Alabama Football Brings The Payne in Recruiting

Alabama has landed another five-star recruit in the 2021 class, defensive tackle Damon Payne. The 6-foot-3, 297 pound defensive tackle becomes the fourth, five-star prospect in the 2021 class for the Crimson Tide.

24//7 Sports Composite, has Payne listed as the top defensive tackle in the 2021 class, the number one player in the state of Michigan and the 14th overall player in the nation. Running back's coach Charles Huff was his primary recruiter for the Tide along with defensive line coach Freddie Roach. Huff has now had a hand in five of the Crimson Tide's 16 commitments.

Payne becomes the second defensive lineman in the 2021 class, joining Anquan Barnes out of Montgomery, Alabama.

Alabama originally offered Payne a scholarship in April of 2018. He has made one unofficial visit to Alabama for the 59-31 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels.

Charles Power, national writer for 247Sports, compares Payne to former Tide defensive lineman, A'Shawn Robinson.

Payne released his top-10 teams in February, but has not said much about his recruiting process since then.

Of those 10 teams, only Alabama, Kentucky, Arizona State, and LSU were considered in the end.

Kentucky was the first to recruit Payne in 2017, but once Alabama jumped into the mix it was hard for the Wildcats to compete with the Crimson Tide.

Despite being a high caliber recruit from Belleville, MI, the Wolverines and head coach Jim Harbaugh were unable to lure Payne to Ann Arbor.

As for LSU, it seems like coach Orgeron will be eating a nice helping of crow tonight for dinner.

After beating Alabama 46-41 on the road in Tuscaloosa this past season, a post game video surfaced of Oregeron saying that LSU was going to going to dominate Alabama on every front, including recruiting.

Not only did their head coach throw some shade at Nick Saban, but several marquee players from LSU were seen taunting the Alabama recruiting section of Bryant Denny, and telling the recruits to reconsider going to Alabama.

Alabama has had quite a reputation for sending defensive lineman into the NFL. In the last three draft classes, three players have been drafted in the top-20. The New York Jets took Quinnen Williams with the #3 overall pick in 2019, and the Washington Football Club took Da'Ron Payne and Jonathan Allen in back to back years.

Alabama still will continue to battle in recruiting, as they make the push for #1 cornerback in the country, Ga"Quincy "Koolaid" Mckinstry, who is also considering LSU, and Auburn.