Altee Tenpenny will join the line of Alabama running backs, although he gave Arkansas, the school from down the road, some thought even after being committed to the Crimson Tide for over a year.
Altee Tenpenny signs with Alabama over Arkansas
The Razorbacks gave a run at Altee Tenpenny, but the top running back recruit will join Nick Saban’s backfield with Alabama.
Tenpenny’s easily one of the top running back recruits in the country: he’s got size -- 6 feet, 212 pounds -- and speed -- a 4.46 40. That’s why he’s a consensus four-star recruit, with Rivals ranking him at No. 8 in the country and No. 53 in the country.
Tenpenny has been committed to Alabama for over a year, but that didn’t stop his home state school of Arkansas from making a run at him. The North Little Rock native took a peek at the Razorbacks a few weeks back, but stuck with the Crimson Tide, making it official the night before Signing Day.
As if the Crimson Tide needed any help in their backfield, they've got three four-star running back recruits: Tenpenny, Derrick Henry, and Tyren Jones. Alabama's national championship teams have been build on the back of their ground game, with a different top prospect coming in every season: Heisman winner Mark Ingram turned into Trent Richardson turned into Eddie Lacy, each winning a championship as starting running back. They still have T.J. Yeldon, who ran for over 1,000 yards this year, but the cog that drives the team -- the offensive line -- will take a hit, as Barrett Jones, D.J. Fluker, and Chance Warmack all leave this season. Saban's recruiting there has been strong as well, but we'll see if Yeldon and the incoming backs can keep the ball moving.
Twitter: Tenpenny tweets at @Boobie_Miles_22
Recruitment timeline: Tenpenny listened to Arkansas’ overtures, but stuck with Alabama.
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