Alabama faces climb to land sixth straight No. 1 recruiting class

Receiver Julio Jones was a member of Alabama's 2008 signing class, which kickstarted the Crimson Tide's run of seven No. 1 recruiting hauls in an eight-year stretch under coach Nick Saban. Receiver Julio Jones was a member of Alabama's 2008 signing class, which kickstarted the Crimson Tide's run of seven No. 1 recruiting hauls in an eight-year stretch under coach Nick Saban.

By David Paschall January 23, 2016 4 min read

OFFSEASON CHAMPS, TOO

Alabama has compiled the nation’s No. 1 football recruiting class in seven of the past eight years. Here are the years and some of the stars:› 2008: RB Mark Ingram, WR Julio Jones, OL Barrett Jones, LB Dont’a Hightower, LB Courtney Upshaw› 2009: QB AJ McCarron, RB Trent Richardson, RB Eddie Lacy, OL D.J. Fluker, DB Dre Kirkpatrick› 2011: OL Cyrus Kouandjio, OL Ryan Kelly, DL D.J. Pettway, LB Trey DePriest, DB HaHa Clinton-Dix› 2012: RB T.J. Yeldon, WR Amari Cooper, PK Adam Griffith, LB Reggie Ragland, DB Cyrus Jones› 2013: RB Derrick Henry, TE O.J. Howard, DL A’Shawn Robinson, DL Jonathan Allen, LB Reuben Foster› 2014: OL Cam Robinson, P JK Scott, DL Da’Shawn Hand, LB Rashaan Evans, DB Marlon Humphrey› 2015: RB Damien Harris, WR Calvin Ridley, DL Daron Payne, DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB Ronnie Harrison

On the heels of its fourth national championship in the past seven seasons, Alabama is in jeopardy of losing its unprecedented stranglehood on recruiting.

Not that the Crimson Tide are planning to drop football. In fact, coach Nick Saban and the 2015 national champs are being celebrated with a parade today in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama has finished with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for five consecutive years, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings that also take into account ratings from ESPN, Rivals.com and Scout.com. The Crimson Tide also had Rivals.com’s top-rated classes in 2008 and ’09, giving Alabama a No. 1 crop in seven of the past eight cycles.

Entering this weekend, however, Alabama’s recruiting rankings were No. 7 (Scout.com), No. 9 (247Sports.com), No. 10 (ESPN) and No. 11 (Rivals.com).

David Paschall

David Paschall has covered sports at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since 1999 and wrote for the Chattanooga Free Press in the nine years before that. David has mostly covered college athletics, with a focus on the University of Georgia from 2000 to 2019 and the University of Tennessee since 2020. He grew up in Chattanooga and is a graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received multiple writing awards and has served as a Heisman Trophy voter since 2003. He has also worked in radio in Chattanooga and has been on the SEC Network's "Classic Rewind" series since 2014. David and his wife, Kelly, have three children — Conner, Emily and Spencer.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.