Recruiting Corner: June 1 Can't Arrive Quicker for Nick Saban and Alabama Football
The NCAA's mandated recruiting dead period is just a few short weeks from ending and University of Alabama coach Nick Saban couldn't be more excited again to recruit prospective student athletes in-person, rather than through Zoom and other virtual measures.
“The way we’ve had to recruit is we’ve had to take everything that we would do on a visit, everything that we’d do on how we would actually market and sell the university, our program, the academic interest of whatever the player was wanting to know about, everything about program,” Saban said on a special edition of Hey Coach earlier this week. “We take everything that we do on a visit — whether it’s player panel where families get to talk to the players by themselves to ask any question that they want, to the facilities, to relationships with the coaches — we’ve done all this stuff by Zoom, which is a part of technology. So we’ve all had to improvise and adjust how we do things.
“We actually can get more done this way in a lot of ways. It’s not personal, it’s all on Zoom. But I can sit here and do four visits in one night where if I was on the road doing it personally, I’d only be able to do one. So there are advantages and disadvantages. But I have to admit, when June 1 rolls around and we’re allowed to have guys visit, come to camp and develop personal relationships with the people in our organization, I’m really looking forward to that because one of the greatest assets that we have is we have great people. All these people develop tremendous relationships and how they impact and help the development of players in so many ways. I think it’s something that we look forward to being able to do again.”
Recruits have taken to social media this week to announce that they are locked into official visits with the Crimson Tide including 2022 offensive lineman Dayne Shor, who also announced that he will be making his commitment on July 31 and 2022 wide out Isaiah Bond.
Shor is expected in Tuscaloosa the weekend of June 25.
2022 defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, who hails from the state of Maryland where Alabama has had some success in the past, is another top target to watch this summer as he is currently planning on taking three official visits, one to Tuscaloosa, Georgia and Penn State.
The entire month of June is filled with high school football camps hosted by Alabama. This aspect of recruiting, which was totally nixed by COVID-19 last summer, will allow for Crimson Tide coaches to get their eyes on prospects and build that relationship needed going into the fall.
Zxavian Harris announces top schools
2022 defensive tackle Zxavian Harris announced his final six schools on Friday afternoon that included Alabama, Mississippi State, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU and Ole Miss.
The 6-foot-8, 335-pound lineman totaled 110 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and two forced fumbles this past season at Germantown High School in Madison, Miss.
