CFB National Champions, Alabama Built from Historic '17 Recruiting class

Alabama Crimson TideCollege footballCollege Football Playoffs

Jan 13

In this improvised college football season, one thing we could always rely on stayed the same: Alabama dominance.

The Crimson Tide crushed Ohio State 52-24 and captured the program’s 18th national title and the sixth under Nick Saban, further solidifying himself as the greatest college football coach of all time.

I don’t want to talk about the game, the game itself was pretty boring. It was over by halftime, and was the lowest-watched national championship game in the CFP/BCS era, averaging just 18.7 million viewers across the ESPN MegaCast.

So while thinking about what I wanted to break down from this game, I stumbled upon this tweet last night, highlighting the success of Alabama’s 2017 recruiting class. My jaw just about hit the floor. I had totally forgotten the group of players that had come to this program together.

Let’s list all the notables: Najee Harris, Alex Leatherwood, Dylan Moses, Jerry Jeudy, Tua Tagovailoa, Jedrick Wills, Xavier McKinney, DeVonta Smith, Henry Ruggs III, and Mac Jones. Let that sit for a minute. That is ten guys who either already have or will/might go in the first round of the 2020/21 NFL Draft.

This class started and finished their college career with championships. Who could forget Tua lobbing a perfect pass to DeVonta Smith down the sideline for the game-winner vs Georgia, then three years later Smith dominating in another National Championship in the very stadium that Tua calls home for the foreseeable future.

While DeVonta ended his college career with more hardware than anyone else in the class, he isn’t the only one with a trophy case.

Jerry Jeudy: a two-time consensus All-American and Biletnikoff winner.

Najee Harris: Alabama’s all-time leader in rushing yards and touchdowns.

Alex Leatherwood: 3x All-SEC and Outland Trophy winner.

Tua: SEC Offensive POY, Maxwell & Walter Camp Award winner.

Mac Jones: Davey O’Brien Award winner.

That’s a pretty good list, and that’s not even including the other key pieces in that class, like backup RB Brian Robinson or LB Christopher Allen, who made second-team all-SEC this year.

This class signified the change in philosophy that Saban carried as head coach. Remember that this was the first class that came to campus after Alabama lost to Clemson and Deshaun Watson. Saban’s prized defense was shredded by the future Texans star for the second straight year, and the same approach to offense wasn’t going to cut it.

This caused an emphasized shift to the offensive side of the ball, and capped off four years later by that same group sweeping the offensive player of the year awards. No other coach adjusts as Nick Saban has, and that’s why he’s the best to ever do it.