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Alabama Earns Top Billing in Early Signing Day Rankings

SI All-American crowns the Crimson Tide as 2021 ESP Recruiting Champion with the No. 1 class in the country

SI All-American

The 2021 recruiting cycle will be forever remembered for many reasons. The main memory will likely stem from how the COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected the process for both recruits and programs.

While this was a difficult recruiting cycle to navigate through, Ohio State entered the first day of the early signing period as the favorite to take home the rankings crown. But Alabama's late surge pushed it over the top.

SI All-American has crowned the Crimson Tide as early signing period champions for the 2021 class.

Armed with 10 SI99 prospects, Alabama’s 24-man class is nothing short of outstanding—which has become the norm in Tuscaloosa under head coach Nick Saban.

"A lot of people did a really, really good job," Saban said. "You know, we recruit as a team here at Alabama. We got a lot of support in the university community. We got a lot of support in every area of our program whether it’s personal development, academic support, sports medicine, sports science—things that we do to help develop players whether it’s nutrition, coaching staff, whatever it is and I know that we spend a tremendous amount of time on Zooms and videos to sort of create relationships that we didn’t have the opportunity to create by normal visits, but we identified the needs that we had in this class early on. 

"I think we got some really good players at each one of those positions and we’re really pleased to have this group of players become a part of our program and a part of our team. So we’re excited about the future, we’re excited about helping them develop personally, academically and athletically so that they can have more success in life because they were involved in the program here.”

Bestowing headliner honors to one prospect in the class is downright tough. OT Tommy Brockermeyer is the No. 1 player at his position, yet OT J.C. Latham is right behind him at No. 2 to give the Tide a pair of bookend tackles who both can play left tackle in the SEC.

IDL Damon Payne is No. 2 at his position, same as SLOT Christian Leary, while Ga’Quincy McKinstry is the No. 4 cornerback in the country. EDGE Dallas Turner projects as a high-end pass rusher for ‘Bama, which is why he is the No. 9 prospect at his position and could easily move up. IOL James Brockeymeyer projects as a center and is a top-5 prospect among IOLs.

WR Jacorey Brooks is No. 5 at his position, Jojo Earle (who can easily play in the slot) is the No. 6 RB and IDL Monkell Goodwine is No. 87 overall in the SI99.

Additional high-end prospects in Alabama’s 2021 class include WR Agiye Hall, IOL Terrence Ferguson, S/LB Kadarius Calloway, S Kaine Williams, QB Jalen Milroe and LBs Kendrick Blackshire, Ian Jackson and Devontae Lawson.

Alabama had an eventful Signing Day to close things out, flipping Earle and EDGE Keanu Koht from rival LSU to bookend the day. The Tide picked on Texas a bit during this cycle, beating the Longhorns out for the Brockermeyer twins and flipping Milroe earlier.

Alabama’s 2021 Recruiting Class by the Numbers:

  • 24 commitments
  • 10 SI99 commitments
  • 6 commitments from Florida prospects
  • 5 in-state commitments
  • 6 commitments from Texas
  • 10 states represented
  • 13 defensive commitments
  • 11 offensive commitments
  • 10 trenchmen commitments
  • 6 DL commitments
  • 5 receiver commitments
  • 4 offensive line commitments
  • 8 premium position commitments
  • 5 position units with multiple commitments
  • 2 pairs of high school teammates (Brockeymeyer twins, Latham & Brooks)
  • 7 offensive skill position commitments
  • 8 defensive skill position commitments
  • 21 commitments from SEC footprint
  • 7 commitments from ACC footprint
  • 6 commitments from Big 12 footprint
  • 4 commitments from Big Ten footprint

Alabama’s 2021 SI99 Commitments

  1. OT Tommy Brockermeyer (No. 5)
  2. OT J.C. Latham (No. 11)
  3. IDL Damon Payne (No. 12)
  4. SLOT Christian Leary (No. 42)
  5. WR Jacorey Brooks (No. 46)
  6. CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry (No. 49)
  7. EDGE Dallas Turner (No. 69)
  8. RB Jojo Earle (No. 82)
  9. IDL Monkell Goodwine (No. 87)
  10. IOL James Brockermeyer (No. 98)

Clemson was crowned champion in the ESP for 2020 recruiting by SI All-American, with Georgia swooping in and taking the crown in February.

Early Signing Period Top 10 Rankings

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State - Maintained its pledges, still holds the most SI99 members (11) and ended the day before lunch. 

3. Georgia - Added SI99 LB Xavian Sorey. Lost JUCO DB De'Jahn Warren.

4. LSU - Added SI99 DL Maason Smith, SI99 RB Armoni Goodwin, WR Malik Nabers, JUCO LB Navonteque Strong, CB Damarius McGhee. Lost DE Keanu Koht, SI99 RB Jojo Earle.

5. Clemson - Maintained its pledges.

6. Notre Dame - Maintained its pledges.

7. Oregon - Maintained its pledges.

8. Florida -Maintained its pledges.

9. Miami - Added QB Jake Garcia.

10. Oklahoma - Added OT Savion Byrd.

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