Alabama Football Scholarship: University Of Alabama Offered Eighth-Grade Linebacker Scholarship Before He Sets Foot In High School


According to NFL.com, an eighth-grade linebacker named Jesus Machado has been added to the very short list of prospective football players who are good enough to receive football scholarship offers from schools such as the University of Alabama before they’ve even started high school. Several sources including AL.com have reported that Jesus Machado received a verbal scholarship offer from the assistant head coach of the University of Alabama, Mario Cristobal.

This eighth-grade linebacker will start his freshman year this fall, and 2020 would be the year he signs with whichever school he decides to go to. Despite his young age and the fact that he has not entered high school yet, Alabama is not the only school to offer this young football player a scholarship. NFL.com also reported that Iowa State, Michigan State, West Virginia, and North Carolina State have all made scholarship offers to this young player.

The offer from the University of Alabama is getting so much national attention because it isn’t every day that the defending national champions and the school that frequently holds the number one recruiting class extends an offer to an eighth grader.

Mario Cristobal, the Alabama Tide’s offensive line coach is responsible for all Miami-area recruiting for the state of Alabama as he is a former player and assistant coach to the Miami Hurricanes. Cristobal’s profile also includes being the head coach at Florida International. Machado is an outside linebacker. He stands six-feet tall and weighs 195 pounds.

This is not the first time college coaches have made the decision to take scholarship offers to young prospects over the years. The goal in doing this is to beat out the competition and start building a relationship with the player long before it is time to officially pick a team. Summer football camps have made it easier for college coaches and scouts to evaluate the players without having to rely on recordings of the high school games to make any decisions.

Even so, NFL.com reported that it is highly unusual for so many teams to be offering an eighth-grader a scholarship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52Wf5qFsEo

While it is rare for Alabama (or any other school) to offer a football scholarship to someone who is still in middle school, it is not unheard of. In fact, Lane Kiffin was known for landing a commitment with quarterback David Sills back when he was just a seventh-grade football player. Sills ended up playing at West Virginia where he got some action as a wide receiver even though he was listed as a quarterback for the team.

Lane Kiffin didn’t stop there. In 2013, he offered another middle school football player, Nathan Tilford, a commitment, and UCLA’s Jim Mora extended an offer to Lindell Stone, another middle-schooler, the same year. Both Stone and Tilford are in the class of 2017. This means there are still nine months until they officially sign with a team. Stone, who was rated as a three-star football player, according to Yahoo! Sports, has verbally committed to Virginia.

The list goes on from there as a five-star linebacker in the 2017 class started to receive offers from various colleges during his eighth-grade season. This included offers from LSU and Alabama. This means Jesus Machado is not the first eighth-grader the University of Alabama has had their eyes on.

Zadock Dinkelmann, a member of the 2018 class and a quarterback, received an offer from Les Miles and the LSU Tigers back in February of 2014 when he was just 14-years-old and in eighth-grade.

Not everyone thinks the idea of Alabama offering a football scholarship to this young player is a good one. In fact, some social media posts about the Alabama scholarship offer have gone as far as calling it a meaningless offer as a lot can change between now and the time Jesus Machado is ready to sign with a team.

What do you think about a scholarship to Alabama being offered to a football player who hasn’t even started high school yet?

[Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images]

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