ITKUPDATED – 2:15pm cdt

Well, all the letters are in, and only the Opelika-Auburn Times would disagree that Alabama has again signed the top recruiting class in the nation.

The surprise of the day came from Auburn High School standout Rashaan Evans, picking the Tide over Auburn…possibly the biggest signing day jaw-dropper in decades. Long thought to be an Auburn lock, the 5-star defensive standout was thought to be on his way to the plains. But instead, per his announcement broadcast live on ESPN, he’ll be getting ready for his NFL career wearing Crimson.

Evans

It’s like a holiday. No, it IS a holiday. Under Nick Saban National Signing Day is opulence in motion in Tuscaloosa, as year after year top talent is replaced by top talent.

Per the University of Alabama’s official athletics website, here are the recruits who have officially signed and faxed their letters of intent:

NSD14200pm

Nick Saban and company again signed an unreal class, the best in the land. A few centerpieces:

4-star linemen JC Hassenauer, Montel McBride, Joshua Casher and Ross Pierschbacher, coupled with 5-star lineman Cam Robinson (who many think is the best prospect in the entire 2014 field) are on their way to Tuscaloosa. Robinson is actually an early enrollee and already there. And then there is 6’7″, 310lb. JUCO offensive lineman Dominick Jackson, a beast…one of the top JUCO players at any position in the 2014 class.

Yes, the Tide’s OL is looking pretty nice in the immediate future.

In the defensive backfield, 5-star defensive back Tony Brown will later be joined by 5-star DB Marlon Humphrey, likely giving the Tide two eventual lockdown corners on either side. The two studs are joined by Laurence Jones and Ronnie Clark, both 4-star prospects.

Bama has added two quarterbacks, 5-star early enrollee David Cornwell and FSU transfer Jake Coker, both possessing the big arms Alabama head coach Nick Saban and OC Lane Kiffin want in their system.

But the jewel of the day, no question, was the signing of 5-star linebacker Rashaan Evans, from Auburn High School. If the Gus Bus can’t pick up a 5-star from his home town, what kind of longterm confidence can you place in him? Evans made a smart business decision today, one that will pay off in exactly 3 NFL drafts from now.

For a full list of Alabama’s 2014 signees with bios, click here.


(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

22 thoughts on “National Signing Day 2014”

  1. I don’t get the Rashaan Evans mess, but you’re right, we see it every year, so why am I always surprised?

    “I’m 95% committed to Auburn.” It’s a coup!

    I only bring that up because for as good as Alabama’s signing days have been for years and despite this one being perhaps the best in Saban’s tenure, there aren’t wavering commits.

    See, there’s no room for wavering, as best as I can tell. If you don’t commit, someone else (read, someone better) will probably take your place very quickly. You either go to Alabama or you don’t. It’s fascinating to me how this always seems to happen.

    As a result, Alabama never has a lot of surprises, if any. This class has been at the tip top for months now, even before several (yes, several) 5-stars like Humphrey joined on. Many of these recruits have been on campus a month before national signing day. I can’t imagine what it’s like to look at our biggest potential recruit living in and graduating high school in Tuscaloosa saying he’s only 95% sure he’s not going to Auburn. It just sounds weird.

    It’s Christmas in February. Roll Tide.

  2. Well, I stand corrected; even Alabama can get a nice surprise or two on national signing day. Rashaan Evans, welcome to the promised land.

    What a class. Unreal. Roll Tide.

  3. It was a cherry busting, ass raping, curb stomping the likes of which has never been seen before. Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

  4. Funny but I don’t remember you beating anybody. I remember you being ahead on the scoreboard when the game ended. But that was a long way from BEATING somebody. You didn’t beat Bama. You didn’t beat Georgia. You didn’t beat Texas A&M. You didn’t beat Washington State and you damn sure didn’t beat LSU or Florida State. Bama had just stomped the shit out of LSU who had stomped the shit out of you. They remembered the 48-0 slaughter from last year. Other than some motivation because of the rivalry, Bama was looking past you to the BCSNCG. It’s a shame that Bama has much bigger aspirations than the team from Lee County; while that team only lives to beat Bama. It is the perfect storm for the Weagles whenever both teams are good. Maybe by some kind of fucking Voodoo the Weagles will be good this year and we can break the jinx. Other than that it it our destiny to have trouble with good Weagle teams because you have them so seldom. ROTFLMMFAO! RTR!

    1. You dont remember Auburn beating anybody? You much have a terrible memory. If you need a refreshment i can link the iron bowl for you and you can watch Auburn beat Alabama yourself.

      and if your coach is dumb enough to overlook his rival in the final regular season game with the SEC and NC games on the line then that says more about Alabama than it does about Auburn.

      1. Alabama beat Alabama that day, and Auburn played the game of their life…AND had luck pitch in for them, as usual. It was a good win, but history will paint it similar to Terry Bowden’s 1993 win…flash in the pan. More 49-0’s are in store, don’t worry.

  5. They’re calling it perhaps the best recruiting class of college football. That’s incredible.

    That’s the University of Alabama.

