Traits Saban targets in recruits
Warning: This is a Bleacher Report article but it is far better researched and well writting your average BR dreck. Mods feel free to delete if it still violates the BR policy.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1649924-nick-sabans-secret-recruitin…
Interesting the way he targets size and physicality over speed, particularly because that seems to be Hoke's philosphy as well.
An article with this focus would be much better spent on a successful coach who DOESN'T bring in consistent top-five recruiting classes.
I'm pretty sure just about everyone wants the recruits Saban brings in, they just have to settle for the 5'8 cover CB rather than the 6'1 athlete because the 6'1 athlete went to Alabama/wherever.
All I got out of this is that Saban recruits athletic players who are NFL size, which you can get away with when you have the cache of an Alabama to dangle in front of a kid. Pair that with the chronic oversigning and it's no mystery why Nick is seeing his greatest success there.
he's good, in fact damn good. Not sure if it was your intent, but your comment makes it sound like most coaches could succeed there, which we know isn't true. I don't like Saban as much as the next guy, but you can't really deny he's one of the best college coaches of the generation.
Wasn't my intent to suggest that Saban wasn't a good coach. The point I was trying to make (poorly) is that when a coach of Saban's caliber is paired with a program of Alabama's quality you can pull in the highest quality of recruit. That coupled with the SEC's lax policy on oversigning mitigating the impact of recruiting busts, and Saban was bound to see the greatest amount of success in his career.
The fact that Saban had MSU competitive with Michigan in the mid-to-late 90's, when Lloyd had the program really humming, speak volumes as to the quality of coach that is Nick Saban.
True Saban gets players with size and speed but he seems to prioritize size over speed if he has to choose. I found it an interesting read because you see so much about speed speed speed and there obviously more to football than speed. Also, the description of CBs seems to be very similar to players like Stribling the coaches are recruiting.
and a good read, agree with OP, a suprise for a BR article.
I thought the only trait was Monsters.
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So big AND fast is a good thing....
That's what she... Oh wait, not the fast thing...
...I thought it was a race???
please dont bring race into this.
It's well written, but I don't know how much of a "secret recruiting recipe" it is to try to take big, fast players who are mentally tough. In addition, I don't think it's that surprising that Alabama recruits are slightly bigger than the average of top 50 recruits at their position, since the average Alabama recruit is probably more highly-rated than the average of the top 50 positional recruits. It's not necessarily that he's recruiting a different type of player; he's just recruiting the best specimens.
That said, to the extent that this is an actual trend and not just a byproduct of recruiting elite players, it sounds like it might be a result of Saban's history in the Parcells/Belichick coaching tree. Saban was Belichick's defensive coordinator with the Browns from 1991-94, and Parcells and Belichick are known to subscribe to the "planet theory" - that there are only so many people on the planet who are both big enough and athletic enough to play high-level football, so it's good to acquire as many of them as you can and teach them technique rather than to acquire polished players who may not be physically ideal.
Saban was not always getting the top guys in the country just by showing up. His success at Alabama was earned over time. We all act like it was a forgone conclusion when he took the job, but it wasn't. Alabama was struggling. Remember, they tried to get RR before we did.
The article does make a few good points. Their recruiting emphasis is on physical traits and mental toughness, much more than on football skills. They belive they can teach those.
Also, they don't view speed as the final trump card. A shorter faster guy is not going to win out, especially on defense.
What I like about this, of course, is that it is very similar to the approach Hoke and Co. are taking. We are bringing in lots of players with NFL bodies. We have a smart experienced staff to then coach them up.
No, we are not Alabama circa 2013, but we are much closer to it than we were a few years ago.
The article itself highlights the fact that Saban's first full recruiting class was full of studs, and every recruiting class since has been consensus top five. His AVERAGE class ranking at Alabama is second in the nation.
The article could have made the same point much better if, as I said in my first comment, they chose a coach with a good recent track record who isn't pulling in top talent every year.
Rich Rodriguez should read this article. He seemed to like small and slow.
"You mean to tell me Saban don't go after dat booty?"
"willing to accept grayshirt status days before enrolling to help program bypass scholarship limits"
Old news. Every top 25 program in America looks for size and speed. Every one of those programs have corners, WR, and safeties that can run a 4.4-4.5. The teams that get the 6'1 version of that will be better.
The real difference is having D-lineman that run a 4.7 and explode off the ball. That is what has seperated the SEC from the rest of the country the past decade.
This is exaclty why I believe if Hoke continues recruiting as he has been, and Urban does his thing at OSU, it will be the exact same outcome as Alabama-Florida, with a bit less talent on both sides. Our physicality will grind down Urban's scheme, and Hoke will win the majority of these contests.
Urban will leave for family reasons once the writing is on the walls.
Man I miss the days when a post on Alabama would hit the board and good old RDT would chime in with his SEC "expertise". That type of insider knowledge is just hard for the board to replace.
Saban recruits players that play as Monsters that are Chaotic Evil
I think Saban's alignment might be closer to Lawful Evil though, given his organizational skills.
Maybe neutral evil as you probably can't be lawful and engage in shady practices like over-signing and dubious medical hardships.
His organization skills and control over the organization lend credence to your argument - although the recent "brushes" with the law by several of his players may lead me to believe he's slipping in some Chaos now and again.
Money(underthetable)ball
Nick Saban's checklist:
Qualms with oversigning: Nope! (what an idiot)
Financial Need: Yup (make sure to monitor his twitter so no pictures show up)
Educational Preference: None
Overall: Offer this guy, pay him, sign him
I wonder how Hoke's recruits would match up on the size/weight measurables in that chart. I'd guess closer than bleacher report might expect.
How on earth can one compare the ranking of Saban's recruiting classes to Shula's? Mike Shula was stuck being Alabama's coach when they had just been hit with with the loss of 21 scholarships over 3 years. Class size is an important component of class ranking. And that's not even considering oversigning...
Saban is such a try hard.
Too bad he didn't try hard enough when he was with sparty. Spanked 3/5 times he played Michigan.
A trojan horse for an ACL that can be deployed when scholarship numbers get tight?
Player depth is a huge reason as well why Alabama is rolling. They almost have no drop off from their 1st to 2nd to 3rd string players, maybe just experience differences. It took them a little bit to build to this but I feel this is also what Hoke is coming to. We are still in a building phase and 1-2 years, probably 2, we should be fully stocked, locked and ready to go.
I'm not clicking, but from what everyone here is saying, the "revelations" appear to be the same ones that we got a year ago in the buildup to the Michigan/Alabama game.
I'm also pretty sure the coaches knew that before they played Bama.
Sure, his abuse of medical redshirts is worthy of criticism, but the man can flat out coach. His teams are reminisicent of Bryants' Bama teams or Wilkinson's OU teams in that they are a machine. They just win. We are living in a time of nearly unparalleled dominance by one team.
However, all dynastys come to an end. It should be interesting to see who eventually dethrones Bama.
Last I checked, Bryant and Wilkinson didn't oversign and then withdraw scholarships when the kids were already frickin' on campus. I don't think anyone here bashes Saban for what happens on the football field. But nice straw man to help you stroke your ego.
I don't think Bryant and Wilkinson had to deal with scholarship limits.