Alabama Offers Bullard Tight End Major Tennison

Major Tennison's new offer will generate some buzz.

Alabama contacted the Bullard tight end Monday and offered him a college football scholarship opportunity. The Crimson Tide are the seventh FBS program to invite the junior and the very first from the Southeastern Conference to express firm interest.

Tennison (6-6, 248), who announced the news through his personal Twitter account, has been committed to Texas since October. He gave no indication that the offer from Alabama affected his longstanding pledge.

However, the latest offer comes with considerable weight.

The frequently dominant Crimson Tide program is enjoying arguably its best decade in history. Not only did it win the most recent national championship, it put up other banners in 2009, 2011 and 2012 to up its number of claimed titles to 16 through 123 seasons of competition.

Alabama has not missed the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014.

Head coach Nick Saban owns a 100-18 record with the program through nine seasons and won a fifth national championship at LSU in 2003. He coached former Crimson Tide pupils Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry to Heisman Trophy wins in the process.

Futhermore, Alabama led all colleges at the start of the 2015 NFL season with 36 former players in the league.

The 2015 championship roster featured no East Texans and the program did not sign any local senior prospects earlier this month, but Alabama has been active in the region.

Tennison joined Liberty-Eylau defensive end and fellow Texas commitment Lagaryonn Carson as a Crimson Tide target within the area's current list of 11 junior prospects with at least one FBS offer to date.

Alabama targeted Nacogdoches safety Brandon Jones -- another player headed to Texas --  in East Texas' 2016 recruiting class. A year beforehand, the Crimson Tide went after former Gladewater defensive tackle Daylon Mack (Texas A&M), former Gilmer athlete Kris Boyd (Texas), and former Newton athlete Roney Elam (Texas A&M).

Tennison caught 27 passes in 11 games last season for 603 yards. Eight receptions went for touchdowns.

The tight end, like all football recruits currently in their junior year of high school, will become eligible to sign with any program that offers him in February, 2017.

2017 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

• Judah Bell, Tyler Bishop Gorman, WR, 6-3, 180 — offers from Bowling Green, Houston, SMU (3)
• Lagaryonn Carson, Liberty-Eylau, DE, 6-4, 261 — committed to Texas; additional offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, North Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M (9)
• Trestan Ebner, Henderson, WR, 5-11, 180 — committed to SMU; additional offer from Kansas (2)
• Montrell Estell, Hooks, WR, 6-2, 180 — offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Kansas, Notre Dame, SMU, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech, Tulane (9)
• Octavius Evans, Center, WR, 6-2, 186 — offers from Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech, ULL (3)
• Jordan Johnson, Hooks, ATH, 6-0, 195 -- offer from Air Force (1)
• Kayce Medlock, Arp, ATH, 5-9, 186 — offers from SMU, ULL (2)
• Damion Miller, John Tyler, WR, 6-1, 189 — committed to Texas; additional offers from Houston, Kansas, North Texas, Oklahoma State; Ole Miss; SMU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech (9)
• Javontavius Mosley, John Tyler, CB, 6-1, 170 — offers from Houston, SMU, Texas State, ULL, UTSA (5)
• Bryson Smith, John Tyler, ATH, 5-11, 160 — offers from Bowling Green, New Mexico, SMU, Texas State, ULL (5)
• Major Tennison, Bullard, TE, 6-6, 248 — committed to Texas; additional offers from Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas Tech (7)