Alabama Crimson Tide suffers a major recruiting loss just a month after stealing a commitment away from hated SEC rival
Alabama thought it had a major win in the 2027 recruiting class just last month, but the flips are already happening, and the Crimson Tide are on the outside looking in now.
The Alabama Crimson Tide doesn’t have a ton of recruits in their 2027 recruiting class, but they do have a lot of quality. Or at least they did before Saturday around lunchtime. That’s when 2027 linebacker commit Kenneth Simon decided to flip his commitment from the Crimson Tide to you guessed it…
The Tennessee Volunteers. This now turns the attention to potentially bigger problems for the Crimson Tide.
Kenneth Simon Facts
- Father played at Tennessee and in the NFL.
- 133rd-rated player in the 2027 class.
- 6th-rated player in the state of Tennessee.
Kenneth Simon flips from Alabama to Tennessee
It was a little over a month ago when the Crimson Tide thought it secured a foundational piece in the 2027 class, and just like that, he’s gone. The 6-2, 210-pound linebacker out of Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee, chose the Crimson Tide over Georgia, Ole Miss, and his home state, the Tennessee Vols, back in May. Simon is a consensus 4-star recruit and ranked among the top-10 in the country at his position, with many believing he chose the Tide to forge his own path.
“I think Kevin followed the same path that he learned from his father, and he let Kenneth pick his own choice and go where he wanted to go,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs last month. “Kenneth decided to go to a rival school. That’s hard for Tennessee fans to accept. And that’s tough, but I don’t think Tennessee did anything wrong in the recruitment. And I think at the end of the day, Kenneth Simon felt like the best thing for him as a person, not just as a football player, but the best thing for him as a person was to establish his roots in Tuscaloosa.”
Well, it turns out Simon is staying true to his Tennessee roots.
The bigger problem with Simon flipping his commitment
Alabama still has notable names such as four-star running back Nigel Newkirk, four-star quarterback Trent Seaborn, and five-star quarterback Elijah Haven. Still, the cupboard is somewhat bare after the Simon loss.
Quality over quantity when you feel good about your 25 and 26 classes alongside the transfer portal is fine when you have the quality, but when you start to lose it, and you don’t have a lot of names to begin with, well, that’s when problems begin to arise.