Well this isn't what we expected out of the early signing period.
That early signing period has come and gone, but many analysts are still processing all the commitments and signings that happened over those three days. Maybe one surprising result of that analysis? Sports Illustrated classifying Alabama as a "loser" at the early signing period.
Teams like Florida, Georgia, and Clemson — some of Alabama big competitors — were named among the winners of the early signing period.
The major reasoning behind calling an Alabama a loser here was missing out on recruits like Brenton Cox and Emory Jones, as well as having four-star prospect Nadab Joseph to Georgia on the first day of the early signing period.
Alabama didn't walk away empty-handed over the three days, though; they still got a couple of big commitments from guys like five-star Eyabi Anoma and four-star Bobby Brown. Anoma, the No. 7 recruit in the nation per the 247Sports Composite, is Alabama's top-rated recruit in the 2018 class.
FanBuzz's Take
It seems a bit weird to call Alabama a loser because they missed out on a couple of recruits that they were really barely in the running for. The consensus on Emory Jones was that he was flipping from Ohio State to Florida, and that Ohio State decommit Brenton Cox would end up at Georgia. To dock Alabama just as much as Ohio State — who actually lost the two guys — is a bit of a glaring comparison.
Alabama still moved up in the recruiting rankings at both ESPN and 247Sports over the signing period. If the Tide had fallen because they had missed out on a couple of big recruits, that would be one thing; however, with them still moving up with some big signings, it's hard to call them a "loser" in this recruiting period.
I guess "didn't win as much as usual" doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well.
[H/T SEC Country]
