Perhaps the appeal of Alabama is getting old?

[Goat Holder]

Hey, you can't take away from their accomplishments. But even I have to say Alabama is just sort of mundane and old to everyone except their fan base. And I'm not hating, TUSK.....just giving an honest opinion. With Marlon Humphrey probably looking other places.....I'm sort of thinking that the cycle for them might be starting to go down hill. Not necessarily THIS year or even next year. 4 of their 17 commitments are not from Alabama......just saying, this is usually how it starts. Saban is the coach and I'm definitely impressed with his motivational tactics, but everybody gets a little lazy at times, especially veteran coaches on the 'crootin' trail.

Now is the time for MSU to be raiding the state for the high 3 stars and 4 stars that Bama didn't show da love to. We can beat Auburn, especially on players in B'ham and West Alabama. Perhaps a pipe dream in Humphrey? Maybe, maybe not.

[TUSK]

I think there's some validity to your post..... and it's two-fold: 1) like you said, the appeal may not be there over the next few years like it has been; 2) with Bama recruiting going more and more national (due to success), there's going to be less focus in-state.

additionally, I only want to get 5-8 guys per year in-state... anymore than that, and I feel the talent drops off... there's just not enough talent in any one state to field a championship team (save the usual exceptions... FL, GA, CA, TX etc)



Hey, you can't take away from their accomplishments. But even I have to say Alabama is just sort of mundane and old to everyone except their fan base. And I'm not hating, TUSK.....just giving an honest opinion. With Marlon Humphrey probably looking other places.....I'm sort of thinking that the cycle for them might be starting to go down hill. Not necessarily THIS year or even next year. 4 of their 17 commitments are not from Alabama......just saying, this is usually how it starts. Saban is the coach and I'm definitely impressed with his motivational tactics, but everybody gets a little lazy at times, especially veteran coaches on the 'crootin' trail.

Now is the time for MSU to be raiding the state for the high 3 stars and 4 stars that Bama didn't show da love to. We can beat Auburn, especially on players in B'ham and West Alabama. Perhaps a pipe dream in Humphrey? Maybe, maybe not.

[Political Hack]

Bama could split their class between only AL, GA, and FL and still have a top 5 class. I hope they do recruit nationally more and more. I hope LSU does the same. Each year if we can get 3-4 from AL, 3-4 from LA, 1-2 for GA, 1-2 from TN, and 3-4 Jucos, we'd only be left with about 12 or so spots for MS high school kids. We typically add a few from random spots too, like TX, FL, Carolina's, etc...

Agree with Tusk's general sentiment, if you're getting all your talent in state, you're not getting the best talent.

[CadaverDawg]

Hey, you can't take away from their accomplishments. But even I have to say Alabama is just sort of mundane and old to everyone except their fan base. And I'm not hating, TUSK.....just giving an honest opinion. With Marlon Humphrey probably looking other places.....I'm sort of thinking that the cycle for them might be starting to go down hill. Not necessarily THIS year or even next year. 4 of their 17 commitments are not from Alabama......just saying, this is usually how it starts. Saban is the coach and I'm definitely impressed with his motivational tactics, but everybody gets a little lazy at times, especially veteran coaches on the 'crootin' trail.

Now is the time for MSU to be raiding the state for the high 3 stars and 4 stars that Bama didn't show da love to. We can beat Auburn, especially on players in B'ham and West Alabama. Perhaps a pipe dream in Humphrey? Maybe, maybe not.

This is even more reason to like and embrace the different uniform styles, the stadium renovations, the hashtags, etc....Alabama wins at a high level, but outside of that they don't really appeal to young kids as much as they do to old timers that have followed that tradition.

That's not meant as a jab...it's just the truth. I think Bama could use some flash. Kids these days get bored with ground and pound, classic uni's, not as much social media activity, etc. That is why we HAVE to key on those things that set us apart from Bama, bc we are not going to attract a big time kid that likes what Bama has to offer....because we don't offer those same things. But we CAN do other things with our football program better than they do. So we have to really emphasize those things instead of the lack of Championships, etc.

