2026 5-star WR Cederian Morgan is at top of Alabama football list. Is Crimson Tide at top of his?
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — Alabama football fans seem to have already fallen in love with the idea of Cederian Morgan.
The 2026 prospect has five stars next to his name. He is the highest rated Alabama high school wide receiver recruit since Ryan Williams, one ranked as the second-best receiver nationally and the No. 11 player overall per 247Sports' composite rankings. He is the No. 1 player in the state with an official visit to Colorado complete, other official visits scheduled, including in-state powers Auburn and Alabama, and a July 2 decision date set.
Advertisement
And then there's Morgan, the actual player, the actual person, the Benjamin Russell High School student who took the practice football field as the days of his junior year of high school dwindled. Morgan is humble. He's goofy. And Alexander City is his home.
'You wouldn't even know I was a five star unless you heard,' Morgan said, leaning his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame against the wall in the hallway of Benjamin Russell. 'Because I'm not going to tell you.'
Morgan doesn't need to tell anyone.
Once he takes the football field, he said, it's his time to get serious, to handle business and become like the wide receivers he looked up to as a kid: Julio Jones, with his size, his feet and his route-running ability; Jerry Jeudy, the 'route technician;' and Randy Moss, the player Morgan didn't feel he needed to describe.
Advertisement
'You know about Randy Moss,' Morgan said with a grin.
Morgan was Benjamin Russell's version of Moss as a junior, catching 70 passes for 1,162 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in 2024, per MaxPreps.
Morgan is a 'monster,' a 'freak,' to quarterback Kingston Preyear, the Montgomery Catholic transfer who just met the wide receiver in February. And to new Benjamin Russell coach Kirk Johnson, the best way to describe Morgan, the wide receiver, is to use the descriptor Morgan himself wouldn't use: 'a five star.'
'We're all, 'Man, I wish I was faster, I wish I was bigger,'' Johnson said. 'He's not one who can say all those things.'
Advertisement
Please enable Javascript to view this content.
Since the Kalen DeBoer era began at Alabama, Morgan has always been a priority for the Crimson Tide. And Morgan said he's consistently felt that love, from his introduction to wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard at Benjamin Russell last spring and the offer that came after he participated in a recruiting camp in Tuscaloosa last May, to the present, with less than a month-and-a-half before a commitment.
Morgan praised Shephard as a coach who is 'going to push you to do your best and get you to reach limits that you have never reached before.' But Morgan's feelings about Alabama are much simpler than just about development.
'Their tradition of winning,' Morgan said. 'You think of Alabama, you just think about winning. And I want to be a part of winning, so that's why they are on my list'
Advertisement
As his Alabama official visit nears, Alabama, Morgan said, has already shown him everything he wants to see. Through June, he plans to take his time with his official visits and 'see what everyone else has to offer,' before getting with his family, seeing what is best for him and making sure his 'first decision is my best decision.'
But none of this has affected Morgan, the Benjamin Russell wide receiver.
In Morgan, Johnson said he has a receiver who is already polished and developed, but one who didn't come to the new coaching staff with demands for targets or attention.
In Morgan, Preyear, who has offers from programs like FIU, Houston and Ole Miss, has a receiver who he can just tell 'Go,' who knows what exactly the quarterback wants.
Advertisement
'It's legendary, to come and see the wide receiver I get to throw the ball to, one of the best guys in the nation, actually, … it's like once in a lifetime,' Preyear said. 'You don't see that every day. You don't see that at every high school.'
But, there is one thing Morgan does not want people to forget.
Yes, a commitment is coming, a 'dream come true' to follow in the footsteps of receivers like Jeudy, Jones and Moss to go through college to the NFL. Yes, he is early enrolling, bewildered by the six-to-seven months he has of high school life before the next phase begins.
But ahead of a senior season where Morgan has his sights set on a state title and, potentially, a Mr. Football award — even without, admittedly, much else to prove — the wide receiver wants people to recognize he is not just a five star.
Advertisement
'At the end of the day,' Morgan said, 'I'm still a kid.'
