Bleacher Report - Nick Saban

Alabama Picks Up First 2014 D-Lineman Commitment in 320-Pound O.J. Smith

Andrew Kulha — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:19:15 -0400

A comparison to former Alabama star Marcell Dareus is worth a thousand recruiting letters—just ask new Alabama commitment O.J. Smith.

Smith is the seventh recruit to commit to the Crimson Tide's 2014 class, and he's the first defensive tackle to choose Nick Saban's program. He is a 3-star defensive tackle recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, and he checks in at 6'2'', 320 pounds.

More impressive than Smith's size, though, is his quickness. He runs a 4.90 40, according to 247Sports, which is elite speed for a defensive lineman who weighs more than 300 pounds.

Andrew Bone of Rivals.com (subscription required) reports on the commitment:

O.J. Smith, defensive tackle from Airline High School in Bossier City, La., ended his recruitment Friday morning after speaking with Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

"I committed to Alabama," said Smith. "I talked to Coach Saban this morning on Skype. He compared me to Marcell Dareus. I talked to my family after we spoke with him. I decided to go ahead and commit. They offered me today. I have been talking to them for a while though."

Isn't it nice to have an alumnus like Dareus? Making such a comparison makes the recruit feel special and lets him know that Saban has recruited players who have gone on to be stars.

While we're at it, let's throw Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram in for running backs, Mark Barron and Dre Kirkpatrick in for defensive backs, Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower for linebackers and Julio Jones for wide receivers. And that's just mentioning a few former Alabama standouts.

But back to Smith. To make his commitment even sweeter, he's a native of Muscle Shoals, Ala. He's being recruited out of Airline High School in Bossier City, La., but if he stays committed, he'll be coming home to Alabama as a member of the Crimson Tide's 2014 recruiting class.

Smith projects to be a nose tackle who will demand double-teams because of his size, but he'll also be able to get into the backfield and shoot the gap because of his quickness.

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Nick Saban's Non-Committable Offers Show How Alabama Doesn't Recruit, It Drafts

Barrett Sallee — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:09:11 -0400

With three straight 247Sports.com composite recruiting titles under his belt, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has established himself as not only the best coach in the country, but also the nation's unquestioned king of recruiting.

Just how good is it these days for Saban?

According to Mike Herndon of AL.com, Saban told fans at a Crimson Caravan event in Orange Beach, Ala., that all of Alabama's offers to quarterbacks in the class of 2014 are non-committable until Saban sees them work out personally at Alabama's camp.

It is our philosophy at certain positions that we really like to learn a lot about players and one of the best ways to learn about a player is when they come and visit you, because you're limited in terms of the contact you can have with them off-campus. To get some of them to come here in the summer I think is a really big tool in evaluation as well as an opportunity to get to know guys, to see if they have the right character and attitude to fit in your program.

Sure, the words "non-committable" and "offer" contradict each other, but semantics aren't exactly important in the recruiting game. After all, a commitment isn't a commitment until national signing day.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out, non-committable offers aren't uncommon—especially at quarterback. In fact, it's good business.

In this case, it speaks to the power of the Alabama football program.

Two players mentioned in the AJC that have non-committable offers from Alabama are 247Sports.com 4-star Clemson commit Deshaun Watson—the fourth-best pro-style quarterback in the composite index, and 4-star pro-style prospect Tyler Harris from Blackshear, Ga.

These aren't exactly no-name prospects who are destined to be buried on college depth charts. These are two studs who already have offers from several schools and will receive plenty more between now and signing day.

Former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley said it best before his team hosted the Crimson Tide in 2012 (via: AL.com):

"They draft, we recruit," Dooley said. "And they get the first 25 picks of the draft."

In the case of Alabama's 2014 recruiting efforts, it's also a situation caused by numbers.

Starting quarterback AJ McCarron will exhaust his eligibility after the 2013 season, leaving Alec Morris, Blake Sims and Cooper Bateman as the primary competitors for the quarterback spot in 2014. That's a lot of competition for any incoming freshman, but McCarron's departure certainly makes Alabama a little more attractive to any quarterback in the upcoming recruiting class.

Since Saban insists on evaluating quarterbacks on campus prior to truly issuing a scholarship offer, it's as much a matter of selecting the quarterback as it is recruiting.

In other words, the situation is a coach's dream.

Alabama's recruiting efforts, success on the field and ability to send players to the NFL through the draft—22 over the last three seasons—have created the perfect recruiting scenario.

While non-committable offers are common, not every school can get away with them. Whether a prospect is interested in championships, draft status or playing time, Alabama can offer it up in 2014.

That's scary.

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Breaking Down the Biggest Keys to Another Alabama Football National Championship

Charlie Potter — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:46:31 -0400

The University of Alabama is on top of the college football world, after winning its third national championship is four years, and it will look to do the unthinkable and win a third consecutive title in the upcoming season.

