COLUMBUS, Ohio – Alabama’s football recruiting class of 2021 has added another five stars in the form of Damon Payne from Belleville High School in Michigan.
The addition of the nation’s top-ranked defensive tackle and the 14th overall player drags Crimson Tide even to Ohio State in five-star engagements, each with four. Payne’s decision boiled down to a top 10 that included the two schools along with Arizona State, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, and USC.
While the Buckeyes had most of their success in 2021 during the spring, Alabama has increased their recruitment in the past month. Payne is the ninth player to join the nation’s No. 2 class since offensive lineman JC Latham started what has been a series of assignments on June 12.
Despite the race, the Buckeyes still sit comfortably as the No. 1 draft class in the country with a 24.72-point lead. The state of Ohio still needs to add five stars to its class if it wants to have a chance to get the highest-rated recruiting class of all time. Adding Payne would have helped with that, but adding a defensive tackle wasn’t at the top of the need list with Mike Hall already engaged.
There are 29 players in the recruiting class of 2021 classified as five stars. With Payne off the board, only 13 are not engaged.
The five-star recruits needed for OSU to achieve the highest-ranked class still on the board are defensive end JT Tuimoloau, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and offensive lineman Tristan Leigh. Egbuka and Leigh have already listed OSU among their top finals schools, while Tuimoloau also remains at the top of the Buckeyes, according to their head coach Dominic Daste.
The 247Sports.com team rankings for 2021 after Payne’s engagement:
Here’s a look at Ohio’s 2021 recruitment class of the state:
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