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From Julio Jones to Jameson Williams, Alabama had a historic run of wide receiver talent throughout the entirety of Nick Saban\u2019s tenure, and that\u2019s only continuing with the arrival of Ryan Williams last season. With Ryan Grubb taking over at offensive coordinator and Alabama breaking in a new QB, there\u2019s a good chance there will be significantly more targets to go around in 2025 than there was in 2023-2024, and so while the Tide\u2019s top receivers are set in stone, there will be opportunities for some new players to see the field. <\/p>\n
At tight end, both CJ Dippre and Robbie Ouzts have graduated and are going out for the NFL, so the position is wide open going into 2025. <\/p>\n
As always, I\u2019ll be using the 247 Sports Composite for player rankings, but will note any stark differences of opinion from any of the recruiting services. <\/p>\n
Brooks is an interesting one. After putting up four straight seasons of unbelievable production (4514 receiving yards and 65 receiving touchdowns), he holds virtually every New Jersey state record. He\u2019s drawn player comparisons to Zay Flowers, Jaylen Waddle, and Tyreek Hill due to his size and tremendous speed. On3 jumped on the hype train behind him a year ago, and they have him as the #72 overall prospect and the #11 receiver in the class, and ESPN feels similarly. On the other hand, Rivals and 247 both have Brooks as a 3-star prospect. It\u2019s a stark difference in opinions, and one that\u2019ll be an interesting comparison to look back on in 3 years. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s been reported to run a 4.40s forty yard dash and clocked at 22.1 mph, so he\u2019s got upper tier elite speed, even if he lacks size. <\/p>\n
The shades of Jaylen Waddle in this guy are legitimate. He speed is next-level on the field, and his ability to jump to high point downfield catches despite his size is eerily similar. <\/p>\n
He excels at at the start-stop movements and can send cornerbacks flying the wrong way as he rockets off the line of scrimmage and stops on a dime for a curl route, then will accelerate again once he has the ball and shoot past 2-3 more defenders who all should <\/em>have had the angle on him to easily make the tackle. That kind of speed and acceleration alone makes him a special player, and has impressive hands and body control in the air really put him a step above. <\/p>\n On the other hand, he\u2019s extremely unpolished before the catch. His route running is mostly either streak routes, screens, or 15 yard curls, and he was rarely ever pressed at the line of scrimmage. He shows the ability to be dangerous on double moves with how well he runs those deep curls, but thus far, hasn\u2019t really done much of it. <\/p>\n Still, with the ball in his hands, he\u2019s going to be one of the most dangerous players on the field and could score from anywhere. <\/p>\n While mostly viewed as a slot receiver due to his size, I think Saban and DeBoer (as well as the NFL) have all shown that a small size doesn\u2019t necessarily mean slot. With his ability downfield, I think Brooks will be more of a guy that will move between receiver positions to get good matchups and to get him the ball in his hands. <\/p>\n With the talent returning at WR for Alabama in 2025, I don\u2019t expect us to see Brooks play too much. Still, I think he\u2019ll get some snaps and a few catches in the cupcake games. I also think he\u2019ll make a push from day 1 to be a kick or punt returner, and there\u2019s a very good chance he could win one of those jobs as a freshman. <\/p>\n Meadows is pretty much the opposite of Brooks in almost every way. He\u2019s extremely tall at 6\u20195\u201d, he has limited production so far, and 247 views him as the #60 overall prospect, while On3 and ESPN put him lower than 200. <\/p>\n He hails from the powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School and has multiple track and field accolades under his belt, including the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year for his performance in the hurdles and relay. He only caught 39 passes for a shade under 1000 yards in his junior and senior years combined, so there\u2019s a lot of projecting here on his crazy high athletic upside. <\/p>\n Meadows could <\/em>be the next DK Metcalf or Mike Evans. He\u2019s got impressive speed for his size and a nasty outside release against press coverage, and he can really win routes by getting vertical down the sideline. He\u2019s also adept at moving around after a play breaks down to get himself into a spot where his QB can use him as a security throw. Those two things combined make him an absolute nightmare in the endzone. <\/p>\n With such a limited number of touches, though, he\u2019s mostly an unknown with the ball in his hands or really working many routes other than the sideline fades. <\/p>\n He\u2019s also a very aggressive downfield blocker, to the point of pushing many of his blocks just up to edge of going too far and getting close to getting in some scuffles. Still, I think most coaches would rather tell a guy to tone it back a little than have to try to get them to tone it up in the blocking department. <\/p>\n Were this still a Nick Saban team, I\u2019d be worried about his fit, as Saban never did seem to figure out what to do with the tall sideline receivers. However, Ryan Grubb had multiple similarly sized pass catchers at Washington in 2023 and also coached DK Metcalf in 2024 in Seattle, so I think he\u2019ll have a decent plan on what to do with him. <\/p>\n I think 2025 will be a redshirt year for Meadows. There\u2019s too much returning talent at WR, and he\u2019s got too far to go in terms of development, so we can reconvene on him in 2026 or 2027. <\/p>\n After a couple of seasons working his way up the depth chart, Isaiah Horton broke out as a starter for the Miami Hurricanes in 2024, catching 56 passes for 616 yards and 5 TDs, and he\u2019s now joining Alabama to be the presumed third WR and will have two seasons of eligibility to go. <\/p>\n Because I am shameless, here is a great bit of content from Chase Goodbread last month giving some tape breakdown on Horton:<\/p>\n Did a pretty deep dive (eight games) on Isaiah Horton\u2019s 2024 season at Miami with the All-22 angle. What is Alabama getting? Here\u2019s what I saw: pic.twitter.com\/0z6zTj34jF<\/a><\/p>\nScheme Fit and Prediction<\/h4>\n
\nDerek Meadows<\/h3>\n
Playstyle<\/h4>\n
Scheme Fit and Production<\/h4>\n
\nIsaiah Horton<\/h3>\n
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