But the Crimson Tide are not invincible to obstacles that every program faces during the offseason. No, Alabama must overcome the departures of several key contributors and groom inexperienced players into elite playmakers before the Tide's Aug. 31 matchup with Virginia Tech.

There are pieces already in place for Alabama to reach the same level it met in 2012, but there are still aspects of the game that need to be addressed before head coach Nick Saban and Co. can begin to think about the coveted three-peat.

Here, we break down the biggest keys for Alabama to obtain yet another national championship.

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How Long Will Alabama's Run Last?

Lisa Horne — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:18:05 -0400

Seven years. That is how long the Southeastern Conference has dominated college football, a streak led by Alabama, which has won three of the last four BCS titles.

How long will this onslaught last?

That depends on two things—the identify of the head coach and the NCAA.

College football is cyclical. But winning programs that incurred a coaching change or NCAA sanctions—sometimes both—saw their dynasties end.

Alabama, Nebraska and Oklahoma were three of the most dominant teams in the 1970s. They won a combined seven national titles.

Alabama head coach Bear Bryant won six national titles before retiring in 1982. Alabama won another title in 1992 under Gene Stallings but would then go on a 17-year drought. The school faced three major NCAA investigations from 1995 to 2009 and was slapped with postseason bans and vacated victories.

Oklahoma faced the wrath of the NCAA in 1988. Head coach Barry Switzer left the program in 1989 because of notorious scandals that occurred during his watch. The NCAA sanctioned the Sooners with postseason and television bans and scholarship reductions.

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne (1973-97) never coached a team that finished with less than nine wins in one season. His teams won two national titles in 1994-95 and shared a title with Michigan in 1997. Since Osborne retired, five Nebraska teams have finished the season unranked by the AP and only three finished in the AP's final Top 10.

The Miami Hurricanes stormed through the 80s as one of the more fearsome teams in the country. They won three national titles in that decade. Nobody could stop the Hurricanes...except for the NCAA. Miami was rocked by scandals including the infamous Pell Grant scandal. In 1995 the NCAA hammered Miami with a postseason ban and stripped its scholarships for the next three years.

USC won two championships in 2003-04 but its 2004 BCS Championship was vacated due to NCAA sanctions. In addition to vacated victories, USC was placed on a two-year postseason ban and stripped of 30 scholarships over three years. USC head coach Pete Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks at the end of the 2009 season. Since Carroll's departure, USC's record is 32-19.

Florida won two BCS titles in 2006 and 2008 but it hasn't played in a BCS Championship since then-head coach Urban Meyer left in 2010.

LSU won its first BCS title under then-head coach Nick Saban in 2003. Saban left for the NFL's Miami Dolphins on Christmas day 2004. Head coach Les Miles won the school's second BCS title in 2007 but he did that with Saban's senior class—he has not won a BCS title with his own players.

If it is not a coaching change that affects a team's momentum, it is the NCAA's imposing heavy hand. The more a coach wins, the more every school or NFL team wants him. He heads the short list of every athletic director or NFL general manager.

Winning also has another downside. The more a team wins, the more high profile it becomes. More eyes are watching, including those in Indianapolis where the NCAA is headquartered.

So far, Alabama is the team to beat in the foreseeable future. Alabama is no longer on NCAA probation but it still is within that five-year repeat offender window.

If the Tide stay clean and Nick Saban continues to coach at Tuscaloosa, Alabama should keep rolling.

Saban will be 62 years old this October. He's already dabbled in the NFL. Unless the most powerful man in sports is offered an absurd amount of money to coach somewhere else, he's staying put.

The only way we can predict how long Alabama will continue to dominate is to predict how long Saban will be at Alabama. It's that easy.

We're predicting Saban retires after having won his seventh title at Alabama. Saban currently has four BCS titles but one of those belongs to LSU. To catch Bryant, he needs three more. To be Alabama's all-time leader, he needs four.

We're giving him five years to win four, just like an NCAA student-athlete scholarship.

Piece of cake.

Note—National champions were determined by using the criteria of an AP, UPI, USAT or BCS title.

Read more Nick Saban news on BleacherReport.com

Ranking Brightest NFL Prospects Currently on Alabama Football Roster

Charlie Potter — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:47:38 -0400

The Alabama Crimson Tide's football team has been laden with NFL talent since head coach Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa. But the crop of future stars that will excel at the next level might be at its highest right now.

Quarterback AJ McCarron and C.J. Mosley decided to return for their senior seasons and will face the draft next spring. And there are several underclassmen that will make the leap to the NFL instead of returning to Alabama like McCarron and Mosley.

There's no doubt that the Crimson Tide has a ton of professional potential on its roster, so we waste no time in breaking down which players are the brightest NFL prospects on the 2013-14 Alabama team.

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Biggest Personnel Losses Suffered by Alabama Football and Who Will Replace Them

Charlie Potter — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:14:07 -0400

The University of Alabama has been a factory for producing NFL talent since head coach Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, and after the Crimson Tide won their 15th national title in January, that tradition continued in the 2013 NFL draft.

