With the transfer portal having officially closed for entry on Friday, programs across the country used this past weekend to bring high school recruits in on visits as they look to sure up their 2026 classes.
Such was certainly the case in Tuscaloosa, as Kalen DeBoer & Co. brought Georgia native Maurice Mathis Jr. in for a visit, and the Houston County product committed to join the Crimson Tide shortly after, per reports from 247Sports’ Brett Greenberg.
An unrated prospect by 247Sports, Mathis’ only other Power 4 offer was from Vanderbilt. The 6-foot-1 wide receivers tallied 1,207 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior in 2025 and plans to be an early enrollee for Alabama.
Mathis had originally committed to Samford in June before flipping his pledge Sunday, and his other offers largely resided in the Sun Belt.
In the 247Sports rankings, Alabama‘s 2026 class currently ranks fourth in the nation with 24 total commits. The late addition of Mathis may come as a result of DeBoer’s staff realizing that it only had one high school receiver signed in the group, and only NC State’s Noah Rogers is an incoming target from the transfer portal as of Mathis’ commitment.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
