Just A Minute: Alabama Recruiting Advantage has Never Been Bigger

Is this the pinnacle?

Seriously, it this it? Because I keep wondering if we'll recognize it when the Alabama football program gets there.

There have been numerous peaks to this mountain of a dynasty that Nick Saban has created, and over and over again Alabama keeps raising the flag at the top.

• Six national championships since 2009.

• Facilities that are second-to-none, even by the highest standards.

• Coaches that come-and-go as fast as the players, and then start their own climb while sporting national title rings.

• Alabama even had a Heisman Trophy winner at the wide receiver position in 2020, while the offense also claimed the Davey O'Brien, Doak Walker, Fred Biletnikoff and the Joe Moore Award for best quarterback, running back, receiver and offensive line, respectively, in college football — plus don't forget the Outland Trophy and Rimington Awards for best interior lineman and center.

Incidentally, that's beyond unprecedented.

Yet despite knowing that the Crimson Tide will have a new offensive coordinator, starting quarterback, running back, wide receiver and three new starting offensive linemen, a lot of people are claiming Alabama should be No. 1 heading into the 2021 season.

It shouldn't, and we'll get into why another time, but the primary reason why it'll be in the mix regardless is recruiting.

In 2018, Saban had his seven-year streak of having the consensus top recruiting class in the nation snapped, to which he simply went out and got another No. 1 class, and tomorrow will finish up another.

Regardless of which recruiting service you prefer — although we hope its Sports Illustrated — it's impossible to deny that Alabama had the most talent in college football last season.

Even with so many departures it'll again have the most talent top-to-bottom on the roster in 2021.

Will it lead to another national title?

We'll all have to wait until the fall to find out, but in the meantime Alabama has still been in the national-title picture for every regular-season game since 2010 minus three.

That's more than a decade folks.

As long this continues, and Alabama keeps looking down at the rest of college football, it'll keep attracting both the best coaches and best players on a regular basis.

Christopher Walsh's Just a Minute commentary appears Tuesdays on BamaCentral