Is It Unrealistic To Keep Expecting Top Recruiting Classes at Alabama?

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fla.) When Nick Saban came to Alabama, it created a stir, and in just a mere few weeks he pulled in a good recruiting class.

Following a 7-6 season, he pulled in one of the nation's top classes. Now after his second national championship and first at Alabama, Saban is pulling in another top national class.

In other words, average record or perfect record, Saban brings home the bacon when it comes to recruiting.

Is there any real expectation that this is simply a four year trend, or is this just the results that Alabama fans can expect every year from the man that almost everyone acknowledges as the the hardest working recruiter in college football?

Yes, you expect a BCS bump in recruiting after a national championship, almost every team that has won one has gotten it, and yes, when a new hot coach comes to a program it creates buzz, excitement and a recruiting bump. Even Auburn proved that.

So it is unrealistic or impossible to believe that Saban can continue to string these top national classes together even though the benches are beginning to fill up with four and five star athletes that would start at many other schools?

The truth is, Saban is the 500-pound gorilla in college football right now, not just on the field, but in the recruits living room. He is a father figure, a rock star and an NFL ticket master all wrapped up in one man.

He comes across as confident and never cocky to both the parents and the recruits. He never talks about the minuses of another school, just the pluses of his own. He doesn't sugar coat the fact that there are rules, tough rules you'll be expected to live by and he stresses that there is more to life than football, like an education and goal setting, and learning to succeed.

Many didn't give Alabama and Saban much of a chance to land to Mark Ingram, from Michigan, but Ingram's mother would have him go no other place. As an assistant coach at Michigan State, she remembered Saban making sure Ingram's father, a player for Saban at the time, went to class every day and stayed out of trouble. That was the man she wanted to take care of her son.

"Other coaches come in with a lot of negative talk about other schools and talk about what will and won't happen if you go to another school other than theirs." Said Dont'a Hightower about Saban's recruiting style. "Coach Saban just talked about Alabama and how you could fit in there. He doesn't make promises about playing time and stuff, he says that's something that's up to you and how quick you can grow into the system. He treats you like a professional and everything's on the up and up with him. You know he's honest."

And what is this almost obsession that Saban has with recruiting? Didn't he just win a national championship with a lot of two and three star players left over from the Shula era? Weren't there a lot of no star talent mixed in there too? So why does Saban drive not just himself, but his staff to get the very best talent out there?

I guess it all started as a kid, as most things in our lives do. As Bob Hertzel, a newspaper man from Saban's hometown area tells this story, you can see why Saban is the man he is today.

As a 15-year-old sophomore, he (Saban)had been calling his own plays, but now it was fourth-and-12 and when Keener called time out, he was relieved for now the coach could call the play. (He was a QB in high school)

He went to the sideline.

“The game was on the line. I didn’t want to call the play,” he recalled.

The coach turned the tables and asked Saban what he wanted to call. He said he didn’t know.

“Well, you have the fastest, best runner at halfback. You have a great wide receiver. I don’t care what you call, just so long as one of those guys gets the ball,” Keener said.

Saban called a play where he faked to Marbury, the running back and threw a touchdown pass to Hulderman, the wide reciever. The Lions won the game.

“My first coaching lesson,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what play you call. What matters is the players you have.”

And Saban has never wavered from that idea since and the top recruits will just keep on coming.