Much of the college football world already knew about 2026 IMG Academy defensive lineman Preston Carey when Alabama extended its offer.
Since dominating four-star and five-star athletes at an LSU recruiting camp before his ninth-grade year, Carey earned 41 scholarship offers, securing the attention of programs from Georgia and Florida to Ohio State, Notre Dame and Auburn.
Carey said Alabama knew about him too : the New York native who stood at nearly 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds with a wingspan of 80 inches.
The Crimson Tide just wanted to see more.
"It's a prestigious program," Carey said. "They're not just going to offer you easy."
After Carey's junior season at IMG, Alabama had seen enough, giving the No. 222 player in the country and the No. 29 defensive lineman per 247Sports' composite rankings his 42nd Division I offer Jan. 10.
In Alabama, Carey sees a program that has done its homework on him.
Before getting the offer, Carey said he had numerous conversations with Alabama defensive line coach Freddie Roach , assistant director of player personnel Tony Jones and associate director of player personnel Eron Hodges, who praised him, telling him Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack "really liked my film."
The Alabama offer, Carey said, was the final showing that the Crimson Tide was "very serious about me."
Through conversations with Roach, Carey said he could tell the Alabama defensive line coach "cares about his players" as "one of the best (defensive line coaches) in college football."
"He'll push you, and he's very selective," Carey said. "He's not going to let anybody in that room. And he says you got to be a special guy to be in that room, and he could see me in his D-line room."
Roach and Alabama lost the only member of the 2026 defensive line room in December when Birmingham four-star Vodney Cleveland ended his commitment, which lasted just over a month.
Since Cleveland ended his commitment, Alabama has extended a slew of offers to 2026 defensive linemen to join a room that already has two 2027 commitments in Mobile four-star Jabarrius Garror and Moody four-star Ba'Roc Willis .
Carey knows the kind of player he is. He describes himself as "two different people on and off the field." On the field, Carey is aggressive. He loves to shock opposing linemen in their chests, priding himself as a "big run-stopper" with "heavy hands."
Over the past year, Carey saw the Alabama offer as a larger goal, something to work toward.
"I know it was something I had to earn genuinely because they wanted to see me dominate at the national level like I did this year," Carey said.
Carey doesn't have a top schools list. The 2026 defensive lineman said that should come in the next few months, with official visits soon to follow.
And while Alabama joins the fight for Carey later than many other schools, Carey said it's not a huge factor. He said he will "weigh the schools that have had faith in you from the beginning" with the ones that saw him dominate in recruiting camps or at games.
Despite not sharing specifics about the Crimson Tide 's place in his recruitment, Carey made one thing clear.
"I think they came in at the perfect time," Carey said.
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: Why Alabama football offer came 'at the perfect time' for 2026 4-star DL
