The spring visits season is here, and top programs are laying out red carpets for high school prospects. In the NIL era, more than anything, money has become the focal point of negotiations, with player agents playing a key role. Gone are the days when commitments were based on loyalty or love for a program. As per Courtney Morgan, Alabama GM, the visits become pointless if the two parties can’t agree on the financial side of things.

“If we can’t come to an agreement, you just don’t bring them for an OV,” Morgan told ESPN. “We’ll cancel the kid’s visit. There was a big-time player last year, top of his position; we just told him not to come because we couldn’t meet on the terms he wanted.”

While Morgan didn’t name the player, and you’d hardly see any GM publicly do that, the signs point towards the recruitment of No. 1 WR Tristen Keys, who ultimately signed with Tennessee. But during the whole ordeal, Alabama and Keys were quite close. However, in June last year, news appeared: “Keys is no longer expected to visit Alabama this week but will return to Baton Rouge this weekend.”

While everyone thought it was because Keys backed out, the top recruit of the 2026 class claimed it was not his decision but that the visit was canceled on Alabama’s end. From Morgan’s POV, the decision simply must have come down to whether the program could have met Keys’ demands. We are seeing the same trend in the recruitment of 2027 class 5-star WR Monshun Sales. In the end, the Tide may not be able to match what the rivals will offer him.

We saw a glimpse of that in the portal as well. The Crimson Tide was heavily interested and secured a visit from former five-star recruit WR Cam Coleman, but ultimately chose not to engage in a bidding war, leading to his commitment to the Longhorns.

Cam Coleman, a 6-foot-3, 201-pound playmaker out of Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama, arrived on the college football scene with massive expectations. The former five-star recruit committed to Auburn as one of the crown jewels of the 2024 recruiting class, ranked as the No. 2 wide receiver nationally and the top overall player in the state of Alabama.

When Coleman officially entered the transfer portal, he instantly became one of the most sought-after players available. Even Crimson Tide players joined the recruiting push. Defensive back Red Morgan publicly made his pitch on Instagram, encouraging Coleman to make the move to Tuscaloosa. Even though everyone thought he was coming home, Texas got the upper hand with a “significant NIL offer.”

But despite this, Morgan continues to believe that the program can find players who aren’t soley focused on getting a bag.

“At the end of the day, you know, there’s still a good number of kids that love football. When I talk about hitting on the person, it’s finding kids that love football. Finding the kids that don’t have the outside distractions. But, there’s still a good number of kids. I’m not going to sit here and say that the whole the pool is toxic of kids who don’t love football. There’s still a lot of kids that love football. You just have to find those kids,” he said last month.

How is Alabama’s future looking?

Alabama continues to aggressively pursue some of the nation’s top high school talent, despite the changing dynamics of the NIL era. The program will welcome a wave of highly touted recruits to Tuscaloosa later this month, beginning a busy run of official visit weekends throughout June as the program looks to build fresh momentum on the recruiting trail. Money cannot stop DeBoer from putting up yet again a top-class after being in the top 5 class last year.

The five-star quarterback Elijah Haven, who committed to Alabama late April of this year, was one of the biggest wins for DeBoer. The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ranked as the No. 1 quarterback, No. 2 player in Louisiana, and No. 12 overall prospect in the class of 2027. In three seasons as the starting quarterback at Dunham School, Haven threw for 9,229 yards, 134 touchdown passes, and 17 interceptions and ran for 2,383 yards and 44 more touchdowns.

After locking the nation’s No. 1 QB in late April, within less than a week, the Crimson Tide had another top QB on its side. Budding 2028 QB Charles Scott, out of Richmond, Virginia. “It felt like home,” he said, after pledging his loyalty.

“I knew I could see myself playing there right away. All the quarterbacks came up to me, talked to me, and told me it’s the place to be. They laid it all out for me.”

According to Rivals, it took him just one visit and one month to lock down Tuscaloosa as his choice. According to On3’s Chad Simmons, Scott visited Alabama on April 1 and received an offer on the very same day. Now, he is Alabama’s first 2028 commit.