Alabama Recruiting: Can Nick Saban Sway No. 1 Offensive Lineman John Theus?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

Florida's Wil Muschamp is busy texting his mother. Georgia's Will Friend is there when he visits brother, building a relationship as his possible position coach. Arkansas has an old family friend who's a graduate assistant at Arkansas who is pulling those ties.

Tim Hinton at Notre Dame talks to him and is planning another visit. Coach Stacy Searles is someone he made friends with while he was a coach at Georgia and is now trying to pull his recruit to different pastures at Texas. Nick Saban is hoping to make a big impression on him with a summer camp visit.

Everyone wants John Theus, a big 6'6'', 300 pound offensive tackle from Jacksonville, Florida. He's not just the nation's No. 1 offensive lineman, but someone who's on everyone's top 10 recruits overall, with one service ranking him as the No. 4 recruit in the nation.

While Theus has finally got his list of everyone down to just these aforementioned six schools, five are worried about the Georgia connection—his brother Nathan Theus, who is the Bulldogs long snapper and offensive lineman. who was a 3-star unranked recruit when he signed at Georgia.

But John insists that his brother and he will be fine with any decision he makes. "He made the decision that was best for him and he knows I'll make the decision that's best for me," said the younger Theus.

Still, people are wondering if this could wind up being another Kouandijo story where one brother follows another despite the best efforts of all the other schools.

His parents however, insist that they'll be fine with whatever school John chooses and that they can split their loyalties and time between two schools.

Still, Saban plans on showing why Alabama could be the right choice for offensive lineman with more ability than any other high school recruit for the tackle position and still more upside, if you can believe that.

Coaches at Alabama say that despite already being 300 pounds, his frame is still considered "lanky" and has room for more weight and muscle and the coaches at Alabama intend on showing Theus the results that a year of Scott Cochran can do for him.

There's no doubt that this short-term summer camp visit is Alabama's best shot at landing this jewel of a lineman.

If you read every quote available that Theus has ever given, it's easy to see that he is primarily motivated by relationships with coaches and the overall sense of belonging he feels toward the program.

If this is true, then new offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has his work cut out for him in not only developing a relationship with him, but showing him that his coaching style meshes with Theus as well.

With this ranking, Theus knows that early playing time is in his future at some schools and might not be so quick at Alabama.

Next year (2012) could be Cyrus Kouandijo's first as starting left tackle while D.J. Fluker may go into his final year at right tackle, so that would mean that Theus may have to wait at least one season for a legitimate shot at a starting job.

That is the scenario that Theus needs. One year to build out that big frame, learn the system and then make a splash.

It will be interesting to see if Saban and company can clinch this deal. It may be a tough uphill fight, but one that if successful, could lead to yet another top recruiting class.