect, ranked as the No. 3 EDGE, and the No. 16 overall player in the 247 composite.

Bat signals by Alabama commits had fans dreaming of a Tank Jones commitment

This post by Hayes Fawcett on Thursday had Alabama fans intrigued:

Alabama has been widely expected to land commitments from Nolan Wilson (Friday) and Jireh Edwards (Saturday), so Fawcett throwing up that post about those two didn't make a ton of sense. A commitment was sensed, and Tide fans started dreaming of it being from Jones when other Alabama commitments got in on the action:

Of course, there was also the wave of fake Alabama insiders who used the Fawcett tweet, followed by Crowell and others throwing up bat signals to indicate that something major was happening. The expectation became Jones, but the reality is that those folks don't know what they are talking about.

Instead, Alabama fans will have to settle for being in the top three for the impact defender. The pull of home will help, but both Oregon and Texas A&M will throw some major money around to try and lure him away.

Jones is listed as an EDGE, and if he commits to Alabama, he'll likely start his career off with the Wolf linebackers. But he has the frame (listed at 6-3.5 and 240 pounds) to grow into a defensive lineman. It wouldn't be a surprise to see him become a Bandit in the Tide's system.