BOL Notebook: Alabama recruiting intel out of UA Future 50
BRADENTON, Fla. – BamaOnLine spent the past couple of days at IMG Academy in Bradenton for the Under Armour Future 50 event. There, we spoke with some of the top 2025 prospects in the nation, including Alabama commits Anthony Rogers and Ryan Williams.
BOL has the latest between Bama and this event’s attendees, including our thoughts on a priority target set to commit soon.
In-state flip targets share the latest with Bama
A handful of prospects committed elsewhere spoke with BOL about the latest between them and Alabama.
Starting in the state, Thompson High School’s Anquon Fegans committed to USC on May 7. He says the message from Bama’s staff since then has been that he’s not going to USC. Freddie Roach and Travaris Robinson have told him that the program “wants him bad.” Fegans heard from Alabama’s commits at Future 50 as well, with them saying that he knows where home is.
Fegans has been invited to the July 29 cookout, which he’s open to attending. He’ll be one we’ll continue to monitor.
Switching over to Mobile (Ala.), we spoke with Vigor High School’s Micah DeBose and Saraland’s KJ Lacey.
Lacey, a Texas quarterback commitment, will visit Tuscaloosa for the Tide’s game against UT on Sept. 9. Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has spoken with him a couple of times since his June 3 commitment, letting Lacey know the program won’t be giving up on him.
Of course, teammate and five-star Bama commit Ryan Williams wants Lacey to continue being his quarterback at the next level. He occasionally does the “Horns Down” signal, and is telling Lacey that he’ll be at Alabama when it’s all said and done.
DeBose, who committed to Georgia in January, had some interesting things to say. When asked by reporters the chances that a school flips him from Georgia, he replied, “50-50.” The ones pushing the hardest on UGA right now are Alabama, Clemson, and LSU.
DeBose camped at Bama on June 7, and intends on returning this summer. He’s built a strong relationship with offensive line coach Eric Wolford, and is also hearing from Alabama o-line commits Dontrell Glover and Mason Short. DeBose is a priority for Wolford and Company in the 2025 class.
Quick note on big-time 2025 WR Jaime Ffrench
Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin High School’s Jaime Ffrench visited Florida on Friday. The Gators weren’t included in his top five earlier this week, but could potentially get a hat on the table when it’s time for him to commit. Ffrench has also previously spoken highly of Florida State, a program that has his high school quarterback — Tramell Jones — committed in their 2025 class.
With all that said, BOL continues to feel good about Alabama’s chances with Ffrench ahead of his July 22 commitment. Bama prioritized Ffrench early on, has gotten him on campus consistently, and the opportunity to play alongside Ryan Williams is appealing to him.
The Tide currently lead (79.9 percent) for Ffrench on the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine.
More on additional flip targets on Alabama’s radar
Georgia-based prospects Jontae Gilbert and Justus Terry are eyeing visits to Alabama this summer.
Terry was actually supposed to be at Friday’s cookout, but ended up going to IMG for Future 50. The Georgia Bulldogs defensive lineman commit plans on visiting this summer, potentially for the July 29 cookout.
As for Bama’s push, primary recruiter Joe Cox speaks with him on a weekly basis. Terry, who was offered by the Tide in early May, says that Alabama, Auburn, and Florida State are the three schools pushing the hardest for him right now. UGA will be tough to beat out in this one, but Bama is a school of interest early on for Terry.
Ohio State 2025 DB commit Jontae Gilbert on his June visit to Alabama. (Photo courtesy of Gilbert)
Gilbert visited Alabama twice in the spring, and returned on Thursday for a workout. Saban and his staff will also likely get the Ohio State pledge on campus for next month’s cookout. Bama’s culture and how everyone conducts themselves on the team is keeping them high in the mix for Gilbert.
ICYMI: Alabama is “in the top schools group” for elite Ohio State commit Jontae Gilbert
It is not our expectation that Gilbert will sign with the Buckeyes in a year and a half. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee are some of the schools heavily in the mix for Gilbert.
