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SEC football news roundup: Texas lands 5-star Plus+ CB, Alabama flips 4-star CB from Vanderbilt

The Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide made major moves on the recruiting trail on Friday.
Major decisions were made across the SEC football landscape on Friday, with Texas and Alabama picking up big wins
Major decisions were made across the SEC football landscape on Friday, with Texas and Alabama picking up big wins | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The weekend started off with fireworks across the SEC, with major recruiting wins defining Friday's news in the "It Just Means More" conference. Notably, the Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide landed blue-chip recruits. There were also some losses on the trail for SEC teams to other conference's big-spenders.

The Oregon Ducks and Florida State Seminoles each grabbed 3-star recruits over some of the finest programs the SEC has to offer.

Let's take a look at the latest gridiron headlines through the SEC lens:

Five-Star Plus+ CB stays home, chooses Texas

5-star-plus North Crowley corner John Meredith III stayed home, choosing to play his collegiate ball three hours south of Fort Worth in Austin. Meredith is the No. 4 player in the 2027 recruiting class and the No. 1 CB. He's now the Longhorns' highest-ranked recruit in the cycle.

Meredith's next time suiting up might be in burnt orange. Per the Dallas Morning News's Greg Riddle, Meredith III was ruled ineligible to play during his senior season at North Crowley High School after transferring from Euless Trinity High School.

With that said, on talent alone, Meredith could find himself playing at corner sooner rather than later. If he doesn't play this fall, the burden is on Meredith to maintain an SEC-caliber of fitness over the next year.

Alabama flips 4-star CB from Vanderbilt

After defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores on the field during the 2025 season at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide got a recruiting flip of 2028 4-star Knoxville Catholic corner Braylen Gibbs from the Dores on Friday.

While Alabama has had a slow start to their 2027 recruiting, mainly because the 2026 class brought in so much young talent that doesn't need competition, it appears the Crimson Tide is off and running for the 2028 class.

Oregon keeps in-state 3-star EDGE home over Oklahoma

To be fair to the Oklahoma Sooners, though they were included in a list of teams that the Oregon Ducks beat out for 3-star Lake Oswego EDGE Josh Christensen, the truth is, this kid was never leaving the Beaver State.

Oregon sits in the top-six for the 2027 cycle, just one move away from the upper tier in recruiting with just one move. With 5-star Millbrook EDGE Rashad Streets and 4-star Thompson EDGE Cameron Pritchett already in tow, Christensen adds depth to a deep room that the Ducks always like to load up.

FSU gets 3-star receiver despite push from Georgia

Finally, the Noles got 3-star Crest (NC) receiver Majay Thompson. There was a late push from the Georgia Bulldogs, but FSU kept him out of Athens. Per Chop Chat's Taylor Devers, "The thought was that Georgia was going to get a late visit from him, but the Bulldogs were not able to get it done. Florida State finished the job and got Thompson on Friday."

The Seminoles have a long way to go during the 2027 high school cycle, ranking outside the top 50 still, as of this writing.

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