    You have to see the video of Rashaan Evans making his commitment to Alabama. It’s worth it. Genuine shock, lots of fun, all mediated by Alabama’s own Rece Davis. Roll Tide.

  6. Pretty sure we did BEAT alabama. We executed better on special teams with one second left to win. ThTs considered beating. We did get a lucky break against Georgia. But we did beat u guys.

    1. You could be right. I don’t know.

      I always considered a beating, well…. like when we didn’t allow Auburn to score an offensive touchdown on us for two straight years, while we were scoring a lot on Auburn.

      I guess I’m oversimplifying things a bit…..

    2. Memories are short, AU Fan.

      If you call Georgia a lucky break, I don’t know what you call Alabama missing more field goals in the Iron Bowl than every other game in the season, and that’s not including the missed 48-yarder.

      In any case, I don’t think anyone seriously expects that to happen again, never mind the calls.

    1. @AU Fan

      Except that, too, was uncharacteristic. Cade Foster was not a terrible kicker despite the 2013 IB. It’s “on Bama,” yes, but isn’t that the point? There’s no one-second return attempt if just one of those field goals were made. Instead, Alabama takes a knee. Auburn never had the same control over their destiny until time was literally over in the regular season.

      In all seriousness, and yes, I know Malzahn is good at the HUNH stuff and Auburn recruited well again, the circumstances this year just can’t be relied on to happen in any circumstance. I imagine Malzahn knows this as well as we do and we’ll see if he changes anything to address that, but saying Georgia was unlucky while Alabama was simply a worse team is hoping for a lot in 2014 and beyond. Frankly, I think it’s hoping for too much, and something tells me Malzahn isn’t going to change his game plan in any way whatsoever, while this class alone shows the changes Saban is initiating, never mind the coaching adjustments and previous recruits doing recruiting and landing 5-star talent as a result, Foster in particular.

  7. If Georgia had 30 more seconds you don’t win that game even after the reception gift from God. If Bama has 15 more seconds you don’t get that kick return and AJ moves the ball close enough to win the game. If Bama gets the ball with as much time as Winston had – you lose the game. Bama’s offense ran all over your asses, where FSU could not. Bama had 9 scoring opportunities. Try that shit one more time and see what happens. Final score would be like 48-14. 90% of Awbie rushing yards came on the only 4 times your offense was allowed into scoring position. As I said, you BEAT nobody. You simply ended up with more points off the freakest play in NCAA football history. RTR!

    1. The irony is the loss may have been for the best. Win and nothing (necesarily) changes, lose by any margin for any reason and it’s a recruiting big bang leading into a fundamental design change (not to mention a barrage of “inspiration”). The philosophy worked for two consecutive national titles, nearly a third, three in four years, now it’s being upgraded and many opponents say they aren’t concerned? That kinda says it all, doesn’t it?

      The Iron Bowl this year was so historic because Alabama was the team to beat, not the other way around, like it or not. If Alabama won, either from not missing field goals or making a 50+yarder, nobody remembers. The 2013 IB captured what made Auburn’s season special so perfectly that it defined their season and will never be forgotten, despite it not being enough to win a championship. But not forgetting the 2013 Iron Bowl also plays more to Alabama’s favor than Auburn’s.
      You don’t have to call it a flash in the pan, but Alabama’s level of competition has been, well, if nothing else they’ve controlled their own destiny every season for all of the last seven top-five recruiting classes.

    1. Yeah, mmmm, OK….Saban does less with more by winning 3 of the last 5 National Titles. Les does more with less with highly ranked recruiting classes and BCS losses. Good point, dufus

    2. I’d really like an explanation of what doing more with less means, dipshit. Since Saban came to Bama the books show LSU 1 National Championship – and that by backing in with two losses; and Bama with three National Championships including stomping the shit out of LSU in the BCSNCG. Since Saban came to Bama the book shows LSU 3 wins and Bama 5 wins head to head. Since Saban came to Bama, Bama has set a National Record with 72 wins and 9 losses in 6 years.LSU’s record – don’t care enough to look it up, but I’m pretty sure you have twice as many losses. So dipshit, when, where and how is Miles doing more with less? Stupid! RTR!

    3. Les Miles is an outstanding coach and a great recruiter. He had some big gets this class, including the top-rated RB and arguably the best WR. Miles and LSU are no flash in the pan and I still think LSU vs Alabama is the best modern-day rivalry in the entire sport.

      But Alabama pillaged the state of Louisiana with this class. I don’t really know how to explain it. I certainly can’t fault the top recruit in the state staying extremely close to home, but what I can’t explain is how Alabama got so many others to leave.

      Yes, Alabama got talent into this class from all over the country, but the dirth of highly-rated recruits coming to the Capstone out of Louisiana can’t be overstated. It’s one thing to argue Saban’s ability to do “less with more” than Miles, but it’s simply incidental when Saban takes away the opportunity for Miles to develop those players in the first place.

      The real kicker? Even if Saban does “less with more,” he’s got so much “more” in this class he can let the backups of the backups come in for mop-up duty. This class is absolutely massive. Roll Tide.

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