Alabama football pulled off a recruiting coup as they flipped 5-star OT Kadyn Proctor from Iowa and now the lineman has explained his decision.
Early Signing Day was more profitable for the Alabama Crimson Tide than anyone. Not only did Nick Saban and his staff enter the day with the No. 1 overall recruiting class for 2023 according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, but they only added to it as they landed four more 5-star recruits.
None of those made a bigger splash than the No. 1 offensive tackle in the class, Kadyn Proctor. Ahead of Early Signing Day, Proctor was committed to the Iowa Hawkeyes as the top recruit in the state. However, the Crimson Tide pulled off a major move in getting him to flip and adding to their historically good class.
On Tuesday, Proctor explained his decision to flip from Iowa to Alabama and, perhaps inadvertently, shaded the Hawkeyes while praising the Crimson Tide and the level of talent in Tuscaloosa.
“I don’t want to come into the school and everybody thinks that I’m one of the best players there already,” Proctor said. “I want to grow. That’s not how I grow. I got to get hit in the mouth before I can grow.”
Kadyn Proctor shades Iowa explaining flip to Alabama on Signing Day
Even if Proctor is right that he’s not going to be the biggest man on campus with the Crimson Tide as he would’ve been with Iowa, that’s still a shot at the Hawkeyes. In essence, he’s saying that he chose Bama to play with better players that will allow him to grow, not just be the top dog and stay the top dog in a smaller pond.
Regardless of the reason, though, Alabama fans are more than happy with the decision as they’ve all but locked up the top recruiting class for the 2023 cycle with Proctor at the heart of it.
And make no mistake, when he talks about growing, he’s talking about developing into a top NFL Draft pick. He has that kind of potential and now the Crimson Tide can utilize that. Iowa just happened to catch a bit of a stray as he was explaining as much.
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