The marquee matchup for college football this weekend brings us to Tuscaloosa, AL, where the No. 11 Texas Longhorns will meet the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide for a Saturday night showdown at Bryant-Denny Stadium. This is the second straight season that these two blue bloods will duke it out in September and this particular matchup is about to happen more frequently with UT joining the SEC in 2024.
Both of these powerhouse programs recruit at the highest level of the sport and have oftentimes been directly at odds with each other over elite prospect. Nick Saban has had tremendous success pulling top players out of the state of Texas during his lengthy run as head coach of the Crimson Tide. Meanwhile, former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has pulled in back-to-back top-five recruiting classes during his first two seasons as the Longhorns’ head coach and is poised to keep butting heads with his former employer on the recruiting trail.
Ahead of Saturday’s showdown, we went to 247Sports and took a look at the starters of Alabama and Texas who were seriously recruited by both programs. It should be noted that the list includes players who were recruited by Tom Herman’s Texas staff prior to their dismissal and Sark’s arrival in January of 2021.
Alabama
QB Jalen Milroe (Flipped to Alabama from Texas)
RB Jase McClellan (Offer/Official visit)
WR Isaiah Bond (Offer/Official visit)
LT Kadyn Proctor (Offer)
LG Tyler Booker (Offer)
C Seth McLaughlin (Offer)
CB Terrion Arnold (Offer)
SS Caleb Downs (Offer)
KR Kendrick Law (Offer/Official visit)
Nine of Alabama’s current starters held offers from Texas as high school recruits, with four making official visits to Austin, TX, during their recruitment. The most notable example is starting quarterback Jalen Milroe. The Katy, TX, native flipped from the UT to Bama in August of 2020 after Quinn Ewers made his original commitment to Texas.
Texas
RB CJ Baxter (Offer)
WR Xavier Worthy (Offer/Unofficial visit)
WR Jordan Whittington (Offer)
TE Ja’Tavion Sanders (Offer)
LT Kelvin Banks Jr. (Offer)
RG DJ Campbell (Offer/Official visit)
DT Alfred Collins (Offer/Official visit)
DT T’Vondre Sweat (Offer)
WLB Anthony Hill Jr. (Offer/Official visit)
CB Terrance Brooks (Offer/Official visit)
CB Ryan Watts (Offer/Unofficial visit)
FS Jalen Catalon (Offer)
KR Keilan Robinson (Alabama transfer)
QB Arch Manning (Offer/Multiple visits)
14 of Texas’ starters received offers from Alabama as prep prospects, with eight of them stepping on campus in Tuscaloosa, AL, at some point for a visit. Many of them are from the state of Texas and whether it was Herman or Sarkisian that recruited them, they opted to stay at home and sign with the state’s flagship university. In the case of Washington D.C. native Keilan Robinson, he actually spent two seasons with the Crimson Tide before jumping into the transfer portal and heading to Texas in the summer of 2021.
While he isn’t starting, it should be noted that quarterback Arch Manning was also heavily recruited by Alabama during his high-profile recruitment. He made one official and three unofficial visits to Tuscaloosa before ultimately locking in with the Longhorns.