5-star CB signee Desmond Ricks contacted by Deion Sanders before signing with Alabama

Chesapeake (Va.) IMG Academy five-star cornerback Desmond Ricks signed with Alabama on Dec. 22. He chose the Crimson Tide over Florida and LSU.

Before announcing his decision, Ricks was contacted by Deion Sanders, then the head coach at Jackson State. Sanders has since moved on to the same position at Colorado.

“He just said he wanted another dog on the side of Travis Hunter,” Ricks told reporters at hotel check-in for the Under Armour All-America game.

Sanders complimented Sanders’ work with the Buffaloes, sharing that he is landing “good recruits right now.” He thinks Colorado will be successful within the next few years.

Hunter followed Sanders to Boulder. For Ricks, saying no to an opportunity to be coached by Sanders was difficult.

“It’s definitely hard to turn down,” said Ricks, the No. 20 overall prospect and No. 2 cornerback in the 2023 On3 Consensus. “With him calling me so late towards my decision, it was like in the beginning of December and I had to commit towards the end of the December. So it was just kind of too late getting out there and all that.”

It was an Alabama vs. LSU race to land Ricks

Ricks shared that LSU finished as the runner-up to Alabama. He called his race “tight” and that it came down to Signing Day.

“It was always close,” Ricks said. “I was thinking about both. Towards the end, I just had a real conversation with my parents. We just sat down and talked everything out, and it just ended up being ‘Bama.”

Regarding the Tigers, Ricks was impressed by LSU sending numerous defensive backs to the NFL. That definitely “helped their stock,” according to the five-star.

Name, image and likeness was not an important factor to Ricks. He shared that he is more focused on the “first round check.”

As he heads to Tuscaloosa, Ricks is looking to recruit some of his IMG Academy teammates. He already has a message for some of them, including 2024 five-star cornerback Ellis Robinson IV.

“If you want to be great, you just come to where it’s been done at,” said Ricks, who is enrolling at Alabama on Jan. 8. “Plenty of time.”