The big (?) news from yesterday was the Tide picking up back to back recruiting commitments from RB Javari Barnett and safety Rihyael Kelley.
Entering June, the Alabama Crimson Tide had just five hard commits for the 2026 class, a stark contrast from their elite recruiting efforts in years prior.
On Monday, Alabama landed their fourth verbal commit in the last three weeks in the form of four-star running back Javari Barnett.
An Illinois Fighting Illini commit, Barnett flipped his commitment to the SEC power. Barnett visited Tuscaloosa this weekend, marking just his second official visit of his recruitment, with the running back touring Illinois last April.
Rihyael Kelley (Cincinnati, OH) has had another change of heart and has flipped his commitment from Rutgers to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Monday afternoon.
This comes soon after his official visit to Tuscaloosa (Ala.) during the June 20-22 weekend, which he described as “great” to Bama247.
Kelley was also noted as one to watch on Saturday night, per 247Sports National Recruiting Analyst Tom Loy. The 6-foot-3+, 180-pounder with a 4.49 laser 40-yard dash and 4.34 second shuttle at the Under Armour Regional earlier in the spring became a name to know after adding an offer on June 11. The good news was delivered just one day after his original flip to Rutgers from Toledo.
Kelley attends Winton Woods (OH) High School standout, where freshman linebacker Justin Hill and transfer cornerback Cameron Calhoun also played their high school football. He joins five-star No. 1 cornerback Jorden Edmonds (Marietta, GA) and four-star cornerback Zyan Gibson (Gadsden, AL) as the commitments in the secondary for Alabama so far.
Barnett is a low four-star or high three-star prospect, depending on the recruiting service you ask. There’s not a lot of info out on him yet, but at 6’0” 215 as a high school junior, he’s definitely got the build to be a bruiser. Alabama is still making a push for in-state star RB Ezavier Crowell, who is expected to announce a commitment decision in a couple of days.
On the other hand, Kelley is a fascinating DB prospect, even as a three-star and lowest ranked member of Alabama’s class so far. He’s over 6’3” and already has a sub-4.5 forty yard dash, so there’s some really unique measureables there that Kane Wommack seems to be targeting and getting ahead of the bigger schools. Alabama’s been really pushing for taller and taller DBs so far under DeBoer and Wommack, so it definitely seems to be a thing. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a guy that starts getting offers in from other big programs.
Steve Wiltfong “predicted” both of those flips a couple of days ago. He also had one other prediction:
But they might be adding to the class even sooner than that. On Sunday, On3’s Steve Wiltfong logged not one, not two but three expert predictions in the Tide’s favor after a huge official visit weekend in Tuscaloosa. That includes a pair of flip picks, as well as a sought-after wideout from Nashville in 6-foot-3, 195-pounder Owen Cabell.
In addition to his exploits on the field, Cabell owns a 10.7-second 100-meter dash and is one of fastest sprinters in the state of Tennessee. On the gridiron, he has hauled in 67 passes for 1,415 yards and 19 touchdowns over the past two seasons at Christ Presbyterian Academy.
Along with Alabama, he holds offers from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Duke and a host of others.
Just like with the DBs, DeBoer seems to really want the 6’3”+ wide receivers, and Owen Cabell may well be the next target on the list.
In any case, don’t be too down on the Tide pulling in a couple of three star players. In the coming weeks, 5-stars Ced Morgan, Tank Jones, Xavier Griffin, and Ezavier Crowell are all expected to be making decisions, and Alabama seems to be in the front (or close to it) for all four of them. We’ll see how it goes.
If you missed it yesterday, Coach DeBoer joined AL.com for a whole 30-minute podcast covering a wide range of topics, including talking about the QBs and Ryan Grubb… again. Give the head man a listen.
Finally, I almost hated to even give this any more press than has been given to it already, but, hey, everyone’s making it a thing.
New Florida State starting quarterback Tommy Castellanos offered a bold prediction about the Seminoles’ season-opening game August 30 against Alabama in Tallahassee.
“I dreamed of moments like this,” Castellanos told On3 Sports in an interview published Monday. “I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
Castellanos transferred to Florida State this offseason after two seasons at Boston College. He began his career at Central Florida in 2022, playing for Gus Malzahn — who is now Florida State’s offensive coordinator.
This seems kind of like that time that Auburn linebacker claimed that Jalen Milroe wouldn’t be able to get to the edge on him… And then it happened a couple days later.
Best of luck to ya, Tommy.
