After watching leaked recruiting video, it's now clearer than ever why nobody is on Nick Saban's level
If you haven’t seen it, you should. By the end of the video, you might just want to dust off the old shoulder pads and find a way to play for Nick Saban.
The video I’m referring to is the viral video that leaked of Nick Saban talking to a recruit.
In case you missed it, here it is:
Why was this even being recorded? https://t.co/lLYlkuE1by
— Cam. (@crobinson_68) January 31, 2021
It’s a fair question. Why was it being recorded? And what sort of social media clout is worth gaining if it results in a pulled scholarship?
For what it’s worth, I don’t know the details of how or why it was released. I don’t know how Saban felt about it, though I’d imagine there’s a reason those conversations are private.
How fitting it was that just a few days after the internet got ahold of it, Saban casually signed the highest-ranked class in 247sports history. Do those two things go hand in hand? Yes and no. The vast majority of Alabama’s 2021 class was already signed. Five-star running back Camar Wheaton’s announcement Wednesday was what put it over the top.
Ho hum. When you finish with the No. 1 class in 9 of 11 years like Alabama, it’s basically like celebrating a birthday. You know it’s coming every year, but that doesn’t mean you need some massive blowout.
Go back to that leaked video. As much as that might’ve frustrated players and probably some fans, it was telling. In fact, it told us why Saban can expect annual No. 1 recruiting classes.
Treat this like boxing. Saban, as the winner of more national titles than all active head coaches combined and the coach of more NFL talent than anyone in America, gets to deliver the opening jab. Watch that video and you’ll see that part of the pitch.
“We’ve won 6 championships in the last 11 years. We’ve been in the national championship game 8 out of the last 11 years … we had 64 guys in the league last year. The next school had 41.”
(It’s actually 6 out of the last 12 years that Alabama won a national championship, and it’s 8 out of the last 12 years that Alabama went to the national championship. But I’m not about to correct Saban.)
Still, that’s the jab that’s too fast and powerful to avoid. Saban knows the counterpunch is coming. What’s the counterpunch? It’s what teams say about Alabama, and how all of that talent means recruits won’t get to play right away.
Watch the video and oh, there’s a little bob and weave. And yep, there’s the haymaker.
“Everyone’s gonna tell you in recruiting, ‘Oh don’t go to Alabama. You can play at our school before you play there. They got all those good players there. You won’t be able to play. You’ll play at our place earlier.’ I think that’s the worst stuff that people can tell you. First of all, when they tell you that, they’re insulting you. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if you couldn’t play here. No. 2, when they say ‘You can play at our place before you play at Alabama,’ they’re just telling you Alabama’s better than them. No. 3, if you ask just our players on our team, they’ll tell you the competition made them better.”
Punch landed. Throw in the towel.
That’s why pound for pound, Saban is untouchable. Nothing he said was wrong. That pitch is timeless.
Even on what was arguably the best Alabama team ever, Saban had first- and second-year guys all over the place. Will Anderson was named a starter in the fall as a true freshman linebacker, and all he did was play 646 snaps and earn second-team All-SEC honors. Better yet, look at Malachi Moore. He wasn’t even a top-200 recruit and he played 707 snaps and also earned second-team All-SEC honors as a true freshman.
Shoot, go back to the biggest play in Alabama history. Who threw and caught “2nd-and-26?” A pair of true freshmen.
Saban has probably been delivering knockout blow after knockout blow with that argument for years. But at the same time, what’s the only other way you can talk a kid out of an Alabama offer? Saban’s age? Sure. Go try and tell someone that the guy who just put together one of the most dominant seasons ever and followed it up with the No. 1 recruiting class of the 247sports era is slowing down. Good luck with that.
And to be clear, no, Alabama doesn’t sign everyone. You can only hand out so many offers. Saban always has and always will run into situations in which his sell doesn’t really land. He can’t overcome every regional barrier or relationship with another coach that predates his recruitment.
