Alabama’s flurry of elite prospects began with Saban’s first full class

By David Paschall February 21, 2014 8 min read

Julio Jones was the first Crimson Tide true freshman receiver to start a season opener.

In 2011, Trent Richardson racked up a school-record 1,679 yards and 21touchdowns for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama signed a record six Rivals.com five-star football prospects earlier this month and has signed at least three in six of the past seven years.

It wasn’t always this way.

When the Crimson Tide experienced turbulence on the field a decade ago, their recruiting efforts were lagging as well. Alabama signed just three five-star players from 2002, when Rivals.com began its rankings, through 2007.

Everything changed with Nick Saban’s first full signing class in 2008, when Julio Jones came aboard and was joined the following winter by Trent Richardson. Yet not every five-star under Saban has translated into five-star talent.

A look at the list:

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.