LeBron James had zero rings, Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” was the No. 1 song in America, Nick Saban was a month removed from his first title at Alabama, Snapchat wasn’t a thing yet and Barack Obama was a quarter of the way through his presidency.

The world was a much different place in February 2010. That, of course, was the last time that Alabama didn’t finish with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. Ironically enough, the coach responsible for the last non-Alabama No. 1 was Urban Meyer at Florida. On Wednesday, it’s Meyer’s Ohio State squad that’s in position to finish No. 1.

National Signing Day will be different for Alabama, and really everyone. With the majority of recruits locked in with the new Early Signing Period, the February signing day will have a “best of the rest” feel to it.

But make no mistake, Wednesday is an extremely important day for the Tide.

Alabama still has plenty of potential signees on the board. In all likelihood, the Tide will end up with several of them and rise from their No. 6 national ranking. The question is how much that ranking will improve.

There are 17 Alabama targets who will announce their decisions Wednesday. The 247sports crew assembled a schedule of their expected announcement times:

By taking a look at the schedule, Saban could flash a smile by lunchtime. But the 247sports crystal ball suggests that could take until the early afternoon for the Tide to get rolling.

Of all the 4- and 5-star recruits set to announce before noon CT, Alabama isn’t expected to land any of them. That includes 4-star linebacker and soft Alabama commit Quay Walker, who got a ringing endorsement from Justin Fields on his visit to Georgia over the weekend.

Walker could be a battle to the end with Georgia and Tennessee. As it stands, he’s Alabama’s biggest chance to make a morning splash on Wednesday.

As for the afternoon announcements, that could be a different story. The 247sports crystal ball has 4-star receivers Justyn Ross and Jaylen Waddle, 4-star DE Malik Langham are projected to pick Alabama while soft 4-star commits Vernon Jackson and Bobby Brown (different one) are expected to stick with the Tide.

So let’s just say that the status quo happens Wednesday. That is, Alabama gets commitments from those 5 recruits. That would still be 20 signed recruits rated 4-stars or better. Only 3 schools pulled off that feat last year, Alabama being one of them.

The big difference this year is the 5-star talent. Since Saban began this run of No. 1 classes in 2011, Alabama averaged 4.7 5-star recruits with at least 3 every year. Barring a late push to steal 5-star cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr. from longtime favorite LSU, Eyabi Anoma will be the Tide’s lone 5-star signee in this 2018 class.

Georgia, on the other hand, could sign 7 of the 29 5-star recruits. The Dawgs already signed 6, which is an absurd feat in itself.

There’s another thing Alabama could lack on signing day.

Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time since Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, the Tide could fail to sign a quarterback. That streak actually dates back 13 years. Many were quick to point that out when Princeton commit Brevin White turned down a late Alabama offer.

There’s still a chance that Alabama winds up with someone like 3-star Arizona native Brock Purdy or 4-star dual-threat James Foster, but the 247sports crystal ball suggests that’s not very likely. And even if 4-star Tanner McKee does surprisingly sign with Alabama and not with BYU or Stanford, he won’t enroll until 2020 because he’ll be on a mission trip for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

One has to think the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa in the National Championship might have the elite quarterbacks reluctant to sign with the Tide. He and Jalen Hurts have multiple years of eligibility left, which tells an incoming freshman that in all likelihood, he wouldn’t even have a chance to start until 2020.

Besides not having a quarterback, Alabama doesn’t have a prototypical tailback signed for 2018. Five-star sophomore-to-be Najee Harris might have something to do with that, as could the return of Damien Harris. Either way, the Tide won’t lack depth at the position in 2018. The question is how that potential hole in this year’s class shows up a couple years from now.

That’ll be an interesting thing to follow with this year’s class the next few years. Even without that No. 1 ranking, will it still be the backbone of a future title-winner? It’s easy to forget that the 2009 title was fueled by non-No. 1 classes, including the defining 2008 group that featured recruits like Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Courtney Upshaw and Barrett Jones.

This year’s class could easily still produce key contributors like that. Chances are, it will. Maybe those key contributors will  sign Wednesday.

Alabama might not be able to boast about being No. 1 this week, and this definitely won’t be the last time you hear that mentioned.

But just like he did in 2010, count on Saban laying the foundation for yet another new group of champions.