Alabama football recruiting superlatives: Caleb Downs headlines top-ranked class

The praise for the Alabama football recruiting Class of 2023 just keeps coming in, with the Thursday night five-star addition of heralded cornerback Desmond Ricks from IMG Academy providing another victory for Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. His letter of intent brings Alabama’s haul to 28 players, including seven five-stars (three more than any other team), 20 four-stars and a three-star kicker.

When you really crunch the numbers, it starts to get almost silly. Seven of the top 25 recruits in the country are either headed to Tuscaloosa or are already beginning to practice and able to travel with the team to the Sugar Bowl, though they are not eligible to play in the game. Fifteen players are ranked in the top 100. It all adds up to the No. 1 class in the country in the 247Sports Composite by a fairly wide margin over Georgia.

A program that was already one of the haves is proving again to be one of the have-a-lot-mores. With that established, let’s hand out some superlatives for an entire class that could be labeled that way.

Crown jewel

It starts with Caleb Downs. The five-star safety from Mill Creek High School in Georgia is the highest-ranked player in the class at No. 6 in the 247Sports Composite. Even if he wasn’t, he’d still be the top player in the class, in my opinion. He’s a program-setter.

There are players in certain classes who become “the guy.” And sometimes it’s more than one, which is the feeling I get after discussing it with people close to the program. Downs is one of those players.

Saban went out of his way to mention this during his signing day news conference, and it stood out like a blinking neon sign if you were paying attention. Before mentioning a single individual player or addressing needs that were met at particular positions, he highlighted things that had nothing to do with their athletic ability.

“I think what I liked about this group the most is it seems like they have really good character,” Saban said.

Every coach across the country likely said something similar Wednesday, but Saban doesn’t throw around those descriptors without merit. Time will tell if his inkling about this class is true. Adversity is sure to set in for all 28 of those young men in this transition in their life from being the best high school player in their town to being just another four- or five-star prospect in the Crimson Tide locker room, and that’s where their character will show up.

That doesn’t guarantee success. More than a few players from the 2022 team had outstanding character and that team underachieved, but without that character things could’ve gone a lot worse than an end-of-regular-season ranking of No. 5. It likely also had something to do with why two losses didn’t turn into five.

Downs is one of those character guys who will earn respect quickly in the program. Talking to several people about him, he’s following in the footsteps of the greats before him in that regard who were excellent football players, leaders and people — players like C.J. Mosley, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Will Anderson and more. That’s not an attempt to compare their careers, just establishing how well thought of Downs is as a person early in his young career.

Downs was the first specific player Saban was asked about Wednesday, and it was literally the first thing out of his mouth to describe him.

“Well, first of all, he’s a great person,” Saban said. “A really smart football player. Football means a lot to him. And the guy’s a great competitor, loves to compete. Their team won the state championship. He was all into that. Could have gone anywhere he wanted to go and wanted to stay with the team that he played with the whole time, and they won the state championship in Georgia, which is a significant accomplishment.

“I just think he’s the right kind of person. He’s got leadership qualities that are hard to come by, and the guy’s really got a lot of talent physically to be able to develop into something special. And we’re really looking forward to working with him.”

In this particular case, being ranked at the top of the class goes far beyond his physical talents, which are considerable. Saban couldn’t have handpicked a better recruit to headline the class.

All-American Dream takes a look at five-star Caleb Downs (@caleb_downs2) and his journey to becoming the No. 1 safety in the nation. https://t.co/4jhLuWWcXf#RollTide #theG23ATESTshow 🎶 #AllAmericanBowl 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/8HxJr8vL1w

— All-American Bowl (@AABonNBC) December 19, 2022

Defensive back needs met

Downs also headlines the defensive back haul, which is certainly one of the strengths of this class. It also includes Desmond Ricks, Jahlil Hurley, Tony Mitchell and Brayson Hubbard, the first three of whom join Downs in the top 54 nationally.

Mitchell had a late flirtation with Texas A&M, taking an official visit to College Station last weekend, in addition to some belief he would sign with Auburn as late as Tuesday. But he stuck with his original commitment and signed with the Crimson Tide.

As of Wednesday night, it was a four-person defensive back class and Saban knew he needed another cover guy, so he used a question about the defensive backs to lobby Ricks without saying his name.

“I think (we met needs),” Saban said. “There’s four DBs there. A couple of guys I think we’ll try at corner. I think all the guys are capable of playing safety or star. I think corner is one of the most difficult positions to find, and that’s still something that we’re going to continue to look for.”

Ricks must have been listening. A day later, Saban got him.

The talented corner, who reclassified from 2024 in October, had been thought to be headed to LSU, but the winds around him shifted Wednesday evening with folks around the Tigers all but ceding him to Alabama. He indeed chose the Tide on Thursday to put the cherry on top of an already outstanding class.

