Lincoln Riley explains what impresses him the most about Nick Saban
By SDS Staff
Published:
Saturday’s Orange Bowl Game between Alabama and Oklahoma pits one of the best defensive minds in football (Nick Saban) and one of the best offensive minds in football (Lincoln Riley) against one another.
During Thursday’s media availability, Riley was asked about what impresses him the most regarding Nick Saban. His answer was interesting, because it didn’t have much to do with Saban’s impressive accomplishments on the field as much as what it takes to get there: recruiting.
“Probably how he recruits, and he seems very — their program is very steady,” Riley explained, via ASAP Transcripts. “He seems, at least from the outside, I don’t have an insider’s view, but it seems like he’s got a pretty steady demeanor. Their program reflects that, a lot of consistency within that program. But I mean, at the end of the day, they’ve got really, really good players because they recruit well and they’ve been able to recruit well for a long period of time, and those strong signing classes have stacked upon each other, and then on top of that, he’s got a really good staff there.”
What’s interesting is that Saban was very disappointed with Alabama’s recruiting class during the 2018 cycle. In fact, he made several staff changes — and others left on their own, but he knew that he had to get better in the recruiting game. He made that a major point of emphasis. Yes, he won a national championship last year, but one has to credit Saban for shaking up his staff to shore up one of its biggest weaknesses.
This year, it’s a much different story. Alabama currently has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, and the Tide should finish No. 1 after the final National Signing Day in February.
Many coaches have been able to sign a couple consecutive really good classes, but to keep signing No. 1 classes over and over again is much tougher. Saban is defying many things, including recruiting, as he ages.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
