Nick Saban needs no help in the recruiting space. But give him a fresh national title to sell -- because, you know, the other three were getting stale -- and, brother, look out.
Alabama landed the nation’s top class yet again, as pronounced by Rivals.com. It’s the Tide’s seventh recruiting title in 10 years.
“They didn’t get everybody they wanted, which people think Alabama always does, but they closed very strong,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said in a statement.
Saban confirmed his plight on Wednesday afternoon.
Nick Saban: "You don't get everything you want all the time."
— Marq Burnett (@Marq_Burnett) February 3, 2016
Alabama closed its 2016 class with 24 signees -- including five five-stars (no one else signed as many as four) and 10 four-stars. Their star average was a national-best 3.83.
“We expected that to happen. We knew those in-state linebackers were going to go, we had the assumption they’d be able to get Terrell Hall, although Maryland gave them a good fight on that one.
“Add those guys to players they got these last few days like Nigel Knott, they got Jared Mayden on Signing Day, Shyheim Carter as expected. I wasn’t really surprised by anything. The amazing thing about Alabama is they’re still No. 1 and they whiffed on some guys they really wanted like A.J. Brown and Jeffery Simmons.
“Even when ‘Bama strikes out, they’re still able to put together the best class in the country and there is really no argument because the star rankings bear it out as well. Their average star ranking is No. 1, their class is No. 1 and that’s the barometer to use.”
Farrell says -- and, really, he’s stating the obvious here -- Alabama’s recruiting championships have informed their actual championships.
These were the last four recruiting class rankings (using Rivals) for the past 10 national champions: pic.twitter.com/JPfftL3K5X
— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) February 3, 2016
“Four of seven national championships and seven of nine team recruiting titles perfectly fits together,” Farrell said.
“People think being No. 1 doesn’t matter. They should go back and look at Texas in 2002, LSU in 2003, USC, Florida, the Alabama dynasty. Recruiting team rankings equal national championships, bottom line.”