It is recruiting season in college football with the 2026 campaign still several months away, and two teams that are currently in quite the heated battle over a prospect are none other than the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Indiana Hoosiers.
Kalen DeBoer and company are all-in on landing five-star wide receiver Monshun Sales out of Lawrence High School (Indianapolis), who recently took an official visit to Indiana. Even with the reputation Alabama has as a program, it is going to be difficult to compete with a team still riding the high of a national championship and that played a role in No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza's rise.
Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti looks like he's playing dirty, too, as the graphic attached to the announcement of Sales taking an official visit to Indiana depicts a Rose Bowl ring on his middle finger.
That is an unmistakable move by Cignetti to remind Sales of the beating the Hoosiers put down on the Crimson Tide in a 38-3 victory on Jan. 1, 2026. Alabama hardly looked like the College Football Playoff and national title-winning team that it had appeared to be in the past.
Five-Star Plus+ WR Monshun Sales on his official visit to Indiana🔴⚪️
— Rivals (@Rivals) April 26, 2026
Sales is the No. 1 WR in the 2027 class.
More: https://t.co/417cxS4ytl pic.twitter.com/xNBWtRlDxz
Alabama and Indiana at war for five-star wide receiver Monshun Sales
It's easy to assume whoever wins the battle for Sales -- if it is one of these two teams -- will likely do something to poke sticks in the cage of the other party. Cignetti already is, at least, and he's got an upper hand already as far as location goes.
If Sales commits to Indiana, he'll get to continue his football career in his own backyard. That's something that has got a lot of appeal.
And the team that brings on Sales will get an instant upgrade at the position once he starts his college career. According to 247Sports, the wideout is considered the No. 1 overall player at his position nationally, the best prospect in the state of Indiana and ninth-best prospect in the nation, all positions considered.
He holds what are labeled as 'warm' offers from Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Texas, Ohio State, Miami, and other prestigious programs. As one would imagine, Sales brings plenty to the table in his game from a tangibles and an intangibles perspective that have earned him the high status he holds.
With an official visit to Indiana on April 24 behind him, Sales will visit Alabama next for an official on May 29. That official visit could prove to be massive for the 5-star wideout as he inches closer to making his final decision. Alabama will do everything possible to try and land the speedster, but it's clear the Hoosiers and Cignetti have given him a lot to think about moving forward.
Add us as a preferred source on Google