Alabama fans celebrated a big offseason Wednesday the best way possible: with two significant commitments.
First, the Crimson Tide received a verbal commitment from Drake Maye, a North Carolina-based four-star, pro-style quarterback. The Myers Park High School (Cornelius, N.C.) star — who happens to be the younger brother of now-former North Carolina basketball star Luke Maye — picked the Crimson Tide over virtually all of the nation’s top programs, including Clemson and Georgia, Alabama’s opponents in the past two national championship games.
Maye is considered both a top-10 quarterback prospect and top-10 player in North Carolina for the Class of 2021.
“It’s the winning mentality,” Maye told 247Sports of his commitment to Alabama. “I went down there in the spring and then for camp in the summer. I loved it. I sat down with Coach (Nick) Saban, just talked about the winning mentality, it’s all about winning down there. To have Coach Saban say in the 2021 class that I was a big target, it meant a lot to me. I just felt like why not Bama, right? It’s the best place in the country.”
When Timothy Smith committed to Alabama on Wednesday, he added heft to the Crimson Tide’s Class of 2020, both figuratively and literally.
Smith, a four-star defensive tackle prospect from Sebastian River (Fla.) High School, stands 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds. He’s considered a top-15 defensive tackle prospect nationally, and top-25 overall player in the state of Florida.
Smith is athletic enough to land scholarship offers from the likes of Clemson and Florida, in addition to Alabama. But, most of all, he’s big. Very big.
Given his program’s track record, that’s enough to make Nick Saban very happy. Add in another talented quarterback in the pipeline and there’s plenty for all Alabama fans to be excited about.