But more times than not, that’s going to work. Why wouldn’t it? We’re still searching for Saban’s first 3-year stretch at Alabama that doesn’t include a national title. Programs that get gutted by sanctions or a scandal often defer to the cliché “those who stay will be champions” line. Saban, meanwhile, can casually drop that line mid-pitch because literally if you stay 3 years, you will be a champion. It’s just one of a dozen reasons he’s more proven than anyone in the history of the sport.
Saban closed his 2021 class with 16 of the top 100 recruits in the 247sports composite rankings. That’s more than Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn combined. What Saban has done to sustain success is his greatest testament. To still be this good on the recruiting trail heading into Year 15 is something we won’t truly appreciate until he’s done coaching.
That leaked video showed exactly why there’s no getting up from a Saban haymaker. Sure, they might last a few rounds, but eventually, they’re left in the same position as everyone else.
Lying on the ground, looking up at Saban, knowing there’s no way they could’ve stopped what just hit ’em.
It’s going to be interesting to see how he manages that 2022/2023 recruiting class. Coaches are going to have to make some tough decisions.
Tell me more?
It won’t be any different than any of the other recruiting classes he’s had. It’s still a balancing act of meeting needs at each position group and allowing the creme to rise to the top naturally. Each recruit goes into this knowing that they will not cakewalk to the top, but they also know that they will have a chance to prove they can make it..
With the covid rules, Bama, and other schools, now have 50+ freshman on their teams. You are allowed 85 total. That leaves 35 available scholarships. That is extremely different from any other recruiting situations.
You have to remember too not everyone will be a RS freshman even though they could be. A player can still elect to be a sophomore, junior, senior….even with Covid. Plus, the great players at Alabama will still be there only three years.
Additionally, returning seniors aren’t counted toward the scholarship count.
If anybody is going to be really affected by this it is the smaller/less successful schools where the players want to hang on to their football careers as long as possible and stay 4 or 5 years and want to get that RS title by there class this coming season.
He has been doing it since 2008. I think he has class management down pretty well.
This is new territory. Of course he’ll do find. I didn’t say he wouldn’t. I said it was going to be interesting…and it will be.
Sabans a good guy. Knows his football and knew that trdump was a full on retard, except not the good WSB kind. buy GME sell trdump!
Gtfoh with your bullsh*t political opinions
“After watching leaked recruiting video, it’s now clearer than ever why nobody is on Nick Saban’s level”
I don’t know why it wasn’t clear for everyone already before the recruiting video was leaked.
LOL…what I was thinking
This is the answer. it’s been clear for years. I just hope he retires before I die so I can see the hogs beat bama one more time.
Never Happen
Yes they will. Bama will get really really bad in the future when Saban leaves. When you come back down to reality it’s going to be hilarious. No coach that has any respect for himself will want to take the Bama job just to be judged under the shadow of the GOAT. Bama fans be prepared for another 20-30 years of mediocrity just like you went through after the Bryant years.
So basically what Florida hasn’t went through since the start of their program?
You have no idea who will take the Bama job or how Bama will do.. Keep trying though.. You’re just a shoestring away..
Has*
@ImperialMajestyX02 So you think a coach has respect for himself, because he will not take a job, because he does not wish to test his abilities against the best and the legacies of the best? It is the opposite of self respect when you refuse a job because you feel you are not good enough before you even try. It sounds to me like you are a loser that is on public assistance because you have no self respect.
No I am humble and wise enough to understand that there will likely not be another coach that will create such a dominant and winning dynasty in our lifetimes. And any coach that understands the sport that whatever Saban has done can be replicated only up to a certain extent. There were many factors that led to Bama’s success some of them being that its dynasty began as the the Florida, Texas, and USC powerhouses of the middle 2000s were dying out. So I repeat again. Statistically it is impossible that anyone will be able to replicate what Nick Saban has done especially within such a short period of time. Can Dabo win a few more natties at Clemson. Yeah. It’ll probably take him at least another decade to reach 6 natties which Saban won in 12 years. And most likely he won’t ever be able to win another 4 natties, and if he does it’ll certianly take him longer than 10 years. Look at Ohio State. They have had 3 elite coaches these last 20 plus years, have recruited like nobody else pretty much, have everything they need to win, yet they have only 2 natties one of which was a fluke win against Miami, and they have 2 natty title losses both times of which they were blown out of the water once by Florida in 2006 and now by Bama. You see no one has done what Saban has done. Not even 3 elite coaches at Ohio State over 20 plus years.
Alabama fans like you are losers and idiots that cannot accept the reality that Bama will never be as great as you were under Saban. You peaked. You enjoyed glory for 12 years and will likely enjoy it for a couple of more, but know that the end is nigh and that no one will be able to replicate what Nick Saban has done, thereby no coach will want to coach at Bama when they could just as easily coach at USC or Florida and know that even if they just consistently compete for the playoffs and maybe win one natty, it’s enough to satisfy the fanbase unlike Alabama where the whole lot of inbreds will be expecting a national title every other year cause that’s what they have been used to for the last decade and a half.
Actually you are the idiot as you do not have the ability to read. I did not once say that Bama would have another coach like Saban. Though you are forgetting that everyone said Bama would not have a coach as successful as Bryant, both by the way in my lifetime. YOU said no coach with self respect would take the job because he could not be as successful as Saban. I answered you, then you change the subject. Thus proving who the idiot is.
Why the condescending insults?
“No I am humble and wise “
Based on your posts you’re ignorant and stupid.
BamaTime I’m humble and wise and you are inbred and slow. To each their own.
“Based on you being from Alabama”
sds1967 its because Tidefan is a little bit.c.h. Don’t bring up Papa Bear fool that dude is overrated. 4 out of his 6 natties are illegitimate especially the 1973 and 1978 when ND and USC literally beat you in the bowl yet Bama shamelessly claimed the pre-bowl natty stupidly given to them by the AP Poll. See, no one has come close to what Nick Saban has done. Even if we count all 6 of Papa Bear’s natties, he “won” them throughout a period of 24 years in an age when the competition was a joke. In reality he really just won 2 natties and one was at the beginning of his career at Bama and the other at the tail end. NO ONE. I repeat NO ONE will ever come close to replicate what Saint Nick has done, ESPECIALLY in such a short amount of time.
When Nick retires, Bama will downgrade and they will downgrade hard. Most elite and great coaches will hunker down where hey are and try to usurp Bama’s throne and make the most out of the situation especially in the recruiting trail. Don’t even bother denying the fact that many Bama fans have tricked themselves into believing that the next great coach will just replace Nick. I know you didn’t say that but many Bama fans do. They are wrong. Nick is irreplaceable! Be prepared for 20-30 years of mediocrity.
20-30 years is a little extreme bud
It won’t be until Nick Saban is irrelevant. So at least 15 years and only Nick Saban can rebuild a program in 2 years, so I think 20 years is very possible. Don’t get me wrong they’ll still be good. But I think they’ll be in the same boat Texas AM is now.
Yeah, I’m not sure this counts as something to put Saban on his own level. The guy is literally reading the Alabama Football Wikipedia page. When your argument and on-field results scream “we are the best,” you don’t have to be super creative to appeal to recruits.
Dumb comment, Shula, price, etc… Saban is on his own level
Sorry, gotta agree with the OP. Saban is on his own level in coaching. His success will probably never be matched again. His ability to mold a team and bring out success in his players and staff are equal to none.
But the recruiting pitch? It’s exactly what I assumed it would be. And exactly what the world assumed it would be. There isn’t anything creative, no real hurdles outside of previous relationships to hinder the pitch. At this point, Bama is a machine that has to implode to miss. That’s not a knock to his recruiting, but a compliment to his dominance.
gigem_07 wasn’t saying Saban isn’t on his own level. He’s giving Saban the compliment of saying his on-field results are so much on the next level that his recruiting pitch doesn’t have to be next level. All he has to do is be straight forward about the results.
He cheated the first few years. Had a genuinely good team in 2008 and beat great teams like Florida and Texas. Got lucky in 2011 when it got to face LSU again, and got lucky by facing a bad and overrated Notre Dame team in 2012, won those 3 national championships in a span of 4 years when the competition was really bad, and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now everybody wants to go to Bama.
I guess UF has suxed too much to get lucky. As for the cheating, remind me, which SEC coach is now coaching under a show cause penalty?
Bingo they let him cheat so often till it did not matter in the end.
On one hand it has been pretty cool to be a football, both college and NFL, during my time. I got to see most of Favre’s career, all of Peyton’s and Brady’s, the NE dynasty, some of the greatest CFB games ever (’05 title game and most of the recent title games), and watch the greatest CFB coach ever. Saban is so good there is no close second, one of the few indisputable greats. I can live another 60 years and I don’t think we’ll ever see a CFB coach that is worthy of comparison to him.
On the other hand, he has cost UGA at least one and probably two national titles! And he has created unrealistic pressure and standards for other schools to perform at his level. That just is not realistic. If Saban had just won a couple of titles at Alabama and then remained an above average coach for the rest of his tenure the CFB landscape would look drastically difference.
I think the most impressive/depressing part is he is only getting better. Saban and Alabama have not hit their ceiling yet. They are coming off their best team during this run and the best recruiting class of all time. It is scary to think he can only get better.
I don’t think it is possible to compare coaches of different eras. Someone else will come along. They may not win as many championships, but the game will change enough to make them great in their era.
Still, with all of the chest bumping about how many guys they send to the NFL…with every 1 blue chip that makes it, there are 4 that don’t. I think you’ll find the ratio at other schools are pretty much the same.
^This is the response coaches will use.
“Playing reps in games matter. Scouts watch games not practice battles. Those players get drafted ___% more often. Players get more individual coaching at _____. SEC coaches will say only 30% of the 5*’s that go to Alabama end up on NFL rosters where 70% of the 5*’s that have signed at a school like State end up on NFL rosters. In fact, 2 are playing in the Super Bowl this year.” – SEC coach
All to say…Alabama will still get the best recruits.
See that is where you are very very wrong. Noone develops blue chip talent better than Saban, noone.
247 posted an article last year regarding teams’ ability to develop talent. Not surprisingly Bama was #1. What really stood out was their ability to get 5*s into the NFL.
Looking at the 2008 to 2017 recruiting classes, there was 259 draft eligible 5*s. Alabama had 33 of those. A staggering 17 out of 33 (51.5%) were first round draft picks. Six more were second round picks. Taking it further, 81.9% of those 33 5*s were drafted. For comparison sake, 5* recruits that go to any other school, at least on average, get selected in the first round 21.2% of the time and get drafted in any round 68.1% of the time.
Comparing Bama to other big time programs (Remember Bama had a 51.5% first round hit rate with 5*s):
Clemson – 36.4%
Florida – 35.3%
LSU – 21.4%
Ohio State – 20%
Georgia – 19.1%
Not surprised that Georgia is at the very bottom. That place is where talent goes to die.
Would you mind providing the link for that?
I tried to, but the comment is awaiting moderation. I guess we can’t post outside links. You can just Google the article title “Which programs best develop elite talent? A five-year deep” and it should be the first link. It was written in April of 2020.
^^^ That is the article about overall talent development. The 247 article titled “Alabama continues to develop 5-stars at a staggering rate” is the one specifically about 5* talent development.
Thanks. It would be interesting to see how much it has changed since Coach Smart took over.
Well that is common sense. For very blue chip recruit, there are way more than 4 that are not. Simple math tells you that there are going to be more 3* and 4* players make the NFL because there are so many more of them than 5* players.
To claim that the video shows that Saban is a great recruiter is patently wrong. Recruits must surely evaluate dozens of factors in choosing a college to attend, some of them related to football, some to location (e.g., distance from home), some to family, some to sweetheart, some to place (e.g., campus-city life), some to level of discipline (e.g., are the players allowed to mimic a dog peeing after they–the player, not the dog–scores a touchdown, are they permitted to throw another player’s shoe without punishment, etc.,), some to where their best friend went, some even to academics, and perhaps some to recruiter persuasiveness, among others.
The reasons one recruiter might be better than another need to be laid out independently of the recruiter’s success. One might find, for example, that Saban gets the best results, but is not the best recruiter. In such a case, his success might be due to one of the other factors considered by prospects.
I recently reviewed the top 100 national recruits and it was obvious that the schools who historically in the 85 scholarship era dominate that list. Saban is a very good coach and can sell ice cubes to an Eskimo but as much success as Bama and the rest of those few top recruiting schools are doing, they don’t realize that college football is dying.
College football can’t survive with Bama, Clemson, OSU, ND and a few others to dominate recruiting and thus be the only teams in the playoffs. Expanding the teams in the playoffs also won’t work because it won’t really fix the real problem, those few schools get the cream of the talent. The only fix is to reduce the scholarships to 65 and then we’ll see how good these coaches are when they can’t stack their roster with the best talent. The last NC game that had a pitiful TV viewership should be a wake up call to school administrators that fans are losing interest and the current setup isn’t sustainable.
Interesting take. Not sure it would change the balance though, as 65 is essentially 3-deep and the top-tier schools would still stack blue chips like cordwood.
To me, the biggest change in talent balance over the last 20 years has been the lure of NFL mega-money. Half the elite kids now could give two craps about the school they choose from a traditional, educational, or emotional standpoint. It’s about which program or situation can get them the most NFL dollars the quickest. That did not used to be the primary reason a talented kid chose a school.
We’ll see how NIL impacts that over the next couple of years, but I expect it will only entrench those top programs even further. By 2022/23 CFB will arguably be NFL Lite, and that may chase off more fans than ongoing dominance by a few programs.
This is why the NCAA and the NFL should come to an agreement that if football players opt out of seasons or bowl games without a legitimate reason such as a medical or family emergency, then those guys should be banned from joining the NFL for lets say 3 years. This will pretty much nullify the opt out problem that talented teams face and it’ll keep the bowls significant. Even if they expand the playoffs, the bowls are fun and they should remain.
Why would the NFL do that?
First, common sense aside, there are mountains of case law saying that you can’t bar someone from earning a living at the profession they are best able to earn a living at.
Second, penalties for not playing in a bowl game wouldn’t be enforceable. Even if you implemented a damages clause with real teeth, for breach of (the scholarship) contract, you’d just end up with a rash of injuries that magically appeared after the last regular season game. I imagine pulled hamstrings and turf toe would be especially popular.
The bowl games have no inherent right to survive. For the most part, regardless of age or stature, bowl games are designed to attract both short and longer term visitor spending to local host communities. And more recently (the last couple decades), revenue from TV ad dollars and sponsorships.
If the bowl system really wants to save itself, all they need to do is sit down with the NCAA and cut a deal that allows the bowls to spend some of that TV and sponsorship revenue to fund delayed access annuities for participating players, together with premiums for special, single event week disability insurance. Policy limits could be based upon NFL draft grades.
You are missing the fact that there is a mountain of case law that says you can do pretty much what you wish if it is the result of collective bargaining. Thus why kids can not go to the NFL until after the 3rd year after high school graduation, and it is not restraint of trade. Though I will admit that it is quite a reach to keep someone out because they did not play in a bowl.
True, but the intersection of collective bargaining and antitrust law is a thorny area. Maurice Claret got smacked down by the NFL cleverly sticking the three year rule into the collective bargaining agreement. But I think the Claret appellate decision is held together by bubble gum and paper clips. I really don’t see the NFL trying to push the envelope beyond where things are right now.
The NFL benefits tremendously from the college football status quo. It’s a no cost farm system for player development, so they have a vested interest in not rocking the boat.
I think it will hold, just as the rookie pay scale will hold. Yes it is pretty much an attempt by the current players to reduce competition for their jobs, but in this case it is also a safety precaution. There are few, if any, 17-18 year olds that are physically mature enough to take the hits from 30 year old veterans. They need the college strength and conditioning to prevent serious injury, maybe death.
I’m somewhat in the line of thinking of Tidefan. The law needs to specify 3 years as 3 full years. That means that the post-season bowls count as part of the 3rd year, and if you don’t play in that bowl, you will have to come back for the 4th year in order to meet that threshold. The whole point of the bowls has been to compare the conferences all at full strength. How can anyone do that when 3rd year twats decide to opt out when they’re usually the best player in the team??? Anyway at the end of the day the most important thing that needs to happen is a playoff expansion. 12 games. 5-12 play in a wild card sort of round. The winners of those games become seed 5,6,7,8 and those winners play 1,2,3,4. Something akin to the NFL playoffs. So Wild Card round, Quarterfinals with 8 teams, Semifinals with 4 teams, and then the National Championship. I still can’t believe that teams like Wisconsin in 2017 or Iowa in 2015 did not get a chance to play in the playoffs. Ughh
X02, I strongly disagree with any playoff scenario that requires more games from one group of teams than another. No byes. The top-ranked teams get their initial privilege by playing the lowest-ranked teams – they don’t need the additional benefit of resting up while some team they probably will annihilate gets 60 additional minutes of wear and tear.
That no-bye philosophy is what makes March Madness so popular: the anticipation of Cinderellas upsetting high seeds.
No byes!
I don’t think reduced scholarship counts will distribute players more, it’ll just overload too teams and stop them from sending offers to lower ranked players. Playoff expansion could help, but it would need to be a large expansion, 16 or more, really. 8 would just be the predominant, year in year out teams, with the occasional Cinderella.
I think NIL could be the a part of an eventual equalizer. Being a lower star on a team of all stars just gives you less exposure to endorsements, and limits your overall marketability. If there’s one thing CFB shows us, it’s that local markets love their heroes. It won’t help all of college football, but one has to be realistic. Most schools don’t have the funds, footprint, lineage, or reach to move beyond their tier. You’re always going to have your staple teams with some variation as situations change.
Look I agree with you Mountain Dog but my one problem is this. I think 8 is not enough and I think 16 may be too much. I’d love to have 16 but by that time of the season I find it really hard to believe that seeds 16,15,14 could beat seeds 1,2,3. Eitherway upsets happen. For example North Carolina was #13 this year and I could easily see them beat Notre Dame if they had to play them again.
well then i guess its about time for some other teams to step up to the plate to beat them and replace them. “to be the man you have to beat the man”
This isn’t all that possible, though, at least in the current structure. You may beat Bama one year. You may win a NC over Bama one year, but you won’t routinely do that in this landscape; Bama is simply too well oiled a machine at this point to explode. And it’s nearly impossible to gain sustained success over a team when your competition routinely has access to the better players.
Yet Saban has just been getting top talent since 2008.
I used to think this will hurt a lot of kids by reducing the scholarships available. But, with free college tuition on the horizon, it’s possible that it won’t really matter.
Free college tuition is way over the horizon. That would require even more redistribution of wealth.
It is as stupid an idea as forgiving student debt.
You can’t give something without taking from someone else.
But in 2007 Bama was not getting the best of the recruits. This shows that if you get a good coach, stay out of his way, and invest in the program, you can rise to the top.
Well said! And for people legitimately interested in Saban’s worldview, which informs his ability to spot, recruit and develop talent on the field and on his staffs, there are books available. Any book by Kevin Elko, “Chasing the Bear” by Lars Andersen and Saban’s own writing and interviews provide lots of insight into Bama’s recent successes. I think Dr. Elko would be the first person to tell you that life is not always fair (and even without an equitable distribution of top-tier talent), it’s how you respond to circumstances (like UA’s in 2007) that makes the difference. Saban obviously shares that mindset and when his players and staff do too, the results are evident.
I think only the teams that are consistently in the top five in recruiting have a realistic shot at the NC. This isn’t good for the sport. Even a team like OU who are a constant in the playoffs haven’t been competitive in the playoffs. People are going to tune out if this trend continues.
Expanding the playoffs would likely distribute the top recruits a bit better than it is now. The top recruits are more likely to choose Bama, OSU, Clemson, and ND, and a few others because they’re much more likely to get into a playoff game and have more chances to get noticed by scouts. Cutting the number of scholarships would just exacerbate the problem.
Why is ND in this mix
Well now we know what not to say! LOL
He is awe inspiring. I try to post comments that are honest, and without rivalry. I try to give equal time. I do not agree with everything Saban does. Like the new OC O’Brien, I am not real high on him. But when you question a guy that has won 6 national championships in 12 years, and 7 overall, you look like an idiot if you make too big a deal out of his decisions. I usually just try to keep my mouth shut about the things he does that I question, it saves me a lot of grief, and a lot of tough crow to eat.
No it isn’t any clearer. Anyone could have written the script of what Saban said on that video. It distills down to “come here if you want to compete against the best every day in practice and win championships.”
Duh.
College football recruiting is not fair. Success begets recruiting momentum and more success. Saban has built the most unfair advantage in college football with what an economist might call “increasing returns to winning.”
The real insight would be Saban’s approach to high school player evaluation. How does he achieve a higher success rate with highly rated players than other schools? Honestly, I don’t think it’s “player development.” How can it be, with the coaching staff revolving door at Alabama? And while Alabama’s reportedly tough practices are no secret, I don’t think that’s it either.
I suspect its more about the particular guys he goes after on the front end — and the fact that he can actually get more of the specific ones he really wants because of on the field success. For the two thirds of 5-stars who make the NFL, a third are mediocre, or worse. Somehow, Saban knows how to spot the intangibles.
Well of course success is going to begat success to a certain extent. He!! you are not going to invest your money with a brokerage house that constantly loses money, so what are you going to do, put restrictions n the houses that are successful to even the field? You do not mention that Saban and Alabama built that success in a few years. As recently as 2007 Bama was not getting great classes and having great teams. They worked together to change the culture. It is an option open to all schools. It is up to them to decide if they wish to invest as much as Bama has. As for the coaches, the development continues with the turnover because more good coaches are hired. Saban hires people and tells then that THEY have to learn Bama’s system, and they must work through that system. That way only they have to learn new terminology and systems and not the 100 players and other coaches on the team. The guy knows what he is doing.
@NashvilleGator, I am sorry. Reading this post it comes off sharper than I meant it. Apologies if it offended.
Not at all. And I agree with you.
In fact, I almost wrote earlier that the video I’d really like to see is from 2007-2008. Now that one would be interesting. Although even then, I suspect he sold (a) his LSU national championship, (b) his NFL knowledge, and (c) a focus on academic success.
Another banner recreating year for the SEC. Can’t wait for the season to start. A reporter ask Jimbo if he was happy with A&M’s favorable 2021 schedule, Jimbo laughed and said “when is any SEC schedule favorable”? He said he would swap schedules with any other conference. I think that’s true for every SEC team. The talent is in the SEC and the majority of the games are fun to watch.
Honestly why not let kids go straight from high school to the pros?
Nashville gator above talked about the mountains of case law that…
Don’t give me that crap about about they are 18 year old kids and their bodies can’t handle it… have you seen masson smith? Its 2021… 18 year old kids nowadays bench 500 pounds and run 4.3 40s. If they can make the jump let em. Its ridiculous ja marr chase had to sit out this year, a year in which in could have made millions of dollars and helped a nfl franchise and for what? Tell me why he couldn’t play? Its time for a change.
They can not go because the collective bargaining agreement says they can not. It is a matter of legal precedent and it will not be over turned, just as the rookie pay scale will not.
Do some research.
