The big news out of Tuscaloosa today is that former five-star recruit Kendall Sheffield has been granted his release to transfer from Alabama.

If you’re not the closest follower of the Crimson Tide, you might have lost count with how many Alabama players have left the team this offseason. In fact, within the last two weeks, UA has lost four highly rated signees.

Aside from Sheffield, defensive back Maurice Smith, offensive tackle Charles Baldwin and wide receiver Daylon Charlot have all transferred recently, as noted writer Matt Hinton said on Twitter.

Saturday Down South’s Michael Bratton broke down the recent departures, as well as Adonis Thomas and Christian Bell, by star-rating:

With Sheffield on his way out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama has now lost one five-star (Sheffield), two four-stars (Daylon Charlot, Adonis Thomas) and a three-star (Christian Bell) prospect from its 2015 recruiting class.

Losing that kind of talent would be difficult for many teams to overcome, but Alabama is not like other teams. In the last six recruiting classes (2011-2016) ranked by 247Sports Composite, the Crimson Tide has signed the No. 1 class every time.

In early August, Nick Saban attempted to explain why so many young players are leaving Alabama.

“I think that a lot of young guys right now, they get really, really fearful of their future and it creates a lot of anxiety,” Saban said. “They think if they change environments that’s going to help solve that anxiety and help them be able to get where they want to go. We certainly feel like we can help guys develop here, but if they think that there’s a better way for them, another place, then we’re going to support them in every way that we can to help them do the things they would like to do if they don’t want to be in our program here.”

It remains to be seen if the Crimson Tide will keep on motoring without skipping a beat.

Do you think the loss of talent will hurt Alabama in 2016?