When Alabama shows up for Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan State, the roster will be a familiar one to anyone who pays attention to football in the state.
At least it should. Nick Saban may be a guru when it comes to designing defenses and motivating his charges, but all that psychology doesn’t matter without people who can execute the priniciples being preached.
And Alabama has them. The Tide has ranked at or near the top of everyone’s recruiting rankings since Saban and company took over there. Combine a mass of hulking athletic talent with Saban’s obvious gifts for molding talent and developing schemes and, well, you get Alabama since 2008.
Here’s a state-by-state breakdown of Alabama’s roster as it enters the College Football Playoff.
Alabama (47)
Really no surprise here. Since Nick Saban came to Alabama in January 2007, the state’s top recruits have essentially belonged to UA. The usual suspects are represented, when it comes to locales — Birmingham, Mobile, Prattville — and no exact position is accounted for with one particular area. Surprisingly, the Tide carries only two players from Hoover: DB Marlon Humphrey and H-back Michael Nysewander.
This isn’t news, exactly: Alabama is the state university, and its continued run of excellence begins and ends with landing the state’s top talent. This even includes the city of Auburn, which gave Alabama two of its top defensive talents (Rashaan Evans and Reuben Foster).
Georgia (16)
Much like the numbers from the state of Alabama, the concentration of prospects from Georgia isn’t a massive surprise because the neighboring state boasts a higher concentration of talent than virtually any other. When you think about it, Tennessee, Clemson, South Carolina, Florida State and Auburn all do heavy recruiting in Georgia, and that doesn’t even take into account the state school (UGA), the state’s other school (Georgia Tech) and smaller programs like Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Valdosta State.
Alabama has plucked a number of choice recruits from the state, including Geno Matias-Smith, Kenyan Drake and Dalvin Tomlinson. One of Kirby Smart’s tallest tasks once he gets to Athens may be keeping some of the prospects they’ve been losing at home.
Louisiana (10)
Saban has been particularly strong in Louisiana, and this season’s crop includes names like Denzel Devall, Tim Williams and Cam Robinson.
Florida (7)
Not that many from the Sunshine State, for sure. The Heisman Trophy is there, though. So that’s … something. Getting Derrick Henry to Tuscaloosa from tiny Yulee, Florida was a big deal.
Here’s the rest:
Tennessee: 4
North Carolina: 3
Ohio: 3
Missouri: 3
Maryland: 2
New Jersey: 2
South Carolina: 2
Arkansas: 1
Arizona: 1
Colorado: 1
Kentucky: 1
Iowa: 1
Michigan: 1
Minnesota: 1
Mississippi: 1
New York: 1
Oklahoma: 1
Pennsylvania: 1
Utah: 1
Virginia: 1
And one other:
Mexico: 1
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