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Where Alabama football stands for 2026 5-star WR Cederian Morgan
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Where Auburn stands in Claude Mpouma's recruitment ahead of his June commitment date
Auburn remains in the mix to land the four-star lineman from Illinois ahead of his commitment date. Four-star offensive tackle Claude Mpouma included the Auburn Tigers in his top five schools this week, and has set a commitment date. Where does Auburn stand in the mix? The offensive lineman from Chicago, Illinois, announced on social media that he will announce his pledge on Sunday, June 29, and that Auburn is among the top programs that remain in contention to land him. The Tigers join Ohio State, Florida, Michigan, and Nebraska in the race for Mpouma's signature. A successful visit to the Plains earlier this month is a key reason why Auburn remains high on Mpouma's radar. In an interview with Jeffrey Lee of On3, Mpouma said that offensive line coach Jake Thornton and defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams, who is an alum of the high school that Mpouma attends, is selling Auburn well and that Auburn is a "top three" school for him, and that they are not the No. 3 school for him. What makes Auburn special to Mpouma? 'The culture. They're pretty big on that,' Mpouma said in an interview with Auburn Live. 'I feel like that's a big thing, too. That's something I respect a lot.' Now that we know Auburn is one of the top schools to land Mpouma, what are the odds that they close the deal? On3's Recruiting Prediction Machine currently gives Nebraska a slight edge over Auburn, 33% to 24%. He has zero crystal ball predictions from 247Sports, but those predictions could start filing in this week ahead of his commitment date. Mpouma is a 6-8, 260-pound offensive tackle from Chicago, Illinois. He is considered a four-star prospect by every major recruiting outlet and ranks as high as No. 12 among offensive linemen rankings in 2026. Auburn's recruiting class ranks No. 57 in 247Sports' 2026 recruiting rankings, so a commitment fro Mpouma would do wonders for a class that is currently struggling in the rankings. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Alabama reportedly offers top 2027 in-state quarterback prospect
This past week, the Alabama Crimson Tide officially extended an offer to one of the top in-state quarterbacks in Alabama's 2027 class, Trent Seaborn. Seaborn announced the offer from Alabama via a post on social media. Advertisement A name that has grown more-and-more across Alabama high school football in recent years, Seaborn has been a starter at quarterback for one of the state's top programs, Thompson High School, since his eighth grade season back in 2022. Since, Seaborn has helped lead Thompson to two Class 7A state championships in 2022 and 2024, which is Alabama's highest classification. According to the 247Sports Composite recruiting rankings, Seaborn is currently considered as the nation's No. 215 overall player in the 2027 class, as well as the No. 16 quarterback nationally. Seaborn, a four-star prospect, is also considered as the No. 9 prospect in the state of Alabama. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football offers 2027 quarterback Trent Seaborn
Chicago Tribune
6 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: It was a joy to celebrate Pope Leo XIV at the home of the White Sox
If you are part of a 30,000-strong crowd of fans at Rate Field, or any other baseball park, you would expect to jump to your feet for any number of reasons, A walk-off home run, a spectacular catch at the outfield wall, a grand slam homer or a runner thrown out at the plate, to name a few. But you would never hear over the roaring crowd the collective exclamation from 30,000 plastic seats suddenly relieved of their occupants' weights and snapping upright, as you would have heard many times on June 14 as the faithful dutifully stood during a Mass celebrating a newly elected Holy Father. The green numbered seats seemed to scream out together: 'What? An American pope? From Chicago? And a confirmed White Sox fan?' The weather was beautiful, the crowd polite, proud and happy. The ballpark help seemed eager to please, and restrictions on seating and other areas were loose to unenforced. They weren't needed for this diverse group of mostly Catholic celebrants. Absent for the 5 1/2-hour event were the things that make us cringe or keep us at home: foul language, abusive signage and aggressive behavior. Security could have taken the day off. Many notables spoke. The pope himself spoke on a prerecorded message on the jumbo screen that dominates center field, encouraging the young to engage in changing the world for the better. Cardinal Blaise Cupich spoke forcefully and eloquently on the contributions of immigrants, the cruelty and lawlessness of the current immigration policies, drawing many