Oh. OSU is Ohio State. I was thinking it was Oklahoma State. The proper abbreviation is tOSU.
Best of luck to your son, @Watch37! It’s wonderful that you’re in a position to fund what he feels is the best education for him.
@Greymeer, I was confused too and wrote an entire post pointing out that Oklahoma State is several places below UA in the rankings before it dawned on me that the school in question was THE Ohio State University. 
Back to the OP … @MomMartha, the very best engineering students at Alabama do VERY well post-graduation. In general, if you’re a top student in the country, you’re going to excel wherever you go.
I admin a large group of parents of engineering students at UA on that big social media platform that shall not be named. We started out with about 20 parents from the Class of 2018 and now have over 1700 members. I’ve seen a lot over the years, both in terms of hot-shot students excelling and winning all kids of accolades and awards AND of students struggling with prerequisites and having to switch out of engineering or risk losing scholarships. I’m guessing that’s how it is at most big state school engineering colleges.
And that brings up another important point to consider - LOTS of students who start out in engineering switch out, and not always for academic reasons. Engineering is HARD, but it also is not a great fit for a lot of very bright students. Make sure whichever school your son chooses has a breadth of offerings of interest to him so he has a strong “Plan B.”
UA does seem to have an abundance of really exceptional students in engineering and elsewhere - no doubt because of the NM and Presidential Scholarships.If your son is that caliber, he’ll do great at UA. Many, many engineers in the MDB, which may also be the case at Ohio State, but might be worth looking into.
Best of luck whatever your son decides!
https://www.ua.edu/news/2018/04/two-ua-students-win-goldwater-scholarships-for-2018/