Burton focuses on Bamas new start
Rivals100 Editorial
It’s time to ring in the new year. I’m not talking about singing Auld Lang Syne or any of that nonsense.
Advertisement
I’m talking about the recruiting new year – it’s the only one that really matters to most of us anyway.
With signing day having come and gone, it’s time for Rivals100 to start focusing its efforts on the class of 2003.
But it appears some college coaches have beat us to the punch.
Take Dennis Franchione for example.
It became known on Sunday that the second-year Crimson Tide coach collected his first two oral commitments of the class of 2003.
Franchione’s timing is impeccable.
When many analysts, such as myself, were wondering what lingering effects the stiff sanctions the NCAA handed down to Alabama in January would have on the Tide’s recruiting efforts, Franchione seems to have come back with an answer.
It looks like the sanctions will hurt Alabama. But Alabama remains Alabama.
The sanctions may take away some scholarships, but it won’t remove the luster of a program that was once the elite of college football and it won’t kill the passion for football of a devout fan base.
Still, the Tide’s reduced scholarship numbers is going to hurt overall team depth and it’s going to eventually show an effect on the football field.
That’s what is going to be hard to stomach for Bama fans.
But Butch Davis at Miami taught many that it is indeed possible to succeed and build a program while the NCAA has seemingly decimated a program and its ability to recruit by dramatically reducing scholarships.
Can Dennis Franchione match what Butch Davis achieved in Miami? Only time will tell.
But Franchione, with his two recent pledges for 2003, is already hard at work trying to make that success a reality in Tuscaloosa.
So for Alabama, just like with Rivals100, the recruiting new year is already under way. And it appears that the intriguing on-going story in Tuscaloosa is just one of many we will follow throughout this new year.