Alabama Commit Elijah Haven Gets Honest on Why He Picked the Crimson Tide

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When you listen to Alabama commit Elijah Haven speak, it sounds like a 10 year NFL veteran.

He’s remarkably mature for his age.

Yesterday, he hopped on Greg Olsen’s Youth Inc podcast for a half hour and at the end of the interview, Olsen was blown away by Haven’s maturity.

“I know we’re sitting across computers, but I’d be shocked if I was wrong. Your maturity, your approach; it is not surprising to me that every school in the country wanted you to be the face of their program one day. It’s not surprising that you’re going to be the starting quarterback at Alabama in the next year or two.”

Those are pretty strong words from a 14-year veteran.

Haven is a throwback. He may only be 17 years old, but he’s the type of kid that won’t make a decision unless he consults with his family. And it’s his family that helped him be mindful that the work you do will ultimately bring in the dollars.

“Honestly for us, it’s never about the money, but about the place I want to develop the best at,” Haven said when answering Olsen’s question about the NIL process. “So those conversations didn’t come till I had my top two (Alabama and Georgia). So we took longer in our process before we started talking NIL and money.”

He cites his father instilling the quote “chop wood, carry water” into his development.

“No matter what you’re going through. The success, the trials, you just keep working and you’ll reap a harvest.”

That mindset is what made Haven and this Alabama staff a match made in heaven.

The Crimson Tide have been burned quite a bit in the 2027 recruiting cycle, much of it due to losing NIL battles. But it was the relationships that Haven had built with head coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff that intrigued him so much.

“For us, we felt like we had better relationships with the coaches there. Even through some of the coaching changes, Alabama stayed so consistent in recruiting me. Obviously Georgia is a great program… but Bama felt more like home and that ultimately led to my decision.

“Alabama is closer to Baton Rouge (his hometown). I wouldn’t really say that was a factor but that still kind of means something to me, to not be so far from my family. Family is the number one thing going into the recruiting process. The interactions the coaches and staff had with my family was so welcoming. To see that from my perspective was a big deal for me.”

Because he's a Baton Rouge native, LSU was high on his list, and Haven was heavily recruited by former coach Brian Kelly. But after his firing, the Tigers fell out of favor with Haven, and current head coach Lane Kiffin was too late to the party.

Despite how poorly the Tide’s 2027 class has gone, Haven has clearly become the model athlete that Alabama wants to target.

Come to Tuscaloosa for the love of the game. Not for what the game can give you.

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