Sports

Five Things to Know About Alabama's 2027 Recruiting Class

By Wesley Powell Sports Illustrated

Updated July 14, 2026 1:07 PM

With Alabama finishing up its 2027 class, there are a lot of new names and faces for fans to learn about is a lot that fans should know about it. Here are five things you should know about the class.

Tai Phillips is extremely underrated

Tai Phillips is a three-star running back by both Rivals and 247 Sports, but that does not mean he plays like a three-star. The Irmo (South Carolina) prospect rushed for 919 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, despite only playing in seven games.

He is also one of the fastest players in the country and ran a reported 4.32 40-yard dash time at an Under Armour camp. Phillips is only going to get faster over the next couple of years with training at Alabama, and that is going to help him succeed in the run game at the collegiate level.

Alabama is getting some raw, but talented edge rushers

The Crimson Tide currently has three edge commits in the class. Three-star in-state prospect Jeremiah Beverly is one of them. He definitely has some developing to do at the next level, but he is quicker than a lot of edge rushers, which allows him to help chase down quarterbacks after flushing them out of the pocket.

AJ Pauley has been one of the longest-standing commits for Alabama in this class. He's three to four inches taller than Beverly, and while Pauley's not as fast as Beverly, he has more of a physical presence.

Finally, Tyler Younger is probably the most raw out of all of them, but he has a ton of upside. He stands at 6-foot-5 with an 81-inch wingspan. With those physical tools, he could become a dominant force if developed properly.

Alabama has missed on a lot of good receivers

While Alabama holds one receiver commitment in the 2027 class from Osani Gayles, the Crimson Tide has missed on plenty of targets.

Alabama recently missed on three-star receivers Kyren Caldwell and Cedric Simmons. Both were predicted to go to Alabama at a point in time. Simmons put up over 2,000 all-purpose yards last season, and he is one of, if not the most underrated player in the country.

While they never landed an official visit, the Crimson Tide also missed on five-star Xavier Sabb, the younger brother of Alabama players Keon and Amari Sabb.

What/Who is left for this 2027 Class?

As mentioned, the class is almost done, and with the way NIL deals work, there are not a lot of flip targets in the fall.

The biggest name left is Monshun Sales. Sales is set to commit Friday, and the five-star is down to Texas, LSU, Indiana, Ohio State and Alabama. It has been reported by Rivals that he is still hearing NIL offers, so it is still unknown where he will commit, but Alabama on SI will keep you up to date throughout the week.

If the Crimson Tide misses on Sales, they are looking at the recently-offered Jalijah Rutledge, a three-star receiver and Appalachian State commit. I touched on Cedric Simmons earlier, and Alabama is not giving up on him. He grew up an Alabama fan, and the Crimson Tide has a good chance to flip Rutledge.

It's a smaller class, and that's OK

There's been a lot of talk about Alabama's smaller class, which currently only has 13 commits. However, just because a class is smaller does not make it worse.

What matters more than the number of commits you have is how good the quality of the class is, and Alabama has done a great job at landing quality players.

Plus, this frees up more NIL for Alabama to target players in the 2028 class, which has a lot of top players interested in the Crimson Tide.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Five Things to Know About Alabama's 2027 Recruiting Class.

This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM.