At the beginning of Monte Burke’s biography of Nick Saban, he describes a conversation between the new – at the time – Alabama head coach and his new boss, athletic director Mal Moore. Moore and Saban were in the air, leaving Miami and bound for Tuscaloosa to make the announcement that would change the face of college football.
In Burke’s re-telling of the story, Saban asked Moore if he thought he just hired “the best football coach in the country.”
Somewhat taken aback, Moore said yes.
“Well you haven’t,” Saban told him. “I’m nothing without my players. But you did just hire one hell of a recruiter.”
Time has borne out the truth with that statement. Since 2008 — Saban’s first full year of recruiting — Alabama has finished no lower than fifth in 247Sports’ national recruiting rankings, and typically finishes in the top two.
Alabama is currently rated ninth, with National Signing Day less than two weeks away. Nick Saban’s Alabama is coming off its fourth national championship in the era, and there is a direct correlation between National Signing Day and the College Football Playoff.
That doesn’t mean the staff at Alabama is infallible. Over the years Bama has chased a handful of recruits that either didn’t land in Tuscaloosa, or didn’t pan out.
In the realm of “recruiting misses,” the two best known were Jadeveon Clowney (2011) and Jameis Winston (2012).
Winston is an interesting case. He’s a local kid from Hueytown, and Alabama rarely misses on prospects from inside the state. Bama recruited Winston hard, but it was hardly a surprise when he chose Florida State instead. Ultimately he cited Saban’s stern reputation as a coach, feeling apparently there was more freedom available to him in a place like Tallahassee. The fact that Bama had an established quarterback in A.J. McCarron probably had something to do with it, as well.
The worst part of Alabama missing out on Winston was having to listen to announcers talk about brim spurning Alabama – and Auburn, for that matter – while beating Auburn to win the 2013 national title.
As for Clowney, it’s hard to call that a miss with a straight face. The South Carolina product chose to stay home, and later called Saban “unimpressive” as a recruiter. In the same breath he also says he’d have probably given Alabama a closer look had it run a 4-3, instead of a 3-4 because Clowney is more defensive end than outside linebacker.
It’s hard to complain too much since the 2011 Alabama defense was probably the best that ever played the game, the 2012 unit was nearly as good, and both were part of national championship runs. For the college football nerd, though, it is tantalizing to wonder what an Alabama defense that included Jadeveon Clowney might have looked like.
Oh, well. Can’t win them all.
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
