The Alabama Crimson Tide may have lost for the first time in 19 games against Texas A&M on Saturday.
By Steve Wright
However, fans of Nick Sabans’ charges at least have the fall back of returning to the top of the class of 2022 recruiting rankings after picking up a big commitment over the weekend. Jaleel Skinner – a 6-foot-5, 210 pound tight end playing at IGM Academy in Bradenton, FL (transferring over from Greer High in Greer, SC) – is a 4-star prospect with a ton of upside.
Skinner is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 74 player in the class, the No. 1 tight end, and the No. 10 player in the state of Florida. Skinner chose to commit to the Crimson Tide over finalists including Florida, Miami, Texas, and Florida State. Skinner is seen as one of the players in the class of 2022 with a completely unique skillset. He is slender for his size, but with a legit wingspan of over 80 inches he projects as a flex tight end as opposed to the massive wide receiver he has been in high school.
Skinner needs to bulk up and get more aggressive in his blocking – something he hasn’t been asked to do too much of – but his ceiling as a prospect is sky high. In the video below you can see what Skinner has about him that is so special. One immediately noticeable attribute is that Skinner has a long, rangy stride that allows him to get vertical in a hurry. Defensive backs struggle to keep up with him and Skinner’s length gives him a huge catch radius that means the quarterback only needs to put the ball in his general area for a play to be made. He is a matchup nightmare already and will only become more so as Saban’s conditioning program adds the size to allow him to box out defenders for a catch in addition to his current speed and ball skills on the run.
Be the first to comment