Sitting in front of a crowded auditorium, Rashaan Evans reached down below the table to pull out a hat – the preferred method for recruits to announce which school they’re going to attend.

Evans reached down and paused, adding a few more seconds to what was already the most anticipated (and only anticipated) moment of Alabama’s National Signing Day.

In the end, the Auburn native from Auburn High School spurned Auburn University to attend The University of Alabama, the cherry on top of a class that some are calling the best of all time.

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The Crimson Tide wrapped up a 2014 signing class of 26 prospects and a quarterback transfer in Jacob Coker. The class is rated No. 1 by all four major recruiting outlets – ESPN, 247Sports, Rivals and Scout.

“Sixteen years of doing this,” Jeremy Crabtree, an ESPN recruiting expert, said on the “Paul Finebaum Show” Wednesday afternoon. “Alabama’s class today is the best I’ve ever seen.”

According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, which combines ratings from the four recruiting outlets to create an industry average, Alabama signed six of the 33 prospects recognized as 5-star recruits.

Twelve of the 26 signees are either the first- or second-best players in their respective states. Nine are either No. 1 or No. 2 at their positions.

“I’m sure that every coach that stands up here today and talks about their recruiting class, I’ve never heard anybody say they’ve had a bad class. I’ve never heard anybody not say they didn’t identify their needs,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “So I’m going to say the same thing.

“We had a good class, and we sort of identified our needs. I think the key to that is that we satisfied our needs because we identified those needs early on in the recruiting process and evaluated the players we thought fit in best for what we want to do. I think that we did a good job of going out and getting a lot of those players.”

The gems of the class are Cameron Robinson and Da’Shawn Hand, the top offensive tackle and strongside defensive end in the country, respectively, according to the 247Sports Composite. The Crimson Tide also met a critical need, pulling in the top two cornerbacks in the country, Tony Brown and Birmingham’s Marlon Humphrey.

And, of course, there was Evans, who caught a lot of people off guard with his decision to leave his hometown for its rival.

“In my career, I don’t think I’ve ever been more stunned by a commitment than Rashaan Evans,” JC Shurburtt, a national recruiting expert for 247Sports, said.

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Top to bottom, though, what stands out about the class is both of the lines.

On the defensive side, in addition to Hand, Alabama added three defensive tackles and two JUCO defensive ends, including D.J. Pettway, who was dismissed from the team in February 2013 in connection with an on-campus robbery.

On offense, Alabama nabbed Robinson and four 4-star prospects who Shurburtt said could provide a foundation on the offensive line in the future.

“Cam Robinson, one of the top players in Louisiana, top offensive tackle in the country, that’s a good guy to get. Dominick Jackson, the JUCO, one of the best JUCO tackles in the country, that’s a good guy to get,” Shurburtt said. “But then, they go up to Minnesota and Iowa and get two guys named Hassenauer and Pierschbacher, who are mean as dirt, who will just destroy you to come and play on the interior. Pierschbacher can play on the outside too.

“And then you’ve got an athletic guy like [Joshua] Casher who can play the center spot. And then the kid from Atlantic City, who’s 6 feet 3 inches, 360 lbs, who can move. It’s a versatile offensive line group that hits needs across the board. I’d be excited if I was an Alabama fan.”

Saban, of course, was quick to dispel the greatest-class-of-all-time talk. If it was up to him, he said, recruiting classes wouldn’t be graded or ranked until three years after they arrive on campus.

Still, it was difficult for the normally stoic Saban to hide his smile.

“I think the challenge for all these young men that got recruited today, wherever they’re going,” Saban said, “is to be able to stay focused on what they need to do to improve as players and do the things that they need to do to become very effective college football players, and it is a challenge to go from high school to college.”

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