Recruiting on top presents own challenges
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Dallas JacksonClick Southwest MailbagHere to view this Link. is the National Columnist for Rivals.com. Email him your comments or story ideas to DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.comClick Southwest MailbagHere to view this Link. and follow him on TwitterClick Southwest MailbagHere to view this Link..
Winning a national title in the BCS era is tough enough. Staying on top through recruiting is something few programs have mastered.
In the Rivals.com era,
national titles as well as BCS Championships, but now Alabama stands perched at
the top in both categories.
And many observers believe where other schools have failed, the Tide are set up for success.
Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said that the biggest
problem that coaching staffs face is balancing targeting players they want versus players who are only attracted to a school because of its success.
"It is just that going from recruiting the guys you want to be a part of your program to selecting guys who are making themselves available to you can get tricky.
"You start varying from your natural recruiting tendencies and areas and when you get to that point it puts more emphasis on picking correctly than doing your work and putting in the effort on the front end."
Farrell believes that head coach
Nick Saban is a big reason why Alabama
won't stumble.
"Saban is a culture-changer," Farrell said. "He will ensure that his staff is
still doing its homework on players and a lot of that is because they find
players that fit what they want to do defensively. ... Often time, those kids are
not playing the same position in high school that they will once they arrive on
campus."
Andrew Bone has covered recruiting at Alabama for the last decade and is an
analyst for TideSports.com. He said Saban's management of the roster is what
keeps the Crimson Tide moving toward national titles.
"Obviously the team wants to get the top guys every year, but it is not at the
sacrifice of filling its needs," Bone said. "This class needed to have offensive
linemen and cornerbacks and with a lot of those spots filled, the staff will keep
looking for players to build quality depth.
"The staff puts together its list of what it needs and what it wants. So if the
goal is defensive backs they will target the top seven, or whatever number, guys
they want. But they will always be going after the top two or three linebackers,
running backs, receivers on their board. The staff isn't going to overload a
position for the sake of overloading."
Alabama has commitments from four-star offensive linemen
Bradley Bozeman of Roanoke (Ala.) Handley and Grant Hill of Huntsville
(Ala.) High as well as three-star linemen Leon Brown from Brooklyn (N.Y.)
ASA College and Cole Mazza from Bakersfield (Calif.) Liberty.
The program has also landed two cornerbacks in four-star Maurice Smith
from Sugar Land (Texas) Dulles and three-star Anthony Averett from
Woodbury (N.J.) High.
It is the expanded recruiting boundaries that have helped Alabama land the
players that it wants.
"Alabama is still going after the elite of the elite and battling with USC,
Florida, Ohio State, those types of teams," Bone said. "But it is also going
into states like Utah and New Jersey to find guys that fit its system."
The team's offensive and defensive systems, according to Farrell, give Alabama a
major advantage in recruiting top players.
"It takes great coaches to run the defense that Alabama runs and it is no
surprise so many of those guys end up in the NFL. They are tremendous athletes
that have received some of the best coaching in the nation," he said.
"Offensively I don't think people will forsake the spread because at this point
it is here to stay, but I think more teams should follow what Alabama is doing.
They won't, but they should."
The Tide defense is allowing the fewest points per game, yards per game and
cumulative rushing yards in the nation. It is tied for fourth in interceptions
and tied for second in passing yards allowed.
Offensively, a scheme that many malign as being conservative has averaged 41
points per game and is second only to Texas A&M in the SEC. It has two running
backs in the Top 10 in rushing in the conference with both true freshman
T.J. Yeldon and junior
Eddie Lacy averaging 81 yards per game;
quarterback AJ McCarron leads the nation in quarterback rating at
183.6 while throwing for 211 yards per game and 16 touchdowns on the season. He
has yet to be intercepted.
The balance of quality and quantity is a line that Saban walks as well as
anyone.
"Alabama wants to play defense first and control the game physically," Bone
said. "The team is built from the inside out but that doesn't mean it is
sacrificing on skill players. This is the same school that has had Julio Jones,
Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and just went and got (four-star athlete)
Cyrus Jones last year and has commitments from (five-star tight end)
O.J. Howard and (four-star athlete) Derrick Henry right now.
"Outsiders think that this is a team that just wants to manage the game and wait
on mistakes but it can be explosive and go vertical but there will not be
playing time at quarterback for guys who want to be gunslingers and turn the
ball over and there will not be playing time for guys that do not have the
fundamentals required of them."
It is those baselines that Farrell said will keep this process working in favor
of Alabama.
"Saban is not acting when he says things like people underestimate Western
Kentucky," Farrell said. "He always has his foot on the accelerator and he
expects the most from everyone that is around him. There won't be class that he
takes too many of the same type player and has kids transfer out, he is too
smart for that and too careful in what he is doing.
"Right now Alabama is the dream offer for most every kid and Tuscaloosa isn't as
sexy as Los Angeles so that says a lot. So long as this staff stays the course
it could be a long line of success."
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