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Take Two: How will the Crimson Tide finish their 2018 class?

Nick Saban
Nick Saban (AP Images)

CLASS OF '18 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | State | Position | JUCO

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY: Five who could flip | Ten bold predictions

THE STORYLINE

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Alabama won its eighth recruiting title in 10 years last cycle, so the Crimson Tide have been on an unprecedented run of success - and it has shown on the field as coach Nick Saban’s club won another national title last month.

Things are great in Tuscaloosa. But as National Signing Day approaches, there are still some question marks about how the Crimson Tide will close, which top-notch players they will land and if some surprise flips could be in store come Wednesday.

With National Signing Day just one day away, Alabama sits at No. 9 in the national team rankings. It has 14 signatures from the early signing period and four verbal commitments for Wednesday.

This much is known: Alabama has gotten seriously involved with numerous five-star prospects and the Crimson Tide almost always get a lot of their top targets.

Will five-star receiver Justyn Ross, the top prospect in the state, pick Alabama even though Clemson was the favorite for a long time? Can the Crimson Tide get five-star receiver Jaylen Waddle even with local Texas A&M pushing? Is it possible for Alabama to land five-star Patrick Surtain even though LSU was considered the favorite for a long time?

There are still a lot of questions when it comes to how Alabama will finish. It probably won’t be possible to catch Georgia for the recruiting title but could the Crimson Tide jump into the top few teams with another big close on Signing Day?

FIRST TAKE: ANDREW BONE, BAMAINSIDER.COM

“There are lot of different scenarios in place for the Crimson Tide this week. Most expect Alabama to close extremely well with several five-star recruits still in-play. Alabama could possibly close with Justyn Ross, Jaylen Waddle, Patrick Surtain Jr., Nick Petit-Frere and Tyson Campbell. Isaac Taylor-Stuart is also still in the mix. That’s probably the absolute best-case scenario in terms of five-star recruits.

"The Crimson Tide are still fighting to hold on to current commitments like Quay Walker, Bobby Brown and Vernon Jackson. Walker visited Georgia this past weekend while Brown and Jackson were in College Station. Alabama remains in good shape to land in-state defensive lineman Malik Langham. Jacob Copeland also has Alabama on his short list. Alabama hopes to close very strong this week and there is a very good chance it will.”

SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM

“The Tide will finish in the top three. They’re involved with so many high-profile players and we know they’re going to pull some surprises.

Texas is No. 3 right now. Georgia is going to finish No. 1, Ohio State will probably stay No. 2 and then there is a big drop-off after that with Nos. 3, 4 and 5. They could finish in that five range but as high as top three with all the kids that they will finish with.”

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