Just A Minute: Built By Bama is Now Old School, It's Adapt or Die For Everyone in College Sports
There is peace in the valley, if you will, as far as University of Alabama football is concerned, the exact opposite of every other program.
That's because we've seen this before, and we'll see it again.
The NCAA passed a rule designed to specifically curtail Nick Saban, the so-called Saban Rile, banning college coaches from evaluating recruits on the road during the spring.
It didn't slow him down at all.
Unable to keep up defensively, or physically, the rules were changed to open the game, benefitting fast-paced offenses.
Saban adapted, and most of those coaches who fought so hard for spread attacks and linemen can block down field on a pass behind the line of scrimmage, are no longer around.
The game became faster, up-tempo, featuring mismatches.
So Saban got the players to take advantage, and changed both his his offense and defense. Consequently, Alabama has been in the national title game six of the last seven seasons.
Now the transfer portal is wide open and the Crimson Tide is taking full advantage again. Last year it added instant starters Jameson Williams, who will almost certainly be a first-round draft pick in a couple of weeks, and linebacker Henry To'oTo'o.
This year Alabama has added playmaking running back Jahmyr Gibbs, wide receiver Jermaine Burton, and cornerback Eli Ricks. Tackle Tyler Steen signed on this week. More moves may be in the works.
You can't blame the players from wanting the opportunity, and what's Alabama supposed to do, not get better.
Granted, the Crimson Tide is beginning to look like the New York Yankees in how it has a clear advantage in free agency, but it's an advantage that it already had under Saban.
The latest caveat is NIL, and it's the same story. Other coaches and programs have been using it in recruiting, so Alabama will do so as well. "High Tide Traditions,” a third-party collective of boosters created to orchestrate NIL deals for Crimson Tide athletes, was launched this week.
"That creates a situation where you can basically buy players," Saban told the Associated Press. "You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place."
It's almost as if Saban's saying, "Ok, fine. What else you got?"
Ironically, it's widely believed that the real reason for the Saban Rule was the other coaches wanted more down time and be able to take vacations. Thanks to the transfer portal and NIL, there's no longer anything that resembles an offseason.
Adapt or die has basically become Alabama's motto, and with good reason, because no one does it better.
