Nick Saban isn't slowing down after landing historic class for Alabama
Less than a month after leading Alabama to perhaps its best-ever season on the field, Nick Saban made some more history Wednesday. The Crimson Tide added two members to its already-impressive 2021 class, topping the Rivals team rankings while securing the highest-rated class in modern recruiting history.
Alabama polished off its 27-member class by adding five-star running back Camar Wheaton and Rivals100 safety Terrion Arnold. Those two additions give the Tide 3,555 points in the Rivals team rankings, topping Alabama's previous mark of 3,477 points set in 2017
If that ability to reload isn’t discouraging enough for opposing teams across the nation, Saban doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. During an interview with Rivals national recruiting director Mike Farrell, the Alabama head coach was asked when he planned on eventually hanging up his whistle.
Saban’s response: “No time soon.”
“I don't have a timeframe,” he expanded. “I love doing what I'm doing. I love being in a position of leadership. I love to be able to impact young people in a positive way and help them be more successful in life.
“If I didn’t think I was contributing to the program in a positive way, then I would consider not doing it.”
Saban certainly seems to be contributing to the program just fine — on and off the field. If navigating Alabama through an All-SEC regular-season schedule en route to a national title during a pandemic-altered season wasn’t enough, the head coach’s efforts on the recruiting trail this past year are equally impressive.
In total, this year’s haul includes five five-stars and 16 players ranked in the Rivals100. The Tide also reeled in the nation’s top offensive lineman (J.C. Latham), outside linebacker (Dallas Turner), cornerback (Ga’Quincy McKinstry) and running back (Wheaton).
That’s reminiscent of the Tide’s 2017 class which ended up featuring last season’s Heisman Trophy winner in DeVonta Smith as well as several other notable stars including Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Najee Harris, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, Alex Leatherwood, Jedrick Wills Jr., Dylan Moses and Xavier McKinney.
“I thought the 2017 class had some really good players,” Saban told Rivals. “As it panned out, they did. I think we’re fortunate to think that this class is going to have a lot of good players, too.
“But I always try to put the emphasis on not really how the players are ranked or rated now. It’s really how they develop in their career here. It takes a lot of intangibles, work ethic, discipline, stuff like that to be able to have the right mindset to try to continue to improve. That’s always the key to the drill for me.
“We’ve had some guys who were three-star players like Josh Jacobs and Quinnen Williams who both were first-round draft picks. So a lot of it is about development and how guys sort of develop in their career here.”
True to his own mentality, Saban isn’t getting complacent either. During the interview, the head coach said he’s already held Zoom calls with several 2022 recruits.
“I’ve been doing quite a few,” Saban said. “I think I have six or eight today or something like that, so we’re trying to get going on it. It’s a little different in that in the past you’ve been on the road for the last month or so, so you didn’t have the chance to do as many calls or Zooms or things like that. This year I’ve been doing them sort of every day. We dedicate a part of the day to recruiting, so it’s not as dramatic of a change in terms of what we’ve been doing.”
Alabama added the second member of its 2022 class on Tuesday when it received a commitment from Acadiana, La. defensive end Walter Bob. The Tide also holds a commitment from four-star linebacker Robert Woodyard, the No. 4 player in the state of Alabama.
