Report: Alabama's Nick Saban Received NIL Requests from 2 Players Totaling $1.3M

Nick Saban doesn't appear to be thrilled with the trajectory of NIL requests from potential incoming recruits.

The Alabama football head coach, speaking at the 18th annual Alabama Football Coaches Association convention on Thursday in Montgomery, reportedly told attendees that a cornerback recruit requested $800,000 to sign with the Crimson Tide and another player in the transfer portal requested $500,000, per Glenn Guilbeau of OutKick and Nick Alvarez of AL.com.

Saban reportedly turned down both players.

One of the attendees at the ALFCA convention, Baker High School coach Steve Normand, told Guilbeau that Saban said the following about the cornerback: "Someone with one of the best corners in the nation [in high school] came to me and asked if we'd pay them $800,000 for the player to sign here. I told him he can find another place to play. ... I'm not paying a kid a bunch of NIL money before he earns it."

Clarence Williams, the offensive and recruiting coordinator at Ramsay High, was also in attendance and told Alvarez that Saban said the following: "This ain't the school for you then because it's not fair for those that are already here for someone to come in and ask, who hadn't played a snap yet, and proved yourself on that level, already demanding money."

Saban reportedly told attendees that the player in the transfer portal who requested $500,000 also asked that his girlfriend be enrolled at law school at Alabama and that her tuition be covered.

"I showed him the door," Saban reportedly said.

Saban, 71, has been critical of NIL deals in the past. In May, he accused Texas A&M of buying its 2022 recruiting class, which finished atop 247Sports' rankings. Alabama was No. 2.

"I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players," he said at a business event, per Mike Rodak of AL.com. "You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness."

There's no question that the NIL rules have changed the landscape of college recruiting. There's also no question that head coaches like Saban have exorbitant sums of money from college football, with Saban reportedly under contract for eight years and $93.6 million.

That always lends a touch of hypocrisy to complaints about a system that now allows college athletes to also make money from the multibillion-dollar sport they participate in, even if the unregulated nature of the current system has created a Wild West feel to the NIL landscape.

It's made life for coaches like Saban more complicated, no doubt. Whether that's actually a bad thing for the sport, or its athletes, is another debate entirely.