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Sports Illustrated’s John Garcia Jr. selects one question posed to him through social media (@JohnGarcia_Jr and @SIAllAmerican) each week to delve into the college football recruiting topics fans want to know most about.
Two of America’s top class of 2023 college football recruits, James Smith and Jaquavious “Qua” Russaw, put out their lists of top schools under consideration in August.
While each is among the best at his respective position nationally, with Smith ranked as the No. 1 interior defensive lineman and Russaw tabbed as the top linebacker in the recently released SI99, a list of top schools is standard operating procedure for the modern recruit.
The catch here, however, is that the duo is dead set on playing together.
Teammates at Montgomery (Ala.) Carver High School, the two want to continue wreaking havoc on opposing offenses together. It’s not the most uncommon situation in recruiting, especially among those at the same school and side of the ball, but it’s rare to see any package deal followed through at the Power 5 level.
On one hand, college programs have to truly want each player. It sounds elementary, but typically one player is viewed higher than the other in these scenarios, and sometimes by wide margins. Even without the gap in talent, there are scholarship numbers, scheme, academic standing and many other factors for a program to consider before even offering teammates in the same recruiting cycle.
As time wears on, taking a duo in the same cycle becomes even more atypical because of varying timelines. A common example is relative to the offseason, when spring and summer official visits often dictate how a top recruit navigates the process. He takes enough trips to make the decision before the season begins or needs more time and trips to do so later on. In the latter scenario, a college program can add more talent at his given position, muddying the water for the school to accept a potential verbal commitment for one—much less both—altogether.
Yet, with Smith and Russaw, there appears to be little worry about these very normal scenarios breaking up the tandem. Each recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about their recruitments and of course each other, where their bond showed up in between questions. Smith joined Russaw's interview mid-questioning in a jovial nature. Russaw started over shortly after, a reflection of each of these top Alabamian personalities.
“Package deal, same top schools,” Smith said late this summer. “We’ve got everything in there together.”
Smith jokes about even playing basketball—“because I’ll come off that pick-and-roll" (despite a 6'4", 300-pound frame)—in finding a school.
But when it comes to playing with Russaw, it’s all business from both parties. The same goes for the coaches onlookers will often see the duo with at Madhouse Training. The Montgomery-based strength and positional coaches corroborate all the elements of the duo playing together, and even host top coaches during the spring evaluation periods. They say the two are almost built as a yin and yang in how each balances the other on and off the field.
Smith is the extrovert while Russaw is more reserved, at least off the field, though both push each other when it comes to the work. There’s more of a blend of the two personalities in that regard, each also reshaping his body ahead of the 2022 season to the point that each looks college ready right now.
There was the expectation the two would play together before this point, too, though it never came to be. Smith spent time at IMG Academy in Florida before moving back to Alabama toward the end of the 2021 season. Russaw moved to the area before the ’21 season, the first time those in the industry began tracking the duo as potential package deals.
Those around the seniors continue to say the possibility of finally playing together was a big reason why Smith went back to Montgomery, so naturally doing so in college feels more important and likely as it ever has. There is no other plan, it appears.
So where are they going to college?
Of course each prospect has released the same top six programs—Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida and Alabama State. Beyond the last two national champions, where there is an obviously strong selling point both positionally and geographically, it gets very interesting in trying to find dark-horse programs that have a chance beyond the favorites.
Fittingly, one appears to be pulling the other with the non–Bama/UGA programs listed. Auburn, which has already hosted each for an official visit, and Alabama State are semilocal to the duo, so those listings speak for themselves. Each has a lot on the field this fall, relative to contending for each top talent. Up to three more official visits between contending programs remain, so there is opportunity for the feel of the recruitments to shift.
Ohio State and Florida are interesting in their own right, relative to one leading the other toward the consideration—at least as we see it. Smith has family ties to the state of Ohio, so he is a bit more attached to the Buckeyes angle, so a slight push to get Russaw there could lead to a trip to Columbus. For the pass rusher, there are ties to the state of Florida, where his father is from. A lifelong Gators fan, Russaw admits his father wouldn't mind his son playing college ball in the Sunshine State. The two were in Gainesville together to wrap up the offseason at Billy Napier's Friday Night Lights event.
It would be a slight surprise if official visits weren’t set up for both Ohio State and Florida before the 2022 college football season wraps up. That likely pushes the timeline back, assuming in-state favorite Alabama also gets an official visit, toward the early National Signing Day window in the middle of December.
If it does come down to Nick Saban vs. Kirby Smart in the end, perhaps fittingly the two have experienced all angles of recruiting elite combinations together. In fact, they've also gone head to head for a similar duo in the current recruiting cycle, as Georgia natives and fellow SI99 recruits Caleb Downs and Justice Haynes were considered a package deal at times. Each considered UA, UGA, Notre Dame and Ohio State together and often overlapped on the visit trail thereafter, before picking the Crimson Tide 10 days apart in July.
Have a recruiting question? Connect with @SIAllAmerican and/or @JohnGarcia_Jr to submit yours and it could be featured on the next mailbag.
