An Updated Look at Alabama Football Recruiting

By most accounts, Alabama currently has 77 football players on scholarship. The Tide can have 85, so Kalen DeBoer and his staff still have work to do.

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Seth McLaughlin is at Ohio State and Isaiah Bond has gone to Texas. DeBoer quickly replaced both by bringing in former Washington players. Center Parker Brailsford and receiver/punt returner Germi Bernard will fit quite nicely in Tuscaloosa. Those are upgrades over McLaughlin and Bond, to be frank.

It will be next to impossible to replace Caleb Downs at safety. He was the best freshman DB on this campus since Minkah Fitzpatrick. That doesn't mean DeBoer won't try, and he could turn to another of his former stars, Washington's Asa Turner. He's not Downs, but he can play.

A wild card at safety is rising sophomore Tony Mitchell, who clearly has SEC talent.

Corner is a concern with the departures of Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold. Former USC cornerback Domani Jackson should fill one spot. If DeBoer can convince his former player Jabbar Muhammad to play here instead of Austin, TX, that will fill the other. If Muhammad selects oil money, there is another portal coming up from April 16-30. There will be a corner there that can help. We just don't yet know who. Jaylen Mbakwe could push for time at corner as a true freshman.

Help is needed at tackle on offense since Kadyn Proctor went to Iowa and JC Latham turned pro.  One would think top backup Elijah Pritchett will get a long look at one open spot. Youngsters Miles McVay, Olaus Alinen and Wilken Formby could contribute. But the portal can be DeBoer and OL coach Scott Huff's friend here, too.

One possibility among many is Washington guard Nate Kalepo. He could move to tackle. Kalepo visited Ole Miss over the weekend, but Bama could still be in play.

Former Washington commitment Noah Carter had a great Bama visit and is expected to be the Tide's next public pledge. Reports say he's already privately committed to Alabama, which would make Carter the 78th scholarship holder.

Even with Bernard's pledge, the receiver room still needs help. It could come in the form of five star supreme Ryan Williams, Alabama's top high school player. The Saraland star announces and signs on his 17th birthday Feb. 9. DeBoer and staff have done a great job getting to know Williams, who has already visited Tuscaloosa twice since the hire. He would be in the top three wideout starters the day he steps foot on campus as an enrollee. That could very well happen in late May.