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Recruiting is a dirty game, and it doesn’t end until National Signing Day every February. A verbal commitment to another school isn’t enough to keep coaches away from a player, as there’s always a chance to flip a prospect at the last minute.
That goes for every school in the nation, and Alabama is no exception. Even Nick Saban is willing to get his hands dirty.
Recently, Saban himself jumped into the recruiting fray for Morganton, N.C. four-star running back B.J. Emmons. Emmons, who committed to Georgia in December, got a call from Alabama’s head coach in late May, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, offering him a football scholarship to Alabama.
Emmons’ high school coach, Brandon Allen, told the AJC that Emmons is still fully committed to the Bulldogs, but that his player was “ecstatic” to get the phone call and offer from Saban and took it as a “huge compliment.”
A lot has changed with the Dawgs since Emmons, the No. 5 running back in the nation, per the 247sports industry composite, gave his commitment to Georgia. While Emmons’ two lead recruiters are still in Athens, Bryan McClendon and John Lilly, there’s been some shakeup on the Georgia staff. Gone is offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, replaced by Brian Schottenheimer. Meanwhile, McClendon has moved from coaching running backs to wide receivers, with Thomas Brown coming on to replace him.
Meanwhile, Alabama has a thinner running backs group than it surely anticipated having. Gone are Altee Tenpenny and Tyren Jones, who both figured to be part of the Crimson Tide backfield this year and beyond. That leaves Alabama with just three scholarship backs on the roster right now that are likely to be around in 2016: Damien Harris, DeSherrius Flowers and Bo Scarbrough, none of whom have taken a college snap yet.
That’s in contrast to Georgia, where Nick Chubb Sony Michel, A.J. Turman and Brendan Douglas will all be around in 2016.
Alabama also doesn’t have a running back in its 2016 class — Emmons is currently the only tailback in Georgia’s recruiting class — and it makes sense that they’d go after a player like Emmons. He fits their mold, having reportedly upped his weight above 220 pounds this offseason. His coach told the AJC he’s a powerful runner who can grind out yards between the tackles, just like many of Alabama’s recent stars at the position.
The Tide are going to get their crack at Emmons, too. He was reportedly set to visit Alabama’s campus this past weekend. He’s supposed to attend a camp at Alabama this summer, per the AJC, although he also went to Tennessee’s junior day in March, per 247sports. Emmons’ commitment to Georgia is listed as “soft” on 247, and Alabama has two of its best recruiters on Emmons in Tosh Lupoi and Burton Burns.
We’re just getting into summer, when recruiting is at its heaviest. There’s a long way to go until NSD and, as we’ve learned time and time again, early commitments don’t always stick. With Saban getting involved and the Crimson Tide looking to add to their backfield depth, Georgia has every reason to be worried about holding onto Emmons.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