Nine Alabama players were selected in the draft, with several other players either agreeing to free-agent contracts or finding jobs that match their newly acquired degrees. Their absences will be felt in the locker room and on the field next season for Alabama, but the Crimson Tide must rebuild and reload like they have in the past.

Several positions are up for grabs with the departures of the former starters, and it will be up to the remaining and incoming players to fill them. However, Saban and Co. recruited well and have more-than-capable veterans on the 2013-14 roster.

Here we break down the biggest personnel losses that Alabama suffered this offseason and which players will step in to fill those voids.

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Alabama Football: Criticism of Nick Saban Comes with the Territory

Ryan Rudnansky — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:50:36 -0400

It's lonely at the top.

Alabama coach Nick Saban—fresh off three national championships in four years—is currently experiencing the ugly side of being a winner.

It started when Vanderbilt coach James Franklin called Saban "Nicky Satan." Franklin later said it was a joke (h/t Yahoo! Sports), but it certainly wasn't a very pleasant one if it was.

Of course, Saban didn't take it that way.

Saban's former assistant coach Tim Davis, now the offensive line coach for Florida, recently called Saban "the devil himself" while comparing him to Gators coach Will Muschamp, according to ESPN.com.

Saban responded, via the report:

Twice. On two occasions. It's just disappointing. If somebody has a problem with me, I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me. If I'm doing something to offend somebody, I'd certainly like to do whatever I have to do to fix it. It's not our intention. It's not what we try to do.

We're in a tough business. It's very competitive. Sometimes you've got to demand that people do things that maybe they don't want to do, but it's not personal.

Jealousy. It tends to turn folks against one another.

This is simply the result of coaches either licking their wounds or trying to steal Saban's thunder. It's disgraceful, and if Davis didn't enjoy coaching under Saban's wing for three years, he should have never been there in the first place.

Saban may not be the most genial character in the world (media members know this more than anyone), but you can't deny that what he's doing is working. I don't doubt it's difficult to work for him, whether you are an assistant coach or a player, but winning three national titles in four years isn't supposed to be easy, either.

I admire Saban for taking the high road and not firing back at his detractors. They don't deserve his attention anyway. Heck, he even made sure to say he didn't connect the Gators coach's words to Muschamp, "because I'm close enough to Will to know that," per the ESPN.com report.

Saban has never rubbed his success in the face of anyone, despite being hailed as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) coaches in the history of college football. He wins with class.

Unfortunately, some individuals don't have the ability to lose with class.

Read more Nick Saban news on BleacherReport.com

Alabama Football: Shattered BCS Trophy Auctioned Off for $105,000

Barrett Sallee — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:45:18 -0400

As the old saying goes, "Football is a religion in the SEC."

While that may not be entirely accurate, SEC fans routinely make Internet waves with creative tattoos, wedding cakes and even music videos—most of which fail miserably (looking at you, Missouri)—that demonstrate their obsession with the sport.

But Alabama fans have taken it to the next level.

According to Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, the broken coaches' trophy Alabama won in January 2012 signifying the 2011 national championship netted quite the haul at the Alabama Celebrity Golf Tournament on Sunday.

Alabama auctions off the broken 2011 BCS Champonship Trophy at its UA Celebrity Golf Tournament on Sunday. It brought a reported $105,000.
— Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) May 20, 2013

Think about that for a second. That's $105,000 for broken pieces of crystal. What on Earth can you do with broken pieces of crystal?

Practice walking on it in an effort to become a street performer? Toughen up your grip by squeezing it? Please don't say "glue it back together."

Oh, wait. Scratch that. Please do glue it back together. The Internet needs pictures.

If you recall, the trophy was shattered in April 2012 by the father of former Crimson Tide long snapper Carson Tinker. According to ESPN.com, the eight-pound Waterford crystal football was valued at around $30,000 before it was shattered—$75,000 less than it was auctioned off for on Sunday.

In good fun, Adam Kramer at B/R's Your Best 11 wrote an ode to the trophy when it met its demise last season.

Fans take pride in a variety of different things, and that's what makes college football great. But now that's it's brought in $105,000, the shattered coaches' trophy's future is more intriguing than its past.

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Alabama Football: Coach Nick Saban's 4 Biggest Challenges for Tide in 2013

Sanjay Kirpalani — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:19:51 -0400

There are not many challenges that have gotten the best of Nick Saban and his Alabama program in recent memory.

The 2013 version of the Crimson Tide appears to have everything in place to make a run at the school’s 16th national title in school history, but the road to winning its third straight crystal football is sure to have its share of potential hiccups.

But what are some of the most significant hurdles for Saban’s club this fall?

A combination of new faces in key positions and the pressure of maintaining a dynasty is bound to provide moments of intrigue in the fall.

Here are the four biggest challenges that Saban and the Tide will face in 2013.

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