Alabama entered National Signing Day with an almost mathematically unblowable lead, and 247Sports called the race early Wednesday afternoon following the commitment of Ishmael Sopsher, crowning the Tide as the 2019 recruiting champs. It's Alabama's eighth No. 1 class in nine years, taking back the crown briefly held by Georgia.

This time last year we were looking at a changing of the guard. Alabama and its seven consecutive No. 1 classes had fallen back to the pack. Georgia had supplanted Alabama at the top, the Tide had lost some uncharacteristic Signing Day battles and Nick Saban looked mortal with a No. 5 class. One year later, the look of immortality has returned, and Alabama is back on top.

Alabama is simply chasing history at this point. With more of the day left to unfold, Alabama has an opportunity to piece together one of the highest ranked classes of all time. When the dust settles on Wednesday, Alabama is likely to be sitting in the top five of all time and as of this publication, Saban could still finish with his highest ranked class ever, topping the Tua Tagovailoa-led 2017 class. This class already features the highest average ranking per commitment of any class in Nick Saban’s tenure.

Alabama’s return to the top is powered by a return to the line of scrimmage. The offensive line and the defensive line are two areas that saw the Tide really clean up. They’re headlined by the No. 5 player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings in Antonio Alfano, a defensive lineman out of New Jersey that is already on campus and has instant-impact ability. Five massive offensive linemen are in the fold in addition to eight defensive linemen (and counting?). The Tide claim three of the nation’s top seven players with running back Trey Sanders (No. 6) and massive offensive tackle Evan Neal (No. 7) also already in the fold.

The defensive backfield was heavily addressed in this 2019 edition with six new members of the secondary. Jordan Battle headlines the group and continues a train of south Florida talent heading to Tuscaloosa annually.

In addition to star power, this class has name recognition. It features a pair of legacies at quarterback in Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Tua, and Paul Tyson, the great-grandson of Alabama coaching legend Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.

The numbers and stars speak for themselves for this group, but the class looks like one of Saban’s better efforts due also to the ability to finish it off despite heavy coaching turnover. Aided by an early signing period, Alabama has weathered a second consecutive offseason that has seen the staff largely flip, including the losses of highly regarded recruiters like defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, offensive line coach Brent Key, wide receivers coach Josh Gattis and offensive coordinator Mike Locksley.

With ace recruiters getting head coaching gigs all over the country, many of them trained by Saban himself, we are entering an ultra-competitive era in recruiting. This 2019 class proves that Alabama still sets the pace.