Alabama Football: Top 5 recruiting targets for National Signing Day

With National Signing Day just around the corner, we take a look at Alabama Football‘s Top 5 remaining targets as they solidify the nation’s top recruiting class.

With a strong finish to the early signing period, Alabama has effectively clinched the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class. Although still not officially, the early signing period is looking more and more like the signing day as coaches convince more and more recruits to sign in December instead of waiting until February.

The early signing period was kind to Nick Saban and Alabama, and probably helped the Crimson Tide maintain the No. 1 class after a tumultuous couple of weeks following a shocking defeat to Clemson in the National Championship Game.

Since the loss to Clemson, Alabama has lost five assistant coaches to new jobs with a couple of more likely on the way out in the next couple of weeks or months. That includes offensive coordinator Mike Locksley who is now the Maryland head coach, and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi who joined the Cleveland Browns as their defensive line coach.

Some of these departures were expected, others even encouraged. Some though, particularly the departure of QB’s coach and presumed new offensive coordinator Dan Enos, were highly unexpected.

It’s clear that Saban wasn’t happy with the staff despite Alabama’s near perfect 14-1 season that included an SEC Championship and an Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma. At Alabama, Saban has raised the bar so much that anything less than a National Championship is a bitter disappointment.

Saban has begun filling out his new staff with some veteran coaches who are more used to his style and the demanding hours that come with it. They will be tasked with putting a bow on the Crimson Tide’s sterling recruiting class for the 2019 cycle.

Alabama signed 24 players during the early signing period and have four currently committed who remain unsigned ahead of the February deadline. Alabama took only 21 players in last year’s class, so they figure to have room for 28 after accounting for a greyshirt from the 2017 cycle in Jarez Parks.

That means there is technically not any room for any of the other uncommitted players unless someone signs elsewhere or agrees to a greyshirt. Four-star RB Keilan Robinson from Washington, D.C. is probably the most likely candidate to go that route, but he’s likely to have some other suitors pushing for his signature if Alabama doesn’t have the numbers to take him.

I ultimately expect four-star defensive tackle Byron Young to flip to one of the Mississippi schools, so Alabama should be looking to fill three spots among their remaining targets.

Here’s who I believe are Alabama’s top five remaining targets heading into National Signing Day:

(All star rankings come via the 247 composites)