Does that make sense...I'm not sure I really explained what I was thinking there.

[CadaverDawg]

Bama could split their class between only AL, GA, and FL and still have a top 5 class. I hope they do recruit nationally more and more. I hope LSU does the same. Each year if we can get 3-4 from AL, 3-4 from LA, 1-2 for GA, 1-2 from TN, and 3-4 Jucos, we'd only be left with about 12 or so spots for MS high school kids. We typically add a few from random spots too, like TX, FL, Carolina's, etc...

Agree with Tusk's general sentiment, if you're getting all your talent in state, you're not getting the best talent.

Agree totally.

[Todd4State]

No- what will happen is Saban will leave Alabama at some point and THEN they will decline. See Bear Bryant followed by Perkins/Curry.

[CadaverDawg]

No- what will happen is Saban will leave Alabama at some point and THEN they will decline. See Bear Bryant followed by Perkins/Curry.

Exactly.

Saban helps them overcome any lack of appeal to young people by being a bad ass recruiter and winning the damn Title. That will always be the ultimate recruiting tool, so we have to focus on the next best recruiting tools to try and compete.

[Dawg61]

Alabama hasn't lost any appeal. It's July and the programs desperate for recruiting success are stockpiling recruits so they can boast about being top 5 in recruiting. When it comes NSD all the same top spots will be filled by the same teams.

[BruceWayne]

I have my fingers crossed. Just the idea of him with the MSU avi is huge. If all fails its still great exposure. I saw other recruits commenting on the avi and Instagram pic with Townsend,

[Will James]

As long as they are the premier track to the NFL and dolla dolla bills yo, Bammer will be appealing. Saban leaves and its over for that though.

[Pollodawg]

But, even when Saban leaves, Bama will be ok for a little while. The talent is there for them to continue to make championship runs. I just don't think they will be the machine that you have seen with him at the helm. Which, I may get blasted for this, but I will be honest. They need to cycle down. It sorta makes the conference.......boring when the haves always win and leave the rest of us fighting for scraps. Nobody wants to watch football that's over at the half, which most games are with Bama these days. We need more parity.

[Dawg61]

I'd love it more than anything if Bama would come back to earth but I just don't see that happening any decade soon. Even if Saban leaves they will just pay the next best coach out there a shit ton of money and he will take over. I'll be curious how Petrino does at W Kentucky this year and how long it takes him to be at another SEC school. I think he is just as good as Saban and can take Saban down in the right situation.

[AlSwearengen]

I think Humphrey's comments might be giving us a false sense that bama has lost some of it's appeal. From time to time, a player like Humphrey might be looking for something different than 99% of 5* players or maybe he just feels more comfortable someplace other than bama. Also, at bama, there are 4* and 5* players at your position and it is very possible that you have to wait until your junior year before you are the starter and that is only b/c you have to wait for a couple high round draft picks to get out of your way. Bama will lose a top flight player from time to time b/c of the depth chart, which is a nice problem to have and if they don't get humphrey this year, they will just sign a 5* corner next year. We could go on and on, but bama will keep clicking as long as saban is there. I think another good debate is how much longer will saban be at bama?

[CadaverDawg]

I think Humphrey's comments might be giving us a false sense that bama has lost some of it's appeal. From time to time, a player like Humphrey might be looking for something different than 99% of 5* players or maybe he just feels more comfortable someplace other than bama. Also, at bama, there are 4* and 5* players at your position and it is very possible that you have to wait until your junior year before you are the starter and that is only b/c you have to wait for a couple high round draft picks to get out of your way. Bama will lose a top flight player from time to time b/c of the depth chart, which is a nice problem to have and if they don't get humphrey this year, they will just sign a 5* corner next year. We could go on and on, but bama will keep clicking as long as saban is there. I think another good debate is how much longer will saban be at bama?

Agree. I don't think Bama has lost ANY appeal. I just think their appeal is different than ours. Winning and the NFL will always be the best recruiting tool.