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Alabama’s Highest-Ranked Recruiting Classes Of Last 10 Years
Alabama's highest-ranked recruiting classes of last 10 years. The Crimson Tide have been on an incredible run.
January 27, 2016
Alabama’s highest-ranked recruiting classes from the last 10 years.
If you’re a Crimson Tide fan, you’ve certainly enjoyed the recent domination in college football. Maybe “enjoyed” is too small of a term to sum up the the happy times in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
But have you ever stopped to compare the different recruiting hauls the Crimson Tide have seen over the last decade? It’s quite impressive. Below are Alabama’s highest-ranked recruiting classes from the last 10 years.
Note: Tie-breakers are determined by total recruiting points. If you were to rank Alabama’s classes based on total recruiting points, the 2013 class would sit No. 3 and the 2009 class would be out of the top five. The Crimson Tide accumulated 4,947 points in 2013, but only ranked No. 4 in the nation.
1. Class of 2014
No. 1 Class, 5,222 Recruiting Points
The Crimson Tide made a surprise splash by landing Rashaan Evans from Auburn, Ala. Obviously, as we all saw this past season, plenty of recruits from this class had big impacts on the latest national title: Da’Shawn Hand, Tony Brown, Cameron Robinson, etc. With Derrick Henry now gone, Bo Scarbrough will have his chance to shine at running back next season.
2. Class of 2008
No. 1 Class, 4,967 Recruiting Points
The 2008 class was riddled with future NFL players. Mark Ingram ended up winning a Heisman Trophy, but take a look at some of the other huge names Nick Saban picked up: Terrence Cody, Julio Jones, Marcell Dareus, Dont’a Hightower, Mark Barron and Courtney Upshaw. This has been Saban’s most productive recruiting class at Alabama so far.
3. Class of 2012
No. 2 Class, 4,861 Recruiting Points
His mother wasn’t pleased the home-state LSU Tigers lost out, but Landon Collins made the right call in rolling with the Tide. He’s now playing on Sundays with the New York Giants. Like Collins, T.J. Yeldon also started as a rookie in the NFL this season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Amari Cooper had a stellar season with the Oakland Raiders, and Reggie Ragland is a potential first-round pick in this year’s draft.
4. Class of 2015
No. 2 Class, 4,768 Recruiting Points
We haven’t had a lot of time to see what this class can do, but Calvin Ridley had a huge impact as a true freshman. Blake Barnett will compete for the starting quarterback job next season. Minkah Fitzpatrick is evolving into a shutdown cornerback, and Damien Harris will see some carries now that Henry is gone.
5. Class of 2009
No. 2 Class, 4,595 Recruiting Points
Right after Ingram left for the NFL, Trent Richardson stepped in and played just as well, if not better, than Ingram did for Alabama. Richardson’s NFL career hasn’t gone so smoothly, but his Tide days were top-notch. Dre Kirkpatrick was a lockdown cornerback and is now with the Cincinnati Bengals. Eddie Lacy followed up Richardson and now starts for the Green Bay Packers. James Carpenter and Kevin Norwood both started their careers with the Seattle Seahawks. D.J. Fluker and Chance Warmack both start for the San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans, respectively, while A.J. McCarron backs up Andy Dalton in Cincinnati.
