Alabama’s 2020 recruiting class is off to a good start. The early 2020 National Signing Day took place on December 18th for recruits to sign and participate with their teams early. Every year, the Alabama Crimson Tide are in the hunt for the top recruiting class in the nation. That Wednesday, most high school and junior college recruits signed with their teams. Currently, the Crimson Tide have the second-ranked recruiting class of 2020 by 24/7 Sports and Rivals. As of now, the Crimson Tide have signed 22 recruits and have four hard commitments. Finally, Alabama has had the top-ranked recruiting classes in eight of the nine previous classes ranked by 24/7 Sports.
Alabama’s 2020 Recruiting Class: Early Period
Recruiting Class Battle with Clemson and Ohio State
The Crimson Tide find themselves in the middle of a recruiting class battle with the, currently top-ranked, Clemson Tigers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. 24/7 Sports has the Tigers’ recruiting class with 311.90 points. Whereas, the Tide have 310.39 points. The Buckeyes have 295.21 points by 24/7 sports but are only at 100 points (2941-to-2841) by Rivals.com.
Alabama has three players that are five-star recruits and ranked in the top 25 in the 2020 class. Bryce Young, from Santa Ana, California, is the number one dual-threat quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class and sixth overall. Chris Braswell, from Baltimore, Maryland, is the number one weakside defensive end in the nation and 17th ranked recruit overall. Drew Sanders, from Denton, Texas, is the Tide’s last five-star signee and ranked as the second-best athlete and 21st recruit overall in the 2020 class. Sanders plays defensive end, wide receiver, and wildcat quarterback.
The Tigers have six five-star recruits who have signed letters of commitment with four of them ranked in the top 25. Clemson signed the top-ranked defensive lineman in the nation. The Buckeyes signed the second-ranked prospect in wide receiver and offensive tackle in the nation. While Oregon, LSU, and South Carolina have a few highly ranked recruits, Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State have the most. Even though the majority of the top recruits have found a home, four top-50 recruits have yet to sign with a school in the early National Signing Day.
Tide Recruited All Throughout the Field
So far in this 2020 recruiting class process, Alabama has recruited at every position. Getting the top dual-threat quarterback in the nation in Young will be crucial in the future. Young has the ability to take over as a true freshman if Tua Tagovailoa leaves for the 2020 NFL Draft. Braswell is one of two pure defensive ends in the 2020 class for the Crimson Tide. Alabama has encountered problems with receiving top-ranked prospects at defensive end and keeping them. Eyabi Anoma (2018) and Antonio Alfano (2019) were the number one ranked defensive ends in their recruiting class. However, neither player lasted the entire season for Alabama and transferred. Anoma went to Houston and Alfano went to Colorado. Four (five if Sanders plays end) defensive end recruits have signed with Alabama.
In addition, due to the defensive philosophies of using nickel and dime packages often, the Tide is always in search of young players to contribute immediately. Alabama had four defensive backs sign. The four include safety Brian Branch from, Tyrone, Georgia, who is the nation’s third-ranked defensive back. All three of Alabama’s signed linebackers come from the state of Alabama. Further, Alabama has also recruited the top three prospects in the state of Alabama at the inside linebacker position. Those three are Demouy Kennedy (Theodore), outside linebacker Quandarrius Robinson (Birmingham), and running back Roydell Williams (Hueytown).
