Alabama signed 15 players Wednesday on the first day of college football’s new early signing period, but a quarterback was not among them.
The Crimson Tide have signed at least one quarterback in each of coach Nick Saban’s 11 February signing classes in Tuscaloosa, including Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones earlier this year.
“We’ve tried to recruit a quarterback, and we’re going to continue to try and do that,” Saban said in a news conference late Wednesday afternoon. “I would always like to have four on the roster, and that may or may not be possible. We have to make that decision based on how recruiting continues to go.”
Alabama, of course, is not exactly hurting at quarterback.
Sophomore Jalen Hurts was the Southeastern Conference’s offensive player of the year as a freshman and was 23-0 in regular-season contests until the 26-14 loss at Auburn on Nov. 25. Tagovailoa has completed 35 of 53 passes for 470 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception in eight games this year, and his 186.57 efficiency rating is superior to the 154.91 clip Hurts has produced.
The Crimson Tide’s focus in this early period was on the defensive side of the ball, especially in the secondary. Alabama will lose senior defensive backs Anthony Averett, Tony Brown and Hootie Jones from this year’s 11-1 team that will face Clemson on New Year’s Day in a national semifinal at the Sugar Bowl, and juniors Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison are likely candidates to leave early for the NFL.
Alabama signed three defensive backs Wednesday: Josh Jobe, Jalyn Armour-Davis and Saivion Smith, who began his career at LSU in 2016 and already is practicing with the Tide during their on-campus workouts.
“We still feel like we’re recruiting several other defensive backs,” Saban said. “I think we’re probably going to lose five or maybe more, and we would like to replace that many guys. Whether that’s possible or not, I don’t know.
“I know we’re recruiting several other guys, and we feel good about the three players we got today.”
Alabama’s class as of Wednesday evening was ranked No. 6 nationally by ESPN and 247Sports.com. Outside linebacker Eyabi Anoma of Baltimore is the only 247Sports five-star signee in the early crop for the Tide, and there are 11 four-star signees and a trio of three-stars.
Five of the Tide’s 15 signees hail from Florida, with two from South Carolina and one each from Alabama, California, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Utah.
“This is all kind of new for us, but if the early signing period is some kind of an indication of what kind of recruiting that you’re doing, we’re very pleased and happy with the 15 players we were able to sign today,” Saban said. “There is a lot to do to finish this class. We can only take 23 guys this year, so we have eight spots left.
“We’ve kind of identified our needs, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue to finish with a lot of good players who are left out there and are going to wait until February.”
Tide tidbits
Redshirt sophomore safety Deionte Thompson, who suffered a leg bruise during Tuesday’s practice, worked with the team Wednesday. … Freshman linebacker Dylan Moses will need a pin in his foot and is out three or four weeks, Saban said. … Alabama will practice today and Friday, take Saturday through Monday off, practice again Tuesday and then leave for New Orleans.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.