Nick Saban recalls hilarious weather story about Ross Pierschbacher’s in-home visit
By Keith Farner
Published:
In-home recruiting visits often bring out interesting stories that reveal personal anecdotes about coaches and their interactions with family members of recruits.
That was certainly the case for Alabama OL Ross Pierschbacher, who is from Iowa. Alabama coach Nick Saban recalled that experience when he went through the family line before the Iron Bowl.
“The No. 1 thing that happens to me when I go down that line is as soon as I see mom and dad and as soon as I see the player, the first thing (snaps) that pops into my mind is the home visit, aight,” Saban said, according to Bama Online. “And it seems like it was just yesterday that we were trying to get the guy to come here, and now he’s graduating and playing in his last game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.”
Weather is not usually great during the last push of recruiting season, especially before there was the early signing period. So it was understandable that conditions could be bad on Jan. 20, 2014 for the visit to Ross Pierschbacher’s house.
“I go up there with Mario Cristobal, who’s from Cuba and has never been in the snow before, never been in the snow before,” Saban said. “So, we get a rental car, and it’s snowing like hell now. I mean, it ain’t snowing a little bit, it’s snowing a lot, and it’s blowing sideways.
“And I’m saying, ‘Mario, let me drive.’ But he thought he had to do his duty, man, and I’ll tell you what, I’ve never been more scared in all my life.”
He proved to be a valuable member of the Alabama program, was a captain in the Iron Bowl, but he was also the top player in Iowa in the 2014 recruiting class, so it was no surprise why the Alabama coaches wanted to get there. Pierschbacher was the sixth-best center and No. 73 overall prospect that year.
Pierschbacher remembers it, too. But he didn’t offer any driving tips.
“They had no clue,” Pierschbacher said. “They were just like, ‘We need to get out of here.’ I think dinner got cut a little short, actually, which is fully understandable. I don’t think Coach Saban’s very fond of the snow.”
Of course, it all worked out, and another reason why they can look back on the visit so fondly.
“Once we got to the home visit, the food was good, the family was great and obviously,” Saban said after the win. “We got a great player and a great person that has been a great ambassador for the University of Alabama and a great representative for our program.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
