3 takeaways from Eli Holstein’s commitment to Alabama Football

Alabama football got the commitment of a top-10 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class on Tuesday but it wasn’t the one it wanted. 

You could feel a sense of mixed emotions from Alabama football fans on Tuesday as the Crimson Tide took the commitment of four-star signal-caller Eli Holstein.

Make no mistake about it, Alabama football just got a really good quarterback. Holstein was committed to Texas A&M earlier this cycle and LSU has been pushing for him lately.

But Crimson Tide fans and head coach Nick Saban were all holding out hope for Arch Manning. At least for as long as they could.

There was a report at one time that said Alabama football wouldn’t take a QB in the 2023 class until it knew what Manning was going to do.

Yet, the writing sort of seemed to be on the wall. Texas and Georgia are the two programs on the rise and with that backdrop, Bama secured its quarterback for the 2023 class, and here are three takeaways from Holstein’s commitment to Alabama football:

https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/1529153498893500421

Eli Holstein isn’t Arch Manning but he’s freaking good

Yes, there is just one Arch Manning but Holstein is really good too. Alabama could have waited until Manning took his official visit (which you wonder if it will happen now) but with other programs threatening for Holstein, it was smart not to jeopardize that.

You would have to think this takes Alabama out of the mix for Arch but it still lands the No. 68 overall prospect in 2023 as well as the No. 8 QB.