Eyabi Anoma commits to Alabama and becomes the Tide’s latest 5-star defensive end

Five-star Baltimore defensive end Eyabi Anoma will play his college football at Alabama, he announced Wednesday. Anoma is the No. 7 overall player in the class of 2018 and its No. 3 defensive end, according to the 247Sports Composite. He picked the Crimson Tide over Michigan and Maryland, his home-state team.

This is a loaded year for defensive ends, and Anoma’s one of the best. He’s a prototypical speed rusher who could wind up playing either outside linebacker or defensive end in college. (Or, he could alternate between the two.) How Anoma is deployed in Tuscaloosa will depend on how much weight he puts on.

He’s currently a listed 6’5 and 230 pounds, though that might change quickly. He’s only been playing football for a few years and likely has lots of room to get better.

This is the second year in a row that the greater Baltimore area has produced a five-star defensive end. Last year, Josh Kaindoh — who’d moved to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida — chose Florida State after a prior commitment to Maryland.

Anoma adds to an regular tradition of blue-chip defensive ends committing to Alabama. The Tide are the country’s dominant recruiters, and they’ve been particularly good at wooding edge rushers. They added five-star LaBryan Ray in 2017 and five-star Da’Shawn Hand in 2014, with those guys mixed among tons of four-stars. Alabama’s front is dominant every year, and that’s because the Tide never stop recruiting well.

Because of Alabama’s recruiting on the line and everywhere, it’ll probably be a few years before Anoma figures prominently in the team’s defensive plans. The team had a five-star freshman end, Ray, as a third-stringer this year. A four-star from the class of 2017, Jarez Parks, took a late-enrollment grayshirt because Alabama didn’t have space to put him on scholarship in the fall. (Parks has since signed in the class of 2018.)

So it’s a crowded depth chart. But Anoma’s good enough that at some point or another, he’ll be a key part of Bama’s front.