Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama Football 2017 Signee: Phidarian Mathis

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:54 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Ronald Evans/FanSided via Bama Hammer

Alabama Football has an outstanding 2017 class. Let’s go in depth with Crimson Tide defensive lineman, Phidarian Mathis.

Alabama Football Recruiting filled a big need for 2017 by locking up DT Phidarian Mathis.

Phidarian Mathis: 6’ 4”, 290 lbs.

Defensive Line

Scout rating 4-star; Rivals rating 4-star; 247 Sports rating 4-star

Neville School – Monroe, LA

Alabama Football seeks the best national talent every recruiting season. This recruiting season the position of greatest need for the Tide was defensive linemen, particularly defensive tackles.

Mathis had offers from over twenty top schools, including Georgia, USC, Florida, TCU,

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Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and in-state LSU. Most experts expected Coach O to snag the big man. Not so fast – Nick Saban signs more elite talent out of Louisiana than anyone.

Phidarian Mathis is a big young man. Signing him was also BIG for the Tide. Large, strong, ferocious and not slow-footed defensive tackles are essential for any college football program with championship aspirations. You cannot win against elite competition without them. No team has enough. They perform best in units with sufficient depth to allow for frequent player rotation.

Phidarian Mathis can be one of those rotating defensive linemen for the Tide in 2017.

Take a look:

Don’t miss this highlight video. The first play is Mathis making a tackle on the Kickoff Coverage team. Yes, 290 pounds and covering kicks – he beat most of his teammates down the field.

Phidarian made his college announcement Tuesday afternoon. He did it at a most unusual location. Phidarian had a friend, also a football player, who died at the age of16 from a broken neck sustained while covering a punt. Phidarian made his announcement from his friend’s gravesite.

Alabama fans welcome Phidarian Mathis to the 2017 Alabama Crimson Tide.

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