Yellowhammer haul

It was a banner year for in-state talent. Though it wasn’t a clean sweep, Alabama did land six players from the state ranked in the top 100 nationally and eight from the state overall.

It starts with James Smith and Qua Russaw, a pair of players from Montgomery-Carver High School, who both committed on signing day. They were the keys to this in-state class not being disastrous for Alabama. If they’d gone to Auburn or Georgia, the in-state efforts would have been the subject of much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Losing Peter Woods to Clemson still stings, given that he grew up an Alabama fan, but the combination of Smith and Russaw was an effective salve as the top two prospects in the state rankings to bolster the defensive front.

The in-state class also included Hurley, Mitchell, Yhonzae Pierre, Wilkin Formby, Hunter Osborne and RyQueze McElderry. One of them might be the best player in the class nobody is talking about.

Pierre sort of flew under the radar — or as much under the radar as the No. 59 player in the country can be. That will happen when you also sign the No. 10 and No. 22 players in the country at the same position, with Pierre joining Keon Keeley and Russaw among the acclaimed edge rushers in the class.

Make no mistake about it, Pierre is an exciting prospect. He finished his high school career with 64 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.

Alabama already had a reputation for elite edge defender recruiting, and it held again in this class by getting the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 8 edge rushers in the country. It would seem that Anderson having a couple of All-America seasons had an effect. And the new guys have a lot to learn from Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell.

The late flip

If the crown jewel of the class isn’t Downs, it might just be five-star offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor. The late flip from Iowa could be a Day 1 starter on the Crimson Tide offensive line.

The offensive line was hammered by transfer portal attrition with five players heading elsewhere, including Javion Cohen, Tommy Brockermeyer, Damieon George, Tanner Bowles and Amari Kight. That’s a lot of big-bodied depth gone. The numbers still aren’t likely where Saban would like them, but adding five signees up front will help. Especially the 6-foot-7, 330-pound Proctor.

He originally committed to his home-state Iowa program in June, but Alabama was the runner-up for his services. Alabama kept recruiting him, and in the past few weeks things began to turn. His flip this week crushed the hearts of Iowa fans and gave Alabama some much-need competition at the tackle spot.

Tyler Steen is gone at left tackle, but JC Latham returns. It’s too early to tell if he’ll make the switch to left tackle, but he’ll at least return as a starter on the right side. It’s always a risk to project a starting role for a true freshman, but Proctor has the talent. He’ll have to earn it, though.

Elite backs

Alabama has been recruiting difference-makers at running back for a while, so this is no surprise. What is noteworthy is how it held off Georgia for Justice Haynes. Haynes is better than good, and the Tide know it.

What made it sort of shocking is that he’s a legacy at Georgia. His father, Verron Haynes, played at Georgia and was a fifth-round selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002. That sort of tradition and history is hard to break, but somehow Alabama did it.

When he originally committed to Alabama in July, there was a feeling that it would be hard to hold off the Bulldogs. Kirby Smart is an excellent recruiter who doesn’t go down without a fight. There were some tense moments coming down the stretch, but running backs coach Robert Gillespie and Saban held off all comers, including Ohio State.

Throw on top of that Richard Young, and it’s a better than good running back class with Haynes ranked third and Young fourth at the position in the 247Sports Composite. Besides Young’s abilities, which are considerable as the No. 48 player nationally, he took an active role in helping recruit other players to the Crimson Tide. His teasing tweets about more players coming to the class were particularly exciting for Alabama fans, who flocked to retweet him. He hinted about both Keeley and Proctor. He was this class’ ringleader.

Final thoughts

Overall, this class met a lot of needs. We’ll see how the quarterbacks shake out when Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan get on campus, but getting two quarterbacks in the same class is always a plus.

But as we already know, a recruiting class’ worth really isn’t determined for at least two or three years. But in terms of what it meant to restock the cupboard and what it meant perception-wise in signaling to competitors that Alabama’s not quite done at the top of college football yet, the Crimson Tide made a statement.

Reports will surface about some of the young players who are already going through bowl practices, and that will lead into spring practice. Some of that is already occurring, as the No. 1 junior college player in the country in this class, receiver Malik Benson, is getting noticed early on.

It’s an elite group of talent on the field, to be sure, but the fact that Saban likes its all-around makeup this early is an excellent sign.

“We still sort of try to get guys to buy into developing and creating value for their future based on getting an education, being a good person, being the best football player they can be,” Saban said. “So I feel like the kind of guys that we were able to attract are the right kind of guys and we’re excited about the class.”

(Top photo: Marvin Gentry / USA Today)