USA TODAY High School Sports‘ Friday Night Notes is a weekly high school recruiting recap that looks at the latest news from around the country—from the Class of 2023 to ’24 and beyond.
Alabama already has the lead in the recruiting race in 2023. They’re over 15 points ahead of second-ranked Georgia in those rankings, thanks largely to having five five-star recruits when no other team has more than three.
This week the rich got richer, as Alabama got a head-start on next year’s recruiting class by securing their first five-star prospect of the class of 2024 in quarterback Julian Sayin.
Sayin (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) is a Junior at Carlsbad (Calif.), where he’s led his team to a 9-1 record thus far this season. He’s completed 68.7% of his passes, totaled 2,032 yards, 25 touchdowns and just three interceptions. This follows an equally-strong Sophomore campaign that saw Sayin post a 71.5% completion rate, 2,769 yards, 34 touchdowns and four picks. A dual-threat QB, Sayin has also added 399 yards and four scores as a rusher.
According to 247 Sports, Sayin is ranked No. 2 at quarterback in his class behind Dylan Raiola of Chandler (Ariz.), who’s committed to Ohio State. Sayin is also the consensus top player overall in the state of California.
Sayin had also been considering Georgia and LSU. Here’s what he told Hank South of BamaOnLine on Wednesday following his decision.
“I would say Bama is the standard for college football. When you go on Saturdays and turn on the TV and see that crimson, you think of Alabama. Coach Saban, being the greatest coach of all time, how could you not want to play for a guy like that? And then just the ability to produce NFL talent they have there. Their track record for quarterbacks is second to none.”
Alabama is currently placed at No. 5 in the recruiting rankings for 2024. Notre Dame is still on top.