I’ve done enough research to know its baloney. One day people will look back and talk about how ridiculous said agreement is… all the players on rookies contracts should strike… and every significant underclass draft prospect should sit out. Maybe then the necessary change will happen
Dang right. Joe Burrows should have told them to stick that $23M bonus where the sun don’t shine!
How big was jamarr chase signing bonus after that incredible season?
They can’t go straight into the NFL because they’re physically not ready. They need years of strength and conditioning to not only play at an elite level, but to do so safely. You also need to see if they’re the real deal. Surviving and thriving through 3-5 years of CFB still doesn’t always prove it and seemingly elite players are a bust in the NFL.
NFL is not a development league in part because rosters are so small. College football is a necessary step in the process.
I disagree. Fact: some non eligible underclassmen are physically ready to make make plays and millions in the NFL… politics keep em out… but one day the reddit traders will rise and the NFL hedge funds will be put in their place.
Not against the fully grown men of the NFL. The NFL is the elite of the elite. What you’re proposing would turn the NFL into a professional version of CFB. And if they’re underclassmen, that means they’ve spent at least one or two years developing inside of a college football program. Which is the exact type of thing the NFL doesn’t do — develop.
Also, CFB is littered every year with kids who practice well and then freeze up under the bright lights. That fact alone would make NFL teams very hesitant to draft high school players and underclass CFB players.
I’m with you FfG. They are adults and they should be able to go to the NFL if they want. Is there a law that says you have be 3 yrs out of high school to join the army?
Yeah, going to the NFL isn’t simply up to the players. They can’t just do it because they want to. And a huge component of the Army is to train people to become soldiers. Which is sort of the opposite of the NFL. Either way, the NFL is likely way more motivated to take highly trained and proven players from CFB then gamble on the supposed potential of high schoolers.
*than
And I dont give a dan how many blue chippers bama got… they dont have a qb in the whole lot. I’ve seen this bryce young… he poo. LSU by 30 in TuscaLOSE next year… take it to the bank.
You have only seen Bryce Young in mop up duty with third stringers in the game. He will be ready to skull fugg the corndogs in November. Unless Coach O tries to get that game postponed again.
What is really amazing about this recruiting cycle in the SEC: Tennessee, as bad as things are, according to the experts, had a better recruiting class than Ole Miss, Arkansas, Miss State, Missouri, Auburn(of all places), Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina in that order! If Tennessee sucks, what does that say for these programs, and, how in the heck did that happen?
I’ll tell you exactly how it happened.
In a McDonald’s bag.
Bah bah bah bah bah their lovin it!
I live in the Chicago suburbs and you would be shocked at how many rich suburban kids pay full freight to go to Alabama just to be part of something fun and big. The football team has really helped academic recruiting as well. Another legacy no one talks about.
Sorry man but nobody goes to Alabama because of their academic prowess. They go down south to get away from Chicago maybe.
Nail on the head sir
Comparing legacies of programs and coaches is in many ways like comparing apples with oranges. In this country right this minute we’re arguing whether we should judge people in our history by the standards of our times versus the standards of their times.
It is true that Bear Bryant benefitted from the lack of scholarship limitations and would recruit other players he never intended to put on the field to keep them away from other schools. But he told his recruits that he did intend to play that they’d get film on them.
Think about the wishbone era, Bryant’s second half, where he’d platoon quarterbacks. Saban tends to stick with a starter and not change back and forth, with the one exception of putting Tua in during the Championship game with Georgia which is was either a brilliant masterstroke or a tremendous gamble. Some of these argument made here are purely subjective.
As for after Saban: Miami managed National Championships over the course of a full decade during the ’80s by switching coaches every two or three seasons. Whomever follows Saban will have impossible shoes to fill, but I’m content to let him play out the string and enjoy the memory of this much success for the rest of my life. Why not see the long view?
He’s a humdiddlydo, fo sho…..
impressive
Kid’s not getting his scholarship pulled. Something tells me saban wanted this out there.