Alabama Pressing Ohio State for Top 2021 Football Recruiting Class

Hard-charging Crimson Tide have racked up 10 commits since the beginning of June.

Ohio State has compiled and maintained the nation’s top-ranked 2021 football recruiting class throughout recent months, but hard-charging Alabama doesn’t seem ready to just let the Buckeyes pull away comfortably.

A scorching summer for the Crimson Tide has now propelled Nick Saban’s group into the No. 2 spot, with Alabama (280 points) now only trailing the Buckeyes and their 305 in the latest 247Sports composite team rankings.

Alabama has racked up 10 commits since the beginning of June, including five top-50 prospects all in the trenches with No. 5 Tommy Brockermeyer (OT), No. 14 Damon Payne (DT), No. 16 JC Latham (OT), No. 43 Dallas Turner (DE) and No. 46 Terrence Ferguson (OG).

Brockermeyer’s twin brother, James, also chose Alabama on the same day recently and is rated the No. 1 center (187 nationally overall). Latham was a notable commit back in early June as the IMG Academy standout was reportedly favoring/leaning Ohio State for quite some time. Additionally, in-state Buckeye commit Devonta Smith flipped to Alabama.

Ohio State has just one commit in the same time span, and that came on July 19 when cornerback Jordan Hancock (Suwanee, Ga.) flipped from Clemson. The Buckeyes are also right there in the mix for a handful of top prospects still available, notably defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and offensive tackle Tristan Leigh alongside others.

See full list of Buckeyes commits and top remaining targets HERE.

While OSU certainly isn’t done yet, neither is Alabama. The notoriously dominant Crimson Tide have registered No. 1 recruiting classes in eight of the past 10 years, including seven in a row from 2011-17. Fellow SEC rival Georgia has found a groove lately in securing top classes in 2018 and 2020.

Ohio State, wildly enough, has never recorded the No. 1 class despite being a routine fixture among the top-five nationally. The ensuing months are likely to become interesting and critical.

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for continued coverage!