Only one of the top 10 recruits in Alabama for the 2026 class has committed to the Alabama Crimson Tide: four-star cornerback Zyan Gibson. Now, after four-star linebacker Shadrius Toodle flipped his commitment from Auburn to Georgia over the weekend, the Bulldogs have just as many.
Kalen DeBoer’s slow start to the 2026 recruiting cycle is no reason to panic. The Tide have made great strides with many of the state’s and country’s top prospects, including five-star wide receiver and No. 1 player in the state, Cedarian Morgan. Still, DeBoer gets put on notice anytime Kirby Smart starts sneaking into Alabama’s borders, even if it's to steal from the other side of the Iron Bowl.
BREAKING: Four-Star LB Shadarius Toodle has Flipped from Auburn to Georgia, he tells me for @on3recruits
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 22, 2025
The 6’3 235 LB from Mobile, AL had been Committed to the Tigers since July 2024
“If you want to be the best, why not play with the best?”https://t.co/XcZMcvPJES pic.twitter.com/Wg4J4MTdNJ
Why Alabama can’t ignore Kirby Smart’s in-state moves
On one hand, it’s great to see a top recruit, such as the ninth-ranked linebacker in the country, plucked away from Hugh Freeze’s program during the official visit season. On the other hand, Georgia now has 19 commits and the No. 4 class in the country after adding Toodle. And when you take into account the state of those two programs, a flip from Auburn to Georgia is bad news for Alabama.
Since Smart took over his alma mater in 2016, Georgia has won three SEC championships, second behind Alabama over that stretch. Auburn hasn’t worn the conference crown since 2013.
Hugh Freeze has been a force to be reckoned with on the recruiting trail, much more than Bryan Harsin or even the end of the Gus Malzahn era, but on the field, he’s 11-14 in his first two years with the temperature of his seat warming every day.
After losing Toodle, Auburn’s class ranks 62nd in the country with just six commits. The best of those is four-star edge Hezekiah Harris from Jemison, Alabama, Freeze’s only in-state commit. The Tigers and the Tide are locked in head-to-head battles over Morgan and five-star edge rusher Anthony Jones, the two best players in the state, but even if Freeze manages to assemble another elite recruiting class, it may not save his job if he produces another six-loss season.
Auburn is in disarray, and Georgia is a perennial contender. That reality drove Toodle to flip, and makes it bad news for Alabama that he did.
In his No. 2-ranked 2025 class, Smart didn’t poach a single player from Alabama, and the same goes for Georgia's top-ranked group in 2024, while Alabama was heavily reliant on sneaking into Georgia’s borders for its No. 4-ranked class last cycle. The state of Georgia is always a more fertile recruiting base than Alabama. Although recruiting is a nationwide endeavor in modern college football, protecting your borders remains crucial for a program that expects to win national titles in the 24th most populous state.