Bear Bryant’s great-grandson commits to Alabama

Getting an early commitment from a recruit is not necessarily notable for Nick Saban and Alabama, but this is one exception.

Nick Saban and his staff select players more than recruit them to play for at Alabama, and commitments a year out from high school graduation are not necessarily unique. But Paul Tyson, a quarterback out of Trussville, Alabama and a top-250 prospect in the 2019 class as ranked by ESPN, is unique.

Tyson shares a first name with his great-grandfather, legendary Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant” who he’ll be following in the footsteps of by heading to Tuscaloosa.

Tyson, ranked as the No. 7 pro style quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class by 247 Sports, visited Michigan, Tennessee, LSU, NC State, Duke and Kentucky prior to making his commitment to Alabama. So he’s a pretty good get for Saban, who did not get a quarterback in the 2018 class after getting Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones in 2017 to join incumbent Jalen Hurts on the depth chart.

Tyson announced the move on Twitter and followed up with further comments about committing to Alabama now.

"Really it just came down to Coach Saban, Coach [Dan] Enos and the great relationships with them,” Tyson said. “Them wanting me to commit now, me loving it down here. It’s just home.”“It’s a family thing, but I definitely tried to look past that and just realize that I’m going to be here for four years and not let that decide where I go to college,” Tyson said. “I let the fan out of me, basically. I visited all different places and stayed open and just wanted to go where home is, and that’s Alabama."

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If the loser of a competition for the starting job this year doesn’t transfer, Hurts and Tagovailoa will both still be around at Alabama in 2019. Tyson could then easily be the unquestioned starter as a sophomore in 2020, but Saban will surely not rest on having a lone top quarterback recruit in place at that point.