By Marc Lawrence — It’s no surprise Alabama has made it a priority to recruit players up front on both sides.
When the Tide landed DT Damon Payne they secured the services of the highest-ranked prospect along the defensive line. He was one of four ESPN 300, and two 4-star prospects they reeled in along the defensive front.
Alabama actually has quite a bit returning on defense next season, as quite a few of their starters were younger, so the prospects in this class won’t be relied upon right away to produce – another benefit to keeping depth and adding elite recruits at Alabama.
Texas A&M actually topped the Tide when it scored five ESPN 300 defensive line recruits. It’s one of the perks that comes with Jimbo Fisher leading the Aggies to a Top 4 ranking in the final AP Poll last season.
It didn’t stop there for Nick Saban’s Tide, though, as he scored four ESPN Top 300 linebackers, matching Georgia’s haul.
Ohio State and Alabama crushed it in the secondary when they each brought in five EPSN 300 defensive backs.
To read more on the top schools pursuit of 2021 defensive recruits click here.
Trending Today
Mel Kiper’s take on the 2021 draft is simple: If you’re in need of a quarterback get in line early. They’re going to go fast. Kiper puts this year’s class into three groups –
Group 1: Trevor Lawrence, Clemson; Zach Wilson, BYU; Justin Fields, Ohio State; Trey Lance, North Dakota State; Mac Jones, Alabama.
Group 2: Kyle Trask, Florida; Kellen Mond, Texas A&M; Jamie Newman, Wake Forest/Georgia; Davis Mills, Stanford.
Group 3: Sam Ehlinger, Texas; Ian Book, Notre Dame; Shane Buechele, SMU; Feleipe Franks, Arkansas; Peyton Ramsey, Northwestern; Davis Cheek, Elon; K.J. Costello, Mississippi State.
Grinding Out The Profits
From the Playbook Basketball Newsletter: Theoretically, Providence sits 1.5 games back of Xavier in the Big East entering tonight’s scrape, so this game tonight will go a long way toward seeding in the conference tourney.
In addition to the game experience of playing in six more contests than Xavier, Providence is also 7-2 ATS with 3 or more days of rest in this series, including 4-0 SUATS at home.
Meanwhile, the visitors have lost any sense of continuity to the season, playing only three games since Jan. 10 before taking on Butler last Sunday. Thus, the Musketeers’ torrid 8-0 start to the campaign has been tempered by a recent 4-4 SU slide.
These two duked it out in mid-January, with Providence losing at Xavier, 74-73, which brings into play the Friars’ 8-0 ATS success the last two seasons with same-season loss revenge.
The X-Men have no answer to that, merely a 1-6 ATS record away versus foes seeking same-season revenge.
Expect the Friars to tuck this payback in the win column this evening.
