10 highest-rated Alabama football recruits ever and how they lived up to the hype (or didn’t)

No. 1 highest-rated Alabama football recruit: QB Bryce Young (2020)

Technically Andre Smith and Bryce Young are tied at the top of Alabama’s all-time recruiting rankings. The 247Sports composite rating for each is 0.9994. And coincidentally, both were the No. 2 prospect in their class. However, we’re giving Young the tiebreaker because the rise of recruiting services put an even more intense microscope on Young’s every trait.

Coming out of Southern California power house Mater Dei, Young chose not to follow in the footsteps of Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and JT Daniels, instead traveling across the country to play for Nick Saban in Alabama.

Young backed up Mac Jones during Alabama’s title run in 2020 then got his chance to take the reins in 2021 and never looked back. Thowing for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns as a sophomore, he became the first Tide quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy.

Expectations made Young’s objectively strong 2022 season feel more muted but he still tossed 32 touchdowns while adding four on the ground as he led Alabama to an 11-2 record.

The Carolina Panthers traded up to take Young No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. We’ll have to see where his pro career goes from there.