Nick Saban Visits Jadeveon Clowney in S. Carolina: Will USC's Blowout Loss Help?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Though Nick Saban doesn't read the internet and won't respond to rumors, he's heard that that South Carolina's win over the Tide earlier in the year may have had an unfortunate swing in the balance of Jadeveon Clowney, the nation's number one recruit at linebacker who had narrowed his picks to South Carolina and Alabama.

So with a few off days from practice one of the first places Nick Saban wanted to hit was the home of Clowney, meeting with him, his family and his high school coach Bobby Carroll, who usually is present during these types of recruiting meetings.

Two things I've learned about Nick Saban and his recruiting visits held fast at this meeting: He only talks about the reasons you should attend attend Alabama and he won't badmouth another team. It's rare, in fact, that he'll even mention one.

"If you've got a product like Alabama to sell, you don't have to bring up other schools." Saban said on the subject of recruiting earlier in the year. "I could care less what the other schools are saying about us or themselves, I just want to talk about Alabama and all the positive things we have going on here and how they could fit in to our program."

According to Shane Youngblood, who talked with Carroll after the visit, that made an impression on the Clowney's and on coach Carroll

Now the question is, if indeed Clowney swung closer to South Carolina for the win over Alabama, does a rather embarrassing loss to Auburn in the SEC Championship even things back up? Perhaps it will swing the scale back toward Alabama, who will finish higher in all the polls than South Carolina.

Saban must certainly hope so.

Clowney has two more official visits to make. He wants to visit FSU on January 7th and will come to Alabama either January 14th or 20th.

That visit to Tuscaloosa in January could be the last chance for the Tide to sway this potential game changer. Celebrating a Capitol One Bowl Championship can only help.