Did FSU QB Thomas Castellanos' Comments Ignite Alabama's Recent Recruiting Run?
Do the Crimson Tide have Thomas Castellanos to thank for their recent recruiting success?
The Alabama Crimson Tide have been on an absolute heater on the recruiting trail this past week.
While you might view that as a classic case of the rich getting richer, this level of success in such a truncated period of time is uncanny even for a juggernaut like Bama, and the national pundits are starting to take notice.
Not only is this a near-historic run by head coach Kalen DeBoer and company, but the timing seems to almost perfectly line up with some inflammatory comments made by Florida State signal caller Thomas Castellanos just seven days prior.
On June 23, Castellanos sat down with On3 national reporter Pete Nakos and basically said the Crimson Tide "don't have Nick Saban to save them," looking ahead to the Seminoles' season opener against Bama.
Since that day, the Tide have reeled in seven commits in the 2026 recruiting class, including three composite top-100 players, a five-star edge rusher, and the second-ranked running back in the nation.
Now, am I saying that Castellanos is directly responsible for Alabama opening up a fresh can of whoop ass on the recruiting trail?
No, not exactly, but it is a funny coincidence how their recruiting efforts seemed to have doubled almost overnight.
It is worth noting that things in Tuscaloosa weren't necessarily destitute before this summer's resurgence, as Bama still had a four-star quarterback, a top-100 edge rusher, and the nation's top-ranked cornerback all committed before Castellanos opened his big trap.
With the way recruiting works nowadays, we are still light years away from the finish line.
Teams can come in over the top with NIL packages that could choke an elephant (pun intended) and swipe all these kids out from under Bama's nose (trunk?).
But if we are being honest with ourselves, I don't see that happening.
Rather, it would appear a sleeping giant has been awakened once more, and we may or may not have a certain loudmouthed quarterback in Tallahassee to thank.