COVID-19 delivered a serious blow to the evaluation process for college coaches, but also for recruiting analysts throughout the country who provide the star rankings for players. It's easy to look at a highlight tape and immediately think, 'this player is a five-star, why is he not ranked higher?' Trust me, I've said it many times.

There are hundreds of five-star highlight tapes in every recruiting cycle. However, college coaches don't extend scholarship offers based on the highlight tapes alone. There are many factors that go into extending a scholarship offer. Several offers are extended each year which are basically, 'we like you, but you still need to visit campus and/or work-out at camp before you can commit.' This happens with most of the college programs in the country.

The majority of Alabama's key targets in the 2021 cycle have been seen in person. Recruiting starts earlier and earlier each year. The early signing period plays a major contribution in that regard. Nick Saban and the entire coaching staff spent a few months (December/January) visiting several high school programs to notice underclassmen. They also spent a lot of time visiting commitments and top remaining targets, but the majority of those visits were to see future prospects.