Nick Saban isn't slowing down after landing historic class for Alabama
Nick Saban might not be the only Alabama head coach benefiting from the Crimson Tide’s historic 2021 class. Alabama football locked up the highest-rated recruiting class in modern history on Wednesday. While there was plenty of reason to smile inside the Mal Moore Athletic Facility on National Signing Day, the team that plays on the other side of the parking lot could benefit from the haul as well.
Two members of Alabama’s 27-man class were recruited to play both football and basketball for the Tide. Ga’Quincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry, the nation’s top cornerback has already taken part in a few practices this year on the hardwood before preseason conditioning begins for football. Wednesday, Alabama added another dual-sport athlete in Rivas100 safety Terrion Arnold, who is also hoping to pull double-duty for the Tide during his college career.
“I mean he’s tough,” Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats said of Arnold, who ranks as the No. 4 safety in the nation. “Coach [Bryan] Hodgson’s been recruiting him hard. You know him and Kool-Aid are guys who can play both. We teamed up with football to recruit him. He’s a tough, gritty point guard. You can get him the ball.
“We like him. Shoot, I FaceTimed with him this afternoon. I’m excited to bring him in.”
While basketball might be in the cards for both players, Alabama’s priority now is to get them settled on the gridiron. During his Wednesday Zoom call with reports, Saban said he was fine with the duo dabbling in basketball as long as they can still perform their football duties to the fullest level.
“I’ve told players that they can play other sports,” Saban said. “We kind of want them to do what they have to do in football when they’re freshmen so that they kind of learn the ropes. We’ve had guys run track here, several guys. We don’t have issues with guys playing other sports. [Keith] Holcombe played baseball. And I had several guys at Michigan State that played basketball, tried to play basketball, tried to do both.
“I’m happy with these guys, and Coach Oats and I have a good understanding of how we try to do it. It’s a little bit more difficult to play basketball because the seasons run together a little more, but if guys can contribute to our basketball program here, I’m all for it.”
Despite enrolling early and participating in a few practices with the team, McKinstry won’t be seeing any action for the Tide on the hardwood this season. While Oats believes the 6-foot-1, 180-pound point guard brings the blue-collar grittiness he desires in his program, he won’t have enough time to get up to speed with the rest of the basketball team which currently ranks No. 10 in the nation with a 15-4 record and a 10-0 mark in SEC play.
“Trying to get him accustomed to what we’re doing, it’s going to take a long time,” Oats said last month. You think about our new players now — they were here in June. You think about all the time that he’s missed. It’s going to be hard for him to do anything realistically with the team game-wise this year. But we’re gonna let him practice.”
Arnold, 6-foot, 180 pounds, will also focus primarily on football upon joining the Tide in the summer and will likely miss out on the majority of offseason reps with the basketball team. Wednesday, Oats pointed out that playing both sports at Alabama is particularly difficult given the success of the football team and how long it plays into the year.
Still, he’s not closing the book on the rare possibility.
“Football here is usually played on the last day of the season, which goes into January,” Oats said. “If they can get over and work with us in the summer, get some comfort level with that, we’ll see.”
Saban shares the same cautious reservation but is also keeping an open mind on the matter.
“We’re going to do everything to help them develop as football players, and when they don’t have football responsibilities they can certainly go play basketball. If they can contribute to our team, I’ll be happy for them and happy for our basketball program.”
