Written by Ell
| 07 July 2008
According to the folks at
crimsonconfidential.com Alabama signee
Devonta Bolton will begin his career at East Mississippi Community College, alongside fellow Bama signee
Brandon Lewis.
This doesn't come as much of a shock, with Bolton having not reported to Alabama for summer workouts, but this is the first actual confirmation of it.
There have been rumors that both Bolton & Lewis will attempt to graduate in 3 semesters, redshirt for one year of their time there, and enroll at Alabama during the Spring of 2010. Current Alabama Senior
Nikita Stover was able to do this at Itawamba County Community College, and have 3 years of eligibility at Bama when he reported in the spring of 2006. Whether the folks at EMCC will allow Bolton & Lewis to do this is yet to be seen - and if they are allowed, finishing in 3 semesters is not an easy task.
EMCC is located just across the Alabama border in Scooba, MS, so these guys will be just 72 miles from Tuscaloosa. Junior Colleges are not as historically adamant about their players going back to the school that they originally signed with as some Prep Schools - most notably Hargrave Military Academy that has seen some recent Bama signees attend. So if Bama decides to make a run at these 2 guys again for the 2010 recruiting class, they will have to "re-recruit" them.
With this news becoming official, Alabama's class of 32 is now just 1 over the limit of 25:
- Chris Jackson & Corey Smith enrolled in January for the Spring Semester and counted towards the 2007 recruiting class.
- Brandon Lewis & Devonta Bolton have enrolled at East Mississippi Community College.
- Melvin Ray has signed a contract to play professional baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
- Destin Hood has not yet signed his contract with the Washington Nationals, though it is expected that he will do so. Like most high draft picks who hold football scholarships, Destin is using his potential football career as leverage to get the most out of his first baseball contract. More power to him.
- Kerry Murphy is the one guy left unaccounted for, and there isn't much left to say. He is, according to rumors, still attempting to qualify academically. It appears unlikely that he'll qualify, meaning he'll join guys like Mike Ford and Titus Ryan as guys that Bama signed multiple times, but were unable to ever get on campus.
So as things stand right now, there are 25 incoming guys on campus, with
Ivan Matchett having reported for the 2nd summer term. So unless Murphy somehow qualifies, or Hood opts to not play pro baseball (both highly unlikely), then Bama's class has made its way down to the 25 that it had to get to by rule.
There is still the matter of the 85 scholarship limit, however. We've been tracking that, and we currently show 63 scholarship players, meaning that Alabama would be at 88 scholarships once the 25 incoming guys are officially added on the 1st day of fall practice.
As we reported a few days ago, that number could already be down to 87, as
Wesley Neighbors absolutely 100% qualifies for the
Bryant Scholarship. If Wesley does indeed make use of that, then Bama would only be over the limit by 2. With the
health of both
Zeke Knight and
Will Oakley in question, they could account for those 2 spots. With
Prince Hall not having been
officially re-instated, there is the potential that Bama could actually be below the 85 limit.
