SEC Country was told late Sunday night that Alabama has offered in-state tight end Michael Parker out of Westminster Christian Academy (Huntsville, Ala.) while on his visit to Tuscaloosa this past weekend for the game against Mercer.
If you’re a loyal reader at SEC Country, you likely know that the plan for the Tide was to take only one tight end in the 2018 class and the likely target to take that spot was either going to be the nation’s No. 1 junior college prospect at the position in Dominick Wood-Anderson or 4-star prospect Luke Ford.
That plan has now changed.
The Tide are now planning on taking two tight ends in this cycle. Parker, whose brother Jacob is a walk-on for the Tide, has called Alabama his dream school in interviews with SEC Country before. Also, after checking with a source close to Auburn, the school Parker was likely leaning toward before Alabama extended a committable offer his way, the Tigers felt that if the Tide ever offered him, he was likely going to choose ‘Bama.
With numbers being so tight in this class, how does Alabama plan on taking two tight ends when the position isn’t a priority for the Tide?
According to a source close to Alabama, Parker will likely be a blueshirt, just like how Hunter Brannon and Joseph Bulovas were in the 2017 class.
Blueshirts are put on scholarship once they arrive on campus and are recruits who were not “officially” recruited. That means Parker, if given a blueshirt, will not be able to take an official visit to Alabama, have off-campus, arranged contact with coaches and he’ll not be sent a letter of intent or written scholarship offer. Most importantly, a blueshirt counts against the number you can sign in the following class.
So, that’s how the numbers will work out if Parker ends up committing to the Tide.
