Closing the book on NSD: Signing Day superlatives for the Alabama class

Head coach Nick Saban and his coaching staff have wrapped up National Signing Day, with 23 signees — including one transfer — signing on the dotted line to play for the Crimson Tide. Now that these high school players have become official, we take a look at the most exciting or intriguing new additions.

Although, Alabama will see their quarterback room return Jalen Milroe who really came on in the second half of the season helping lead Alabama to an SEC Championship & CFP birth, I still don’t see how I can pick anyone but the five-star quarterback signing as the offensive MVP of this class.

On the year, Julian Sayin completed 75 percent of his passes and threw for 2,369 passing yards and 24 passing touchdowns this season with only one interception.

Once Sayin signed he never wavered becoming a pivotal member of the 2024 recruiting class.

A potential candidate for Alabama’s Mr. Football after helping led Clay-Chalkville back to the state title and the third ranked prospect in the state, Jaylen Mbakwe is the easy choice here. He was the longest tenured recruit in the class, spurning offers from Georgia, Miami, Auburn and multiple other power five offers. Mbakwe simply wanted to “put on for the state” selecting the Crimson Tide.

After selecting the Tide, Mbakwe never reconsidered his commitment to Alabama. As one of the top players in the state others players took notice as well with Mbakwe taking on a large role in the recruiting process helping with several other in state targets.

Now the Tide have perhaps their next NFL cornerback, following in the footsteps of Kool Aid McKinstry. It would not be a surprise to see Mbakwe pushing for some kind of playing time next year with a number of expected departures in the secondary.

I like Steve Mboumoa a lot. He’s a high upside player with physicality and position flexibility. As a guy who reclassified up to the 2024 class from 2025 it’s the understanding that the staff was higher on him than many expected, thinking he could play well beyond his Star status. Not only does Mboumoa have great size at 6’4 260 pounds but he’s twitchy and physical at the point of attack playing with a quiet aggressiveness. He chose Alabama over offers from Georgia, Auburn & Florida.

Aeryn Hampton was a major land for the Crimson Tide after one of the more interesting recruitments you could follow. He technically committed three times before his final commitment to Alabama.

Hampton is a versatile prospect with the ability to play on either side of the ball if needed with Texas wanting him to play on defense but ultimately his love for offense & the opportunity to play it for the Crimson Tide was too much to pass up.

Now, Hampton gets to pair up with his buddy Jalen Hale as the Alabama receiving core looks to be a strength of the team heading into the 2024 season.

The award for position group has to go to the secondary after the class that Alabama our together. With the addition of six members to the class with a blend of versatility, speed, ball skills thus group should provide excellent depth with Alabama set to lose at three members from the backend.

From the looks of it Jaylen Mbakwe, Zabien Brown and Peyton Woodyard should get the first look but you can’t count out the others guys who they signed. They should all come in with the right mentality to work and prove exactly why they deserve to be in Tuscaloosa, especially with the current opportunities on the backend.

We will find out soon enough but as things stand today the secondary wins the award.