rounds of applause. But not from the guy in front of me, or a few sitting around me, so I guess we still stand divided on this issue. I am often critical of my Catholic Church for many reasons, especially on its insistence on a celibate priesthood and denial of ordination to women, but on that sunny Saturday, it felt good to be among the many other Catholics celebrating this curious intersection of papal election, civic pride and baseball fandom. God bless you, Pope many of the uplifting Tribune stories I often stop to read, 'Pope encourages peace at Rate Field celebration' (June 15) worked on several counts. Foremost was in hinting that the new personable and approachable pontiff has the potential to become a speaker not just for the young or proponents of contemporary popular causes but for everyone. Maybe he can succeed in this uniting at which our world's secular heads today are abjectly failing. This would certainly be an exciting cause for hope and signify the rebirth of a willingness to listen to our spiritual leaders again. All that would denote progress, stemming partly from the efforts of a man who can still find it in himself to back his hometown White Sox. (Which alone marks him as a grounded person to emulate.) But it moved me deeply, too, to read the article's second-paragraph reference to St. Augustine's advice to try bettering the world by first bettering ourselves. This was my thinking exactly, since spotting and photographing a lawn sign in front of a local church one recent night. Transcending religious denomination in offering some specific, helpful advice, it featured a dozen admonitions pointed the reader: Lead with love. Encourage others. Give thanks. Pray often. Practice peace. Work for justice. Two sound like results as much as means to an end: Be a blessing. Be the light. Meaning, for others. And then of course pray to St. Augustine that the initiative spreads a proud graduate of The Immaculata High School, I want to salute Ellen Skerrett for her op-ed about a strongly Catholic Chicago ('The pope's mother came of age during a complex Catholic-centered Chicago,' June 13). The Immaculata was just one of the elementary schools in Chicago that the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (BVMs) staffed, plus two high schools and Mundelein College. Many other Catholic schools were taught by the Jesuits, the Sisters of Mercy, the Dominicans and other religious orders. Spending so many hours each day during the school year being taught by black-robed women and men, who were totally dedicated to spreading religious values, affected everyone who attended their schools. The effects of this immersion reverberate even to this day. Chicago can claim the first American pope because Mildred Prevost carried The Immaculata message of the classroom to her son, as did her two sisters who became nuns — one a BVM and the other a Sister of Mercy. This religious impact dwindled when many sisters left their religious communities in the 1970s, resulting in the closure of a number of Catholic schools. Perhaps the question we need to be asking now is: How can we pass on these educational, religious and social lessons of unity and peace to help shape today's world?These days, politicians regularly embarrass themselves, and us by extension. Many politicians' speeches pass blame onto others, making them sound as if they were elementary school-aged children. Some politicians demonstrate their unsavory characters with words of bullying and poorly disguised dishonesty. So, it is refreshing to hear a politician whose words exude fairness, truth and empathy. I'm referring to Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker. Tribune's Sunday opinion section quoted Pritzker ('Quotes of the week'), and I feel his words deserve to be repeated. He said: 'The vast majority of immigrants contribute to our communities, pay taxes and abide by the law. We should value their entrepreneurship, ingenuity and hard work. Both political parties are to blame for America's broken immigration system.' There it is: no blaming others; no bullying; no using lies to support an agenda. And best of all, no one could possibly be embarrassed by these empathetic Peregrine's op-ed 'A look back at the Blackhawks' streak when Chicago was a true championship city' (June 17) reminded me of June 11, 2010, when my granddaughter Elizabeth and I boarded a crowded train filled with happy Blackhawks fans and made our way to the rally downtown on a perfect Chicago summer day. Fans waited for the buses that carried the heroes of that year's Stanley Cup-winning team; as soon as a bus turned a corner and the players came close enough to be recognizable, fans started shouting their names, yelling joyfully. It was one of those collective experiences one always remembers. And then — another bus turned a corner. I looked. Was that … ? It was! Tony Esposito! Bobby Hull! Stan Mikita! Dennis Hull! I started yelling too.
