Late in 2016, between trouncing Florida in the SEC championship game and preparing for a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with Washington, Alabama focused on securing its receiver corps of the future.
Jerry Jeudy already had given his verbal commitment a few months earlier, continuing a South Florida-to-Tuscaloosa pipeline that sent childhood friend Calvin Ridley to town two years earlier and Amari Cooper three years before that. And while DeVonta Smith was proving to be a tougher pull out of recruiting battleground Amite, Louisiana, the Crimson Tide had a hometown connection in recently hired director of player personnel Sam Petitto, and the coaching staff felt good about bringing Smith across state lines.