WHERE THEY STAND
How Southeastern Conference recruiting classes are faring in the 247Sports.com composite rankings (including national rank):1. Alabama (1)2. Georgia (3)3. LSU (7)4. Auburn (8)5. Texas A&M (9)6. Tennessee (10)7. South Carolina (15)8. Florida (19)9. Mississippi State (21)10. Arkansas (23)11. Kentucky (24)12. Missouri (39)13. Ole Miss (45)14. Vanderbilt (64)
The first few weeks of every calendar year can be measured by New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Alabama having the No. 1 recruiting class on national signing day and Valentine's Day.
Nick Saban's Crimson Tide entered this weekend with the top-rated class of signees and commitments according to the four major recruiting services - ESPN, 247Sports.com, Rivals.com and Scout.com. Alabama has attained the No. 1 signing class by at least one of those outlets in eight of the past nine years.
"This one is right up there with Nick Saban's best classes ever," ESPN recruiting analyst Derek Tyson said. "When you go top to bottom from each position, it's just incredible. They've got Najee Harris, the No. 1 running back in the country. They've got Dylan Moses, who might be the top linebacker in the country. They've got Alex Leatherwood, one of the top offensive tackles in the country. Jerry Jeudy is a lot like Calvin Ridley in the way he plays.
"They've got the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback with Tua Tagovailoa, so top to bottom it's an incredible class, and it will be difficult for another team to overtake them as the top recruiting class in the country with what they've put together."
Alabama assembling the top-rated class is almost as ancient as coveted prospects sitting at tables covered with hats, but how Saban has gone about compiling top talent is very different from a decade ago.
In 2008, which was Saban's first full recruiting cycle in Tuscaloosa and his first No. 1 class, his top six signees were from Alabama: Foley wide receiver Julio Jones, Mountain Brook tackle Tyler Love, Vigor cornerback B.J. Scott, Gadsden outside linebacker Jerrell Harris, Mobile safety Mark Barron and Eufala outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw.
The Crimson Tide's top six prospects this winter according to 247Sports' composite rankings are not even limited to the continental United States - Harris (California), Leatherwood (Florida), Moses (Louisiana), Jeudy (Florida), Tagovailoa (Hawaii) and offensive lineman Jedrick Wills (Kentucky).
"I always say that we need to do a great job of recruiting our state and within a five-hour radius of Tuscaloosa, which includes several other states," Saban said last weekend in Tampa, Fla., "but I think now in recruiting, because of all the national recruiting services, that it's a little easier to gain access to who the players are all over the country.
"That's probably expanded national recruiting a little bit."
That, of course, and the relationships recruits can develop through social media.
Harris committed to Alabama back in April 2015 but took official visits in recent months to California, Michigan and UCLA. He considered choosing among Alabama, Michigan and Cal during last weekend's U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio but wound up leaving without speaking to reporters.
His actions fueled speculation of uncertainty, but Tugavailoa already had built a friendship with Harris and repeatedly assured Crimson Tide fans that the tailback was headed to Tuscaloosa. Harris joined Tugavailoa at Alabama this past week as one of 12 early enrollees, which is another aspect in how Saban's recruiting differs from a decade ago.
Alabama had two early enrollees in each of Saban's first two classes in 2007 and 2008 but has produced at least eight in every class since 2010. Cam Robinson, the top tackle nationally in the 2014 signing class, enrolled early and started all 44 games at left tackle in three seasons before announcing Friday that he was leaving for the NFL.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts, the 2016 Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year, and right tackle Jonah Williams, a 15-game starter at right tackle this past season, headed the Crimson Tide's early enrollees from a year ago.
"I went against the best defense in the country every day, so you really can't get any better experience than that," Williams said last month when asked about his early start with the Tide. "I went up against all of them - Tim Williams, Ryan Anderson, Jonathan Allen, Dalvin Tomlinson, Da'Shawn Hand - you really don't get a break going against them, because there is so much talent and depth.
"They're all great guys who were constructive in helping me learn, too. There is a lot of mutual respect. You come in quietly, and you work."
Williams was a consensus top-five tackle nationally last winter out of Folsom, Calif.
"It's just Nick Saban being Nick Saban," Tyson said. "They go out and target the best guys in the country, and then they go out and achieve it."
Saban actually credits Auburn as another factor in the Tide's national recruiting efforts. Although Alabama has regained the reins in the Iron Bowl rivalry with three straight victories for the first time since 1990-92, there is still the fact the Tide and Tigers have combined for five national championships and seven title-game appearances in the past eight years.
As he assuredly will continue to comb the country for elite prospects, Saban always will remember how it all started.
"Maybe we don't have quite the numbers in Alabama, and we have two good schools that both have good programs," Saban said, "so it's always very, very competitive in our own state with the competition. Some of those battles we win and some of them we don't, but we've had a lot of really, really good players from Alabama who have certainly contributed to our success, especially when we first got here with guys like Julio Jones, Mark Barron and D.J. Fluker.
"A lot of players in our state who were really, really good football players for us came to Alabama when we really weren't any good. Players come now because we're good, which is a good thing, but all those players came when we were 7-6."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.