Alabama Secures 4-Star JUCO CB Jhavonte Dean and 3-Star OT Hunter Brannon
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Another Alabama commitment along with another four-star ranking. The Crimson Tide 2017 class continued to march forward landing two more prized recruits on Saturday with cornerback Jhavonte Dean and offensive tackle Hunter Brannon.
Dean surprisingly only had nine scholarship offers after coming up with 18 tackles and nine passes defended during his freshman season with Blinn College. The former Homestead (Florida) area talent has all the physical tools to be a Division-I impact player listed at 6’2”, 180 pounds, with a scorching 4.3 time in the 40-yard dash.
Alabama shook off offers from Florida, Miami, Utah, Central Florida, Oregon State, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and TCU to land Dean.
Brannon (6-4, 290) maybe less heralded in the recruiting rankings than his fellow 2017 Tide commits, but has a lot of upside on the field going forward. The Cullman (Alabama) product has secured 15 reported offers from teams like Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, Troy, Mercer, Samford, Tulane, Central Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Memphis, and Minnesota.
Alabama continues to flip and flop with Ohio State as the No. 1 rated 2017 recruiting class. The Tide has 13 recruits ranked as four-star talents and two ranked as five-star; Najee Harris and Elliot Baker.
Alabama Crimson Tide 2017 Verbal Commit List (17)
CB Jhavonte Dean, 6-2, 180, Blinn College, Brenham, TX
LB Markail Benton, 6-1.5, 237, Central HS, Phenix, City, AL
LB VanDarius Cowan, 6-4, 217, Palm Beach Gardens HS, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
LB Gary Johnson, 6-1, 225, Dodge City C.C., Dodge City, KS
DE Aaron Sterling, 6’1”, 270, Stephenson HS, Stone Mountain, GA
DT Akial Byers, 6-4, 275, Fayetteville HS, Fayetteville, AR
OG Alex Leatherwood, 6’5”, 298, Washington HS, Pensacola, FL
OT Elliot Baker, 6-7, 295, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
OT Hunter Brannon, 6-4, 290, Cullman HS, Cullman, AL
RB Najee Harris, 6’1.5”, 210, Antioch Senior, Antioch, CA
RB Brian Robinson, 6’1”, 215, Hillcrest HS, Tuscaloosa, AL
QB Mac Jones, 6-2, 180, Bolles HS, Jacksonville, FL
QB Tua Tagovailoa, 6-1, 210, St. Louis HS, Honolulu, HI
WR Tyrell Shavers, 6-6, 202, Lewisville HS, Lewisville, TX
ATH Thomas Fletcher, 6’1”, 215, IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL
ATH Chadarius Townsend, 6’0”, 180 lbs, Tanner HS, Tanner, AL
K Brandon Ruiz, 5-10, 165, Williams Field HS, Gilbert, AZ
Photo credit: twitter.com; Hunter Brannon with Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.