Alabama is 'best fit' for Isaiah Hastings

Isaiah Hastings, three-star defensive tackle from Clearwater Academy International in Florida, did not play football during his junior season in Canada because of COVID-19 restrictions. He was looking at the same outcome as a senior this fall before deciding to move to the United States to finish his high school career.

Hastings participated at a football camp in June at Mercer University where he was first noticed by a bevy of colleges and quickly collected offers including Georgia Tech, Indiana, Liberty, South Alabama, Tennessee, Western Kentucky and West Virginia.

The offers continued to flow throughout the summer: Arizona State, Kansas, Kansas State, Marshall, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Purdue, USF and Virginia.

Florida extended Hastings an offer on August 1. He named his top eight a week later: Florida, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Toledo and West Virginia. His first game since his sophomore year produced seven tackles and five tackles for loss. Georgia offered a few weeks later.

Alabama also learned of Hastings and quickly sent defensive line coach Freddie Roach to evaluate. The former Alabama linebacker was impressed and provided his report to Nick Saban. The Tide offered within a week. Hastings scheduled an official visit to see the University of Alabama for the first time.

He received several additional offers, but decided to narrow his focus to five schools. Three were in his original top eight, Florida, Michigan and Oregon. He added Alabama and Georgia as finalists. He knew after taking an official visit to Alabama he had found his future home.

"I committed to Alabama because I feel like they will develop me into the best player that I can be," Hastings told BamaInsider. "It's the best fit for me. I know I will go up against the best competition every day.

"My family is very happy about my decision. They feel really great about it. They are very comfortable with me going to Alabama."

Hastings named Alabama his leader after taking an official visit on October 22-24. He was recruited by Alabama defensive line coach Freddie Roach. Hastings told BamaInsider he informed the Alabama coaches this past weekend of his decision.

"I love the standard and what Alabama is all about," he said after the official visit. "Coach Saban has a great track record with seven national championships. He talked to me about life in general. He talked about his background and working with cars. He showed me some of his cars.

"Coach Roach is a very nice guy. He is a great, great coach. I really enjoyed visiting with him. I talked to him a lot. I was really with him the whole time. It was great."

The Toronto native felt at home in Tuscaloosa after meeting with other Canadian athletes including a couple who play basketball for Nate Oats.

"Honestly, my favorite part of the visit was meeting with other Canadian athletes," he said. "I talked to a few guys especially from Toronto like Charles Bediako and Keon Ambrose-Hylton. We had a great time with those guys. It just felt like being at home."

Watch senior highlights!

"Hastings is an aggressive defensive tackle who keeps his feet churning, mixes power and speed and loves to play with an aggressive, attacking style. He also uses his hands really well to shed blockers, violently to fight off interior linemen who get their hands on him and then he swallows up people in the backfield. He does stand straight up sometime to give offensive linemen a lot to block sometimes but that's when he's bull rushing usually and Hastings really overpowers people. He will definitely be someone considered for a bump in the rankings after an impressive senior season."- Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney