Early Signing Day primer: What you need to know about Alabama's 2023 class
Alabama can’t end the 2022 season at No. 1.
Just about every season during the Nick Saban Era, as the holiday season has beckoned, the ultimate has been there for the taking, and the Crimson Tide have been getting ready to play for a national championship.
But not this fall. This fall, the championship train went slightly off the tracks, Bama lost 2 agonizing road games, and then it nearly had enough dominoes fall its way to still sneak into the 4-team College Football Playoff before finishing 1 spot away from the party.
Instead, the Playoff party will play on without the Alabama Crimson Tide. And while the Tide keep 1 eye on trying to end this season on a strong note with a victory over Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve, they have their other eye keenly focused on trying to make sure 2023 goes a little differently than 2022.
And that road to retribution starts in a few short days. The road is actually a trail, the recruiting trail, and the 3-day Early Signing Period that starts on Wednesday and ends at midnight on Christmas Eve.
Welcome to the 2023 recruiting cycle, a whole new world which, at this very early moment, Alabama owns.
Right now in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, the Crimson Tide are the kings of the very fluid and very fickle recruiting universe.
Right now, as that sprint of an Early Signing Period gets set to begin, Saban’s recruiting class is ranked No. 1 — where the 2022 Tide can’t finish but where the next few Tide teams can, especially if the 2023 recruiting class is as special as those 247 rankings say it is.
Right now, Alabama has 25 commitments, including 21 4-star recruits and 3 potential gems of the 5-star variety.
Right now, this Crimson Tide class sits above everyone else’s, even the 1 from Georgia, which is 2 wins from winning its 2nd straight national title but whose recruiting class is currently ranked No. 2 by 247.
Knowing this, but also knowing how truly fluid the recruiting whirlwind is, we’ll delve deeper into a class that could be 1 of Saban’s best — and that’s saying something.
Highest-rated player: Caleb Downs, safety, 5-star
Downs committed to Bama and the Saban Process back in late July, and the Tide are getting a supreme talent from a superior athletic family. Downs’ dad, Gary Downs, was a running back at North Carolina State and played 7 seasons in the NFL with the New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. Downs’ older brother, Joshua Downs, is a wide receiver at North Carolina and was a 4-star recruit in 2020. And Downs’ older sister, Kameron Downs, played soccer at Kennesaw State.
No shock, then, that Caleb Downs also played basketball at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga. And no shock, either, that in order to point Downs toward Tuscaloosa, Saban had to lure the 6-foot, 195-pound stud away from Georgia, Ohio State and Notre Dame. SEC rival Arkansas was also in the mix for Downs, who chose the Tide in an offseason when they will be trying to replace both of their star safeties in Jordan Battle and DeMarcco Hellams. So Downs’ impact could be larger and more immediate than you even think.
Downs might just be the headliner of Bama’s 5-star headliners. But the Crimson Tide also boast a pair of other 5-star gems in the 2023 cycle (so far, at least) in 6-foot-6, 242-pound edge rusher Keon Keeley of Tampa, Fla., who just committed a week ago, and running back Justice Haynes out of Buford, Ga., who like Downs committed to Bama last summer. Bringing in a pair of 5-star guys on defense (again, so far) should calm a lot of Tide fanatics in an offseason when Bama is likely losing a legend in Will Anderson Jr. along with seniors Battle, Hellams, Byron Young and Henry To’oTo’o.
Did Bama bolster its quarterback room?
Well, yes, the Tide did. And that’s obviously a big thing in their search to find the next starting quarterback, with Bryce Young almost assuredly moving on to the NFL following the Sugar Bowl. Yes, there is sophomore-to-be Jalen Milroe, who’s waiting to take over after he filled in admirably for the injured Young this past season. And there’s also sophomore-to-be Ty Simpson, who’s waiting eagerly to compete with Milroe for the job.
But with uncertainty reigning over the quarterback position for the 1st time in a while in Tuscaloosa, Saban went out and grabbed a couple of 4-star recruits in Eli Holstein out of Zachary, La., and Dylan Lonergan from Snellville, Ga. Both are big boys, like Milroe, with Holstein being 6-4, 222 pounds and Lonergan checking in at 6-2, 215. One would think that unless Milroe or even Simpson completely wows Saban in fall camp and puts his stamp on the starting job, it will be open season for Holstein and/or Lonergan to compete for the job.
Holstein chose Bama over Auburn, Arkansas and Texas A&M, and Lonergan was being looked at by South Carolina and Arkansas, so the Hogs got beaten to the punch twice by the Tide for these 2 quarterbacks. And if Holstein turns into the real deal, Bama will always remember that it snatched him away from 3 fellow SEC West schools — and the Tigers, Razorbacks and Aggies won’t forget it, either. Perhaps Saban could also hit the transfer portal for an insurance policy at quarterback. But between Milroe, Simpson and the 2 4-star recruits, you would think that might be plenty for him to take into a fascinating 2023 QB competition.
