Alabama Beat Out Oklahoma For Top Defensive Recruit

Getty Nick Saban and Alabama defeated Oklahoma on the recruiting trail for Tyler Legacy 4-star defensive tackle Jordan Renaud

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban and Defensive Line Coach Freddie Roach landed 4-star defensive end Jordan Renaud out of Tyler Legacy in Texas this past Monday, per ESPN’s Blake Baumgartner. While Tyler’s varsity football team has struggled out of the gate, through no fault of the fourth-best defensive tackle in the 2023 cycle, Renaud, Saban’s 2023 class continues to further its lead for the top recruiting class in all of college football.

Oklahoma was the top contender for the Crimson Tide commit, but Brent Venables wasn’t able to land the 2023 ESPN 300’s No. 45 overall prospect in his first cycle as a head coach. Venables spent his previous head coach under Dabo Swinney and has even surpassed his former boss’s 2023 class. Before that, he was with the Oklahoma football program as Bob Stoop’s defensive coordinator.

Saban’s recruiting dominance continues to define the sustained success of the Crimson Tide. With the Renaud commitment, Alabama got it’s 16th ESPN 300 prospects. No other team in the country has that rich of a pedigree thus far. After 2023 National Signing Day this coming February, that very well could remain the case.

Alabama Recruit Jordan Renaud On His Skillset

The eye-test shows a lean 6-foot-5 frame and powerful burst for Jordan Renaud, who will likely need to add significant muscle before getting SEC reps in meaningful conference games next season. Still, for the unfortunate Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders offensive lineman that will have to contend with his physicality, Renaud should be a nightmare out of the gates in Week 1 of the 2023 season.

If that’ll be for a defending national champion is still to be determined. The Texas matchup was certainly a scare, but with the early start time and a psyched out DKR Stadium in Austin — not to mention a historic number of penalties — Week 2 could prove to be the exception, not the rule, for the Crimson Tide’s 2022 campaign. Handling business in-conference will get them to Georgia’s doorstep. Whether an improved Alabama defense could contain an improved Stetson Bennett and co. on offense, not to mention whether or not the offensive line could keep a still-menacing UGA defense that lost nine starters at bay, will ultimately lead to the answer to the championship question.

Either way, Renaud believes he can bring a little bit of everything to the table for the Crimson Tide beginning in 2023. “I feel like I’m a Swiss army knife. I could play inside, I could play 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9…so I can do everything on the line,” Renaud said in an interview via Touchdown Alabama. “Depending on if I can gain weight, I’ll be able to play anywhere.”

Why Jordan Renaud Chose Alabama

Recruits really don’t need to explain why they chose Alabama in most cases. Every answer comes back to the winning tradition in Tuscaloosa and the recruiting pitch that involves three championship rings on each of Nick Saban’s hands. That’s a powerful image when meeting and saying so long to a coach recruiting you to come to their program as a potential springboard to an NFL career.

Renaud’s explanation as to why he chose the Crimson Tide was pretty cut and dry in that respect. “Alabama’s in the final two because I feel like they’ve been a perennial powerhouse since I was born, basically,” said Renaud. “They’ve been very prominent in college football. I like them because they win.”

As the Alabama machine keeps turning, and Saban continues to reel in the top recruits in the country regardless of the region, the Crimson Tide’s college football monopoly will continue to exist in the Southeast.