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Alabama flips two 4-star recruits in penultimate weekend before early signing period

Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/USA TODAY Sports

Coach Saban wants his closer’s coffee.

Nick Saban added two more key pledges to his forthcoming Class of 2019 over the weekend, gaining a pair of primo recruits who were flipped from prior commitments to other major programs.

RELATED: Chosen 25 safety Daxton Hill flips from Michigan to Alabama

First, as previously reported here, the Crimson Tide gained a commitment from former Michigan pledge Daxton Hill, the nation’s top safety recruit and top overall player from the state of Oklahoma. Less than 24 hours later, he was joined by Mansfield (Texas) Legacy High School cornerback Jeffrey Carter, a top-20 Texas prospect and the No. 11 player at his position, according to 247 Sports. Carter had been a Texas A&M commit.

It’s clear that Saban and his reputation for developing top pros had a significant impact on Carter’s decision.

“He’s going to get you to the league,” Carter told 247Sports of Nick Saban earlier in the recruiting process. “He’s going to be coaching the corners. You’re getting coached by Coach Saban, you’re talking to him every day, you’re in the film room with him every day. He’s going to put you in the best spot to have a real good draft grade. He says he loves me as a wide receiver and he loves me as a corner, but he says that my best chance to go to the draft is at corner and I really believe that because it’s Coach Saban, I think he knows what he’s talking about.”

As for Hill, he follows in the footsteps of fellow Tulsa native Josh Jacobs, who signed with Alabama in 2016. Jacobs actively connected with Hill during the recruiting process, and that may have played a significant role in his eventual decision.

“He said it’s a great place,” Hill told 247Sports. “He said it was kind of an adjustment for him coming out of Oklahoma, but he said after a couple of months it felt like home for him. He was just saying it’s a great place, a college town, and everything is enjoyable there. He said people will say negative things about it, but when you go on campus and experience it as a player it’s a whole different type of deal.

“He was just showing me different things of how life will be once you leave your state. Just hanging out with Josh kind of opened my eyes a little bit of how things can be similar and different from where I’m at right now.”

Whatever the motivation, the end result was another huge gain for Alabama, which is lining up the nation’s top class yet again.

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