Best position group: Wide receiver/tight end
We’ll see what Saban can pull off at the transfer portal, but everyone saw this fall how the best laid plans at the portal don’t always work out, with Jermaine Burton’s struggles to blend with Young. So with some uncertainty at the top of the receiver depth chart, with the transfers of wideouts Traeshon Holden, JoJo Earle and Christian Leary, and with the departure of senior tight end Cameron Latu, it was pretty imperative that this spot be replenished through the recruiting cycle.
Mission accomplished. Don’t forget, there will most assuredly be a new starting quarterback under center, someone not named Bryce Young, so the passing game in 2023 is probably going to be a work in progress, especially early. With that, Saban has brought in (so far) 4 wideouts and 1 tight end in the Early Signing Period, including 4-star receivers Jalen Hale, Malik Benson, Jaren Hamilton and Cole Adams. Tight end Ty Lockwood is also a 4-star guy. It will be fascinating to see how this new batch develops and blends, and also if it can ignite a position that was stale as a whole in 2022 despite the presence of Young.
Biggest need filled: Offensive line
Alabama had 3 offensive linemen make All-SEC 1st and 2nd team this season, and that’s great, but not when all 3 of those guys won’t be back in 2023. Emil Ekiyor Jr. (1st team), Javion Cohen (2nd team) and Tyler Steen (2nd team) were studs this fall, but Ekiyor and Steen were seniors and Cohen bolted to the transfer portal. That’s enough of a problem for 2023 before you even consider that Tommy Brockermeyer, Damieon George Jr., Amari Kight and Tanner Bowles also entered the portal, leaving the Tide devoid of talent, experience and depth.
But the recruiting trail has come to the rescue with a trio of 4-star offensive tackles named Wilkin Formby, Olaus Alinen and Miles McVay. Formby is a Tuscaloosa kid. They will help fill the voids in the next few years after all those losses up front this offseason, and they will be joined in this class by interior linemen Raymond Pulido and RyQueze McElderry, who’s from down the road in Anniston, Ala. These 5 recruits will be crucial as Bama tries to transition from the luxury of having Young at quarterback and having all that departing talent up front.
Biggest potential flip: Kadyn Proctor, OT, 5-star
As if Saban’s early offensive line haul isn’t impressive enough, the word is that Bama is trying to flip Proctor, who has committed to Iowa. Proctor has been a hard commit to Iowa since the summer, and he’s from Des Moines, so you would think that hard commit would stay firm. Well, according to Hank South of 247Sports, Proctor took 1 last visit to Alabama this past weekend, so Iowa isn’t set in stone just yet.
Proctor is a whopping 6-foot-7, 330 pounds, according to 247Sports. Some in the recruiting world have compared Proctor to ex-Hawkeyes offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, who was drafted in the 1st round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. So that’s high praise, and Alabama sneaking in at the 11th hour and stealing Proctor from his home state would be quite the accomplishment. It won’t be easy, of course, as Colorado and Oregon are also rumored to be pushing to flip Proctor. You’ll have to stay tuned on this one.
Final takeaways on this class
Saban and Co. can’t be very happy with not being in the championship chase this December, and they are doing something about it by building what is so far a top-notch recruiting class. We’ll see what happens this week during the Early Signing Period. We’ll see if Bama can steal someone really good from somewhere else, like Proctor, and make its top-ranked class even more powerful. The 2023 cycle is just getting started, and the aforementioned fluidity and unpredictability of recruiting makes all this an unfinished product.
But we know this: No matter what happens from the exact information we have now on Dec. 19, this Crimson Tide class is stacked, and even more importantly, it’s well balanced between offense and defense. Four wide receivers and a tight end. Two running backs. Two quarterbacks. Five offensive linemen. Two edge rushers. Three defensive linemen. Two safeties. One linebacker. And 1 cornerback. There’s a little bit of everything, and a lot of talent.
Is the quarterback of the future in this class in Holstein or Lonergan? Very possibly. But the good part is neither has to be, at least not right away, not with Milroe and Simpson returning. Out of Bama’s 25 hard commits, 6 are from in-state, so the Early Signing Period contingent appears to be a nice balance (there’s that word again) of locals and non-locals. And anyway, it’s Alabama, which recruits everywhere. The thing is — and everyone close to this program knows this — this is a crucial offseason, as the Tide transition from a Playoff-less season and from losing (we assume) 2 legends in Young and Anderson.
The rebuild starts now, and it starts with this class. And from the looks of it, going into this week, the 1st several bricks look pretty solid.