You young folks might not remember it, but at one moment in this very same calendar year, Georgia simultaneously had a lead over Alabama in the national title game, three five-star QBs on campus, and the first of many No. 1 recruiting classes. The tables were turning! The apprentice had become the master!

Welp, welp, and welp.

Alabama will begin a new streak of No. 1 classes in 2019, coming out of the key first day of the Early Signing Period with a large lead in the recruiting rankings. Georgia’s still No. 2 with a great class, and this post isn’t really about the Dawgs anyway, but rather the totally fair sentiment back in January that somebody was about to finally take the baton from Nick Saban.

Not yet! Bama’s favored to win the Playoff yet again, ICYMI, but ... it gets worse.

Nick Saban’s full recruiting classes at Alabama Alabama class Blue chips Non-blue chips Alabama class Blue chips Non-blue chips 2008 24 8 2009 19 8 2010 15 10 2011 19 6 2012 18 8 2013 18 8 2014 22 4 2015 20 4 2016 17 8 2017 24 5 2018 15 7 2019 25 1

Recruiting rankings are imperfect and blah blah blah, but they’re plenty predictive at the macro level. And Bama’s putting together its most exclusive class ever, at least according to the national consensus, adding No. 1 RB Trey Sanders, No. 5 OT Evan Neal, and No. 6 safety Jordan Battle on Early Signing Day. (But losing five-star safety Daxton Hill back to Michigan! Ha! Now’s your chance!)

If you go by per-player Composite average, this is the most efficient group in Saban history, ranking No. 5 all time on the second list in this post. The class composition is heavy on the trenches, shoring up for some upcoming NFL losses.

Oh, it gets worse. The only three-star in 2019’s Bama group is No. 1 kicker Will Reichard, the latest man tasked with fixing almost literally the Tide’s only weakness. He’s the highest rated kicker since 2017, so I think we can call him the equivalent of a five-star kicker.

Oh, it gets even worse. Saban might not be done yet. For 2019, several more four-stars and a couple more five-stars are still considering joining the Tide. Top-150 overall players Henry To’oto’o and Noa Pola-Gates are widely considered likely to do so by February.

Anyway, on top of all this, Tua Tagovailoa and like his whole skill corps return in 2019 to defend what’s expected to be the first 15-0 FBS-level team since the 1800s. Your team should probably drop to FCS until Tua is gone.

Or longer. Bama’s 2019 class includes Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua’s brother.