You guys can cry me a river with the oversigning nonsense.  Sure there have been a few instances of it, notably with coaches Nutt, Miles (your boy), and Spurrier (once).  I must state that Spurrier has always done things by the book, and the instance with him seems to have been an anomaly.

The biggest flaw in this issue is the fact that you look at the number "32" beside Bama for our Rivals 2008 class and you think we actually brought 32 kids to campus that fall.  This is simply not true.  2 kids (Hood and Ray) played pro baseball and never came to campus.  A few were sign and place guys, one or two of whom returned after juco.  That drops the number from 32 to 27-28 maximum, instantly, and a few of those back-counted.

Also keep in mind, this was Saban's first full recruiting class, and the previous staff left the cupboard bare, partly with poor recruiting and partly with poor conditioning at a school with a world-class and strict sports medicine department, headed by team physician, James Andrews, that often sided on the side of caution with injuries.  Heck, that year we had a returning all-conference jack linebacker who wasn't medically cleared to play becasue of a repaired hole in his heart.  We desperately needed that guy, but our medical staff ended his career at Bama.

Regarding attrition from that class, Two running backs, Matchett and Preyear, blew out their knees and quit the sport. Lawrence (DB) transferred back home to Miss (SoMiss) because he couldn't grasp Saban's playbook and was buried on the depth chart.  The same thing happened to B. Scott (db), the nations #1 athlete in 2008, and he transferred to South Alabama b/c he wanted to play.  Star (QB) transferred for playing time to Georgia State, where he couldn't win the starting job on a team who had only existed for 1 year prior to his arrival.  That's off the top of my head, and none were below-the-table stuff.

If you don't like greyshirts, fine - but it's not against the rules nor not in the best interests of the kid.  If you offer a kid a greyshirt opportunity and he takes it, who are you to be angry.  The ONLY thing you can get a little upset at Bama for is for us giving out Medical Scholly's.  
Saban has publicly said any medical decision is 100% up to the team physicians and he plays no part.  

Also, not a single kid has bad-mouthed Bama upon leaving.

Alabama has attrition, and it's usually b/c kids transfer b/c they're buried on the depth chart and want to play, or they go to the league early.  That last one has happenned A LOT lately.  There is not one single instance where Saban has run a kid off, and I challenge anyone here to find one.  Take care, and Roll Tide.

.. about Les Miles, and you did dodge a bullet - a retarded, grass-eating, good-recruiter-but-can't-coach-his-way-out-of-a-wet-paper-sack-with-instructions, throws-his-players-under-the-bus-on-nat'l-tv - bullet.  That was just a good-natured jab.

Regarding attrition, or cutting players:

I invite you to find one single instance of a player being forced out at Bama against his will.  I know of one Olineman a few years back that was upset at being offered/encouraged/borderline forced to take a medical scholly.  He was upset, and that is fair cause he didn't want to give up his dream.  In reality, he had had so many shoulder and arm injuries requiring surgery that he could rarely practice and wouldn't start for East Popcornville State because of his condition.  The kid couldn't contribute on the field for games or even practice.  He was just upset that he had to give up his dream before he wanted too, and felt forced out.

In my opinion, too bad.  If you have a trumpet scholarship, but get your lips chopped off and are unable to play the trumpet, you lose you scholarship - end of discussion.  Bama upheld it's end of the deal academically, making sure this kid could finish his education for free, both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

This is the only instance that I know of, and is several years old. This kid is the source of the hog-wash NYT article a few years ago.  Everyone else who left Bama's program in the last 6 years left because of one of 4 reasons:

1) injury and quitting the sport entirely, i.e. medical scholly.

2) transferring of their own accord due to lack of playing time.

3) transferring because they were knuckleheads, wouldn't do what was asked of them academically, or stayed in the doghouse because of getting into trouble

*** Regarding # 3:  Saban maintains a high standard of excellence academically, as evidence by our excellent graduation rate and APR scores.  If you don't go to class, you won't be a part of our team.  If you get into trouble, Saban will outline what you have to do to be reinstated and will allow you to work yourself back onto the team.  This happened most recently with Michael Bowman, a 4-star WR from a few years back who got into trouble by shooting fireworks inside the dorms.  Bowman was given ample opportunities to work his way back, but was lazy by his own admission.  

My point is that given that Saban recruits all-world high-school stars, the one's who don't cut it often have a hard time growing up and doing it the right way.  They also want to desperately play and transfer out on their own accord.  Saban keeps everything private and in-house about these kids misdeeds so that they can have another opportunity elsewhere and helps them find a school to go to.  They never badmouth Bama upon leaving, and I've read several articles in the last 2 years where these kids say how they don't regret their time at Bama ands would make the same decision to attend again.  Their new coaches in these articles alway say how they immediately became leaders on their new teams as a result of their experience at Bama.

When you're a bigtime school in the South, your recruiting pool is full of knuckleheads, some who will listen and some who won't.  It leads to more attrition over time, but it doesn't mean these kids were treated unfairly or weren't given 73 chances to get straight.  Saban runs a tight ship, but he always says that if you do things the right way, you will always have a spot on his team regardless of talent level or ability to contribute on the field.  He maintains that the best way to evaluate the strenght of a CFB team is to look at the bottom 40 kids of the 105.  That is the best indicator of a teams strenght and potential future success.

4) leaving early for the league, which has been very common lately at Bama.

IMHO, If you get into trouble continuously or don't go to class, you shouldn't keep your scholarship.  If you are buried on the depth chart and want to transfer, more power to you.  If you are physically unable to contribute, just like with any other scholarship, you shouldn't play, but you should be allowed to finish your education.  However, Saban has never forced a kid out, and I challenged you to prove me wrong.  Given that internet age, this should be easy for you to find if it exists.

Another piece of info regarding medical schollies that you will probably scoff at:  Because of Saban's way of doing things - getting the best recuits, having world-class facilities, coaches, and support staff, and the demands of our strength and condition program, Bama basically has an borderline-NFL team on campus.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but you have to go back to 2009 to find a starter in the secondary or at linebacker who's not currently in the NFL.  We play big-boy NFL style football in games and in practice.  People get hurt - a lot.  We've won so many games because the other teams' players get injured during the game despite our not playing dirty, and we're never tired in the 4th.  Bama has never and will never be accused of playing dirty.  Running a team this way means that a certain number of kids can't cut it, either behaviourally or physically, and that doesn't mean Saban's cheating or treating kids unfairly.  These are the reasons Saban's won more games than any other coach in major CFB since he arrived at Bama.

Don't be surprised to see some of your key players not finish the game come September, and it won't be because we played dirty.  We just have a low-quality NFL team in Tuscaloosa.  The same thing would happen if you played the St. Louis Rams, who I firmly believe we could've beaten last year.  We play a different brand of football - and you'll find out what I'm talking about.  Last year our Oline would've been the 14th largest line in the NFL, and our D was the best CFB defense ever assembled and would've held their own in the league, and been bigger and faster than many.  

Additionally, just 'cause Saban has a prickly personality and is demanding and strict, doesn't make him immoral.  At some point you guys need to understand that the things you read on the interwebz are just to make money off of your mouse clicks, and insinuating impropriety about Saban makes for lots of mouse clicks.  People believe it given his personality, but I'll tell you that if I had a D1 calibre son, I'd make him play for Saban no matter where he was coaching.  He takes boys and makes them men, and holds them accountable for their actions.  I have no problem with that.