After a rough two months the Alabama Crimson Tide are looking to stack some wins in their program and it's starting off with their recruiting operations.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have added to their front office in what could pose as significant moves.
Earlier over the weekend, it was announced that Alabama’s Director of Recruiting Operations Carrigan Johnson had left the program after serving in that role for three years, and four years in different roles prior.
Quickly after, Alabama brought in a pair of football minds to help offset the loss of Johnson.
The first one being Georgia Tech’s executive director of recruiting, Alex Mathis, as well as a scout from the Arizona Cardinals, Stephen Wise.
Mathis had spent only one season with the Yellow Jackets and prior to his time in Atlanta, spent three seasons with UCF. During that stint with the Knights, Mathis had helped them achieve three top-40 recruiting rankings.
Mathis had helped bring in quarterback Tommy Castellanos before he flourished elsewhere, as well as Nyjalik Kelly and Amari Kight through the transfer portal.
In 2025 for Georgia Tech, he recruited five-star offensive tackle Josh Petty, as well as two of the top three cornerbacks in the nation, Dalen Penson and Tae Harris, with Penson being ranked first out of all cornerbacks.
For a program like Alabama that is already loaded in the secondary, adding Mathis who has done a masterful job at identifying the top defensive backs in the country, brings out the level of continuity that this program needs.
Wise, an alum of the University of South Carolina, had spent five seasons with the Cardinals. Three of those, he spent as an assistant, before getting promoted as the team’s representative with the National Football Scouting service.
However, while he was in Columbia for the Gamecocks, he served as a recruiting assistant where he specialized in identifying key recruits and evaluating prospects for the fit of the program.
Head coach Kalen DeBoer’s stint in Tuscaloosa has been met with heavy scrutiny ever since he took over for the legendary Nick Saban. Even with an SEC Championship, a College Football Playoff win, and a Rose Bowl appearance, at times it seemed like the sky was falling for the Tide, based on outside noise.
However, DeBoer and General Manager Courtney Morgan have thrived in recruiting the top high school prospects.
In their first full recruiting cycle, this regime secured the fourth-ranked recruiting class in 2025 and the sixth-ranked class in 2026.
Mathis has shown a lot of proficiency in the transfer portal, and after getting smacked in the transfer portal last month, his hiring only signifies the importance of gaining ground in the portal.
For Wise, he’s an impactful addition to the already well-oiled-machine that’s called Alabama’s recruiting staff.
If the Tide is going to recruit two top-10 recruiting classes in the first two cycles, just imagine what adding an NFL scout is going to do.