Sting factor: The Cameron Latu commitment to Alabama

In May, four-star defensive end Cameron Latu released his top five of Alabama, Nebraska, USC, Utah and Washington. Late last week, the Salt Lake City (Utah) Olympus standout committed to the Crimson Tide, spurning the Pac-12 schools and one Big Ten program on his list.

Latu’s decision does not come as a complete surprise because the four-star defensive end raved about his offseason visits to Alabama and said the Crimson Tide would be tough to beat. But going to the SEC instead of the home-state school that had recruited him hard or even another Pac-12 power like USC or Washington definitely hurts.

Rivals.com examines the impact of Latu’s decision on a local and national level. Each participant will grade the impact on a scale of 1-10, with one being little impact and 10 being catastrophic to the class.

STING FACTORS: Adonis Otey | Adam Anderson | James Cook | Chris Steele

“This is a tough recruiting loss for the Utes because it’s a local kid who plays a position that is traditionally a strength for the program. Utah always does well developing defensive ends, but landing the highly-rated Latu would have opened the flood gates for their 2018 local recruiting. All that being said, Latu still plans on taking his official visits, leaving the door slightly open around the new early signing period.” – Alex Markham, UteNation.com

Sting score: 7

“Latu's sting factor would be an 8, especially for Utah, who had the best chance of landing him since his decommitment from BYU. For Alabama to swoop into Utah and pull out a top talent like this in a state that doesn't have a great depth of top-tier talent hurts the Utes badly as well as USC and some other West Coast programs.

“For Alabama, it's huge to have a West Coast presence and it's growing. Najee Harris was a huge get for ‘Bama last year and Tosh Lupoi can recruit the West as well as anyone, so it's no surprise he was the lead on Latu and made him feel at home. The West is a great resource for Alabama to add a few key targets each year.” – Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director

Sting Score: 8

What happens now: By all measures, it sounds and looks like Latu is wrapped up to Alabama, but there’s no question the Pac-12 schools will continue to recruit him and try to sway him back to the region during his senior season. The four-star is a talented hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker and the Crimson Tide develop so many of those players for the NFL, it could be difficult to change Latu’s pledge. Luckily for the Utes, the state of Utah is loaded this recruiting cycle and they should be able to clean up heading into the fall. There are lots of talented players on both sides of the ball – including defensive linemen – so Utah should be just fine in this recruiting class even if losing out on Latu stings a lot.