No surprise here: after yet another season of competing for the national championship, Alabama has the top recruiting class in the country.

The Crimson Tide have had the top-ranked recruiting class every year since 2011, per 247sports.com, bringing in blue chip talent to replace the NFL-caliber players that leave every spring. They’ll need it after this season, especially up front. Three of Alabama’s offensive line starters are seniors, playing their final game (or games) for the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff.

With Arie Kouandjio, Austin Shepherd and Leon Brown all moving on, Alabama will only be returning left tackle Cam Robinson, who impressed as a freshman, as well as junior center Ryan Kelly, who may consider leaving for the draft. Alabama brought in several highly regarded over the past few years, and few of them gained experience this season thanks to injury. Bradley Bozeman, Alphonse Taylor and Grant Hill all played with the starters for stretches.

Current offensive line commits

  • Four-star: Lester Cotton, 6-4, 325 lbs. (Central, Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Four-star: Richie Petitbon, 6-4, 301 lbs. (Gonzaga, Washington, D.C.)
  • Four-star: Dallas Warmack, 6-2, 306 lbs. (Mays, Atlanta, Ga.)
  • Four-star: Brandon Kennedy, 6-2, 295 lbs.(Wetumpka, Wetumpka, Ala.)

Other positions of need

  • Linebacker: Senior Trey DePriest will be gone next season, while junior Reggie Ragland could jump to the NFL after a stellar season. Sophomores Ryan Anderson and Reuben Foster will be back, and there’s plenty of depth behind them, but with the Crimson Tide’s versatile defensive scheme they can always use more linebackers.
  • Wide receiver: Alabama will be losing its top three receivers in Amari Cooper, who will almost surely head to the draft, as well as seniors Christion Jones and DeAndrew White. The Tide have a host of four- and five-star recruits from the last two classes that haven’t seen much playing time yet, but they’ll have to rebuild some of the depth they’re losing this year.