Take Two: Who'll land rare five-star center Clay Webb?

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.

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CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

Dating back to the start of Rivals.com in 2002, there have only been two five-star centers. One of them is Oxford, Ala., standout Clay Webb this recruiting cycle. The other was USC signee Jeff Byers in the 2004 recruiting class.

Webb, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound standout, won the offensive line MVP award at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas over the weekend. It was another dominant performance for one of the best interior linemen we’ve seen at the high school level in a long time.

So where will Webb go to school? There is a strong feeling that Alabama is going to be incredibly tough to beat. Big surprise there. The Crimson Tide develop linemen better than most schools, he has friends committed in this recruiting class and Alabama has always been high on Webb’s list. Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee are also contenders.

Alabama center Ryan Kelly was a first-round draft pick in 2016 - the 18th overall pick - by the Indianapolis Colts - so that might play a factor in Webb’s thinking as well.

Since 2010, four centers - Kelly, Wisconsin’s Travis Frederick and Florida’s Mike Pouncey and Maurkice Pouncey - have been first-round selections, and you can be sure Alabama will do its best to land what could be the fifth in a few years.

“Webb is just a straight-up animal in the trenches. He is a soft-spoken, quiet kid off-the-field. When he puts on his pads and helmet it’s a completely different story. He plays with high intensity on every rep. He is normally the toughest and strongest player on the field. He is a state champion wrestler, which has helped him tremendously from an athletic standpoint. He doesn’t carry any bad weight. He is learning a new position, as he is transitioning from tackle to center. He should not have any issue.

"He has been one of Alabama’s top overall targets in the 2019 class for more than two years. He considers Alabama offensive line coach Brent Key like “an uncle.” He also has close friendships with Alabama commitments Pierce Quick and Paul Tyson. There is high confidence he ends up at Alabama, but he still wants to enjoy the recruiting process and take visits before making a decision.”

“Alabama seems to be where Webb is leaning as he has a great relationship with the staff and he’s been interested in the program forever so I’ll say the Tide are the team to beat.

“He is a pure center - which is one of the reasons why Webb is so special: Because we’ve seen him snap, we’ve seen him protect inside, he’s just really rare for a guy who’s done it on the field, who can do it against the elite in the country and really has no problem. Plus, he dropped some pounds, he’s quicker than he was before, so he’s continually improving on his ability to block."