Alabama commits remain locked in with the Tide
Half of Bama’s Class of 2025 commits attended Future 50 this past weekend. Those were five-star Ryan Williams and recent running back pledge Anthony Rogers.
BamaOnLine did an in-depth feature on Williams, which you can read HERE.
The main takeaways are that while Williams remains in contact with other schools, he’s still solid in his commitment. He was recruiting the likes of Anquon Fegans, KJ Lacey, and Micah DeBose to Bama at Future 50. Williams feels a responsibility to be a leader in this class, and is taking on the “enforcer” role.
Trips to Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Miami will be taken in the coming months, but our expectation is that he sticks with his pledge and signs with Alabama.
As for Rogers, he’s going to try making it up to Tuscaloosa for the July 29 cookout. He plans on visiting “a lot” of games this year to get to know Alabama as much as possible. Rogers is also planning to recruit some 2025 prospects to Bama, with his top target being quarterback Deuce Knight.
Three weeks removed from his commitment, Rogers says he’s all in with the Tide.
“Other schools are hitting me up, but I told them the offer isn’t open anymore,” Rogers said. “I already know I’m going to Alabama. It’s not changing.”
Rogers is the No. 95 overall rising junior and the No. 8 running back in the 2025 class.
Bama the leader for highly rated corner, West Coast running back remains high on Alabama
New Iberia (La.) Westgate cornerback Jaboree Antoine is the No. 3 player at his position in this class.
Antoine told us that after visiting Tuscaloosa this month, Alabama is currently his leader. Antoine said he really likes Alabama and that the coaching staff’s desire to hold players to a high standard sticks out to him. Other schools high in the mix for Antoine include Michigan and Texas, but a decision is likely far away.
ICYMI: Elite DB talks multi-day visit to Alabama
Switching gears to the offensive side of the ball, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei running back Jordon Davison still has interest in Alabama. He’s not worried about Rogers already being committed and said to us, “We might team up at Alabama. You never know.”
Davison says he is really considering Bama and that he’d like to soak up knowledge from Nick Saban at the next level. He called Alabama “the standard” because of their running back tradition and how similar it is run to Mater Dei.
Davison, who visited last spring, is looking into setting up a return visit to T-Town.
Several more prospects are eyeing visits to Tuscaloosa
During this week’s slate of interviews, a handful of prospects expressed interest in visiting Alabama either this year or next spring.
Top-10 EDGE Bryce Davis, top-five tight end Ethan Barbour, four-star linebacker CJ Smith, four-star running back Byron Louis, and Mississippi d-lineman Kevin Oatis each discussed potential visits at the end of July.
Davis says he speaks regularly with Joe Cox, and has “a lot” of interest in Alabama after being offered in January.
As for Barbour, he says Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee, and USC are some of the schools he’s really high on now. The Alpharetta (Ga.) recruit is looking forward to meeting Tommy Rees and seeing how Bama would potentially utilize him.
Andrew Marsh (On3’s No. 3 WR), recent safety offer Hylton Stubbs, top-three offensive tackle Solomon Thomas, Georgia-based quarterback Antwann Hill, and top-ranked interior o-lineman SJ Alofaituli all talked about visiting Alabama for a game day.
Stubbs, who was offered after a camp this month, says he has an “awesome” relationship with Travaris Robinson. He also called Alabama a football factory.
Alofaituli is interesting as he informed us that he is cousins with former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Alofaituli, who was offered by Eric Wolford earlier this month, heard from Tua’s parents after the offer, with them letting him know to get on campus as soon as he can. Bama is also the school that Alofaituli’s parents have been wanting their son to go to.
Fellow Bishop Gorman High offensive lineman Douglas Utu is planning on visiting Bama next spring after being offered earlier this month.
Alabama fans, also be sure to join the discussion about all the 2025 prospects talked about above on the The BOL Round Table. There’s always a lot of great team, recruiting, and off-topic conversations going on. So, we look forward to talking with you all there!
The post BOL Notebook: Alabama recruiting intel out of UA Future 50 appeared first on On3.
