Alabama Football: Ranking Crimson Tide’s last 10 recruiting classes

10. 2010

Best Player: C.J. Mosley
Best Value: Blake Sims

The fact that this is the worst recruiting class Alabama’s had in the past decade shows the talent that Alabama brings in on a yearly basis. C.J. Mosley has the right to be considered the best linebacker Nick Saban has ever coached. Blake Sims was a veteran backup who had a fantastic senior season as a starter in 2014. There were also some quality linemen and secondary pieces that became quality starters, including Dee Milliner and Arie Kouandjio.

However, Mosley was the only Alabama legend in the class. Sims was a great quarterback and what the team needed at the time, but he only started for one season. There was a quarterback in this class that was supposed to be much better than Blake Sims in Phillip Sims, but he transferred after losing the starting job to A.J. McCarron.

I don’t want to sleep on the value of Dee Milliner in this class. His lack of transferred talent to the NFL hurts his image, but he was very successful as an outside corner for Alabama. DeAndrew White was also a high-quality receiver that worked well in a rotation that included Amari Cooper for most of his career.

Another valuable player from this class is Jalston Fowler. Fowler started at running back before moving to the fullback position. He played both well, but he was able to block for TJ Yeldon and get the occasional carry or reception. It’s not the type of thing that makes or breaks a recruiting class, but it did a lot to add to the success of both this team and this recruiting class.

This is truly a talented class, but there wasn’t a lot of top-level talent when you compare it to the other classes, and there weren’t any true diamonds in the rough.