Alabama Football: Looking at Nose Tackle Beyond 2012? Take a Look at "Pee Wee"

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Alabama is about as deep as it gets at nose tackle, but like so many things in college football, that is today and tomorrow is a different story.

After 2012, who will be the big man in the middle? Who will be the dominant junior and senior nose tackle in 2014 and 2015?

If you think that's way too far down the road to worry about, that's why you're not making over four million dollars a year as a major head coach. Right now, there are coaches all across the country worrying about who starts where in 2014.

With most of Alabama's best talent at nose tackle leaving after 2012, one has to wonder who Nick Saban is looking at to fill that hole.

Well take a look at Ondre "Pee Wee" Pipkins from Kansas City, Mo. of all places, and at at 6'3'' and 325 pounds as a high school junior, you can see that he's not an easy target to miss. He already benches 330 pounds and can squat an amazing 520 pounds.

Can you imagine what he'll do with a solid year of Scott Cochran building him up even more?

Earlier this week, Saban confirmed to Pipkins what had been speculated for a while, that he would be extended an offer to attend the University of Alabama and play football for the Crimson Tide and Saban.

"It was just a good feeling," Pipkins said to Greg Ostendorf at Tidesports.com. "I kind of had a feeling that they were going to offer. I've built a good relationship with Coach (Bobby) Williams over the past couple months, and he really liked me. He also said the defensive line coach liked me a lot—my body, my speed and athleticism."

He said it was early in the process, but that Alabama would have to be among the top right now. He said playing for Saban was a big reason, the other is the way it seems to develop its players to be ready for the NFL.

Plus he said he likes the idea of playing for a team that is always going to be in hunt for a national title, as well as feeling comfortable with the defense Alabama uses and the fact that many of nose guards already there will be gone by the time he's ready to come on board, meaning earlier playing time.

However, right now, he has solid offers from Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska and Tennessee. And therein lies the problem for Saban, because Saban, the consummate recruiter, knows that Pipkins spent much of his young life in Michigan before moving late in life to Missouri.

Saban knows he grew up a Michigan Wolverine fan and knows that this is a pull he's going to have to fight big time. Maybe that's why Saban reminded him that Mark Ingram left Michigan to come to Alabama, and we all saw how that worked out.

Saban is talking to him about others who came long distances and found a new family, and he plans on letting him see that for himself once Pipkins starts doing official visits and comes to Alabama.

That's something Saban had better do, because when Greg was talking to the Michigan press, it's easy to see that he still has a lot of love for his boyhood state.

"They have a great vibe," Pipkins said to the Wolverine.com. "When Michigan comes and tells you everything they have for football and education-wise, you get a pretty good feeling. I'm very happy with Michigan, am very close to them and it will remain like that. No one can take their place and that's [a team] I am definitely looking into."

"I have a lot of connections up at Michigan and know a lot of people at the University. Me, Roy Manning and LaMarr Woodley are very close," Pipkins said. "Roy is like a God brother to me and so is LaMarr. My family is very close with those two. They don't try to push Michigan on me. They tell me to go where I feel comfortable at."

However, this interview was done before he received an offer from Saban. In one of his latest interviews he just finished saying that it didn't matter how far away the school was from his home and friends. He said in the end, it was all about winning.

And that might just be the card that tips the scale for Saban in this latest manhunt for talent.