Alabama has finished the past seven recruiting cycles with the No. 1-ranked class by staring down the other titans of the sport and consistently securing more of the best prospects in America.
One of Nick Saban’s most important recruiting battles in the final week before National Signing Day for the 2018 class is a one-on-one showdown with … Princeton?
Brevin White is a four-star quarterback prospect, the No. 13-rated pro-style signal caller in the 2018 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He’s the seventh highest-ranked quarterback in California. He’s also been committed to Princeton since July, but Alabama is trying to swoop in and steal him at the last minute.
“He wasn’t really looking at other schools until Alabama came around,” his high school coach, Dean Herrington, told Crimson Tide recruiting writer Chris Kirschner. “He wasn’t anticipating it. It’s Alabama. It’s coach [Nick] Saban. There are great contacts there, just like at Princeton, when he’s done playing. He loved the trip. His parents loved it. Now, he’s debating.”
White will choose between a coach who is 34-37 with two Ivy League titles in the past eight years, or one with six national titles, including five in the past nine years. He took an official visit to Alabama on Jan. 25 and stayed with freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Crimson Tide’s national championship game hero, according to Kirschner. White knew Tagovailoa from attending the same high school camps.
Tagovailoa is a big part of Alabama’s recent quarterback recruiting story, including why White is suddenly Alabama’s top target at a position of need. Two years ago, redshirt freshman Jalen Hurts led Alabama to the national championship game, and by the time that season was over, four other scholarship quarterbacks had left the program.
Had Hurts gotten hurt against Clemson in that game, a wide receiver was the emergency quarterback. Now the Crimson Tide have Hurts, Tagovailoa and another freshman, Mac Jones, but that’s still not nearly the depth expected at the position for a national power.
Having Tagovailoa, who looks like he will be the starter for the next 2-3 years, has made it tough for the Crimson Tide to land a quarterback in this class. They’ve tried to land several of the top prospects who have already committed and/or signed with other schools because of the new early signing period. If Tagovailoa does win the starting job outright before next season, the Crimson Tide could be in danger of losing Hurts and Jones if they decide to seek playing time elsewhere.
White is still “available” because Ivy League schools don’t offer scholarships and therefore, he hasn’t signed a national letter of intent. There are only two other quarterbacks ranked among the top 30 in this class that haven’t signed, and Alabama has recruited both of them as well.
But White is their top target, which makes for a wonderfully unique storyline in the final days before the second signing day. Will an Ivy League school actually be able to hold off mighty Alabama for a quarterback the Crimson Tide desperately want and need?