If there are any recruits out there who haven’t had their home visit from Alabama coach Nick Saban, here’s a piece of advice: Don’t get upset if he declines to try your mom’s home-cooked dinner. Jonathan Allen didn’t, and he explained why on Tuesday.
The former Crimson Tide defensive end went in-depth on Saban’s recruiting visit for the Players’ Tribune, noting specifically the time Saban turned away an offer to eat dinner home-cooked by mama Allen while making an in-home stop.
So what, right? Well, Allen goes on to explain what this meant for him ...
Coach Saban isn’t going to sit there, and put on a big smile, and promise you this and that. He isn’t going to tell you that you’re a surefire starter, or an All-SEC shoo-in, or a first-round NFL pick. He isn’t going tell your mom, “Wow … this has to be the best pot roast I’ve ever had.”
Actually — you know how I know that? Because Nick Saban turned down my mom’s food. Straight up: Coach came over to our house for a recruiting visit. And my mom, knowing we were having company over, had done some home cooking. So, of course, when Coach walked in the door, my mom offered him some dinner. And wanna know what coach said to Mom?
“I already ate.”
He said thank you, but no thank you, he already ate. He hit her with the already ate. And all joking aside — Coach was incredibly polite, and I share that story purely out of love — it was a pretty telling moment for me. In this weird way, it told me everything that I needed to know about about Coach Saban’s intentions. And what I mean by that is: Coach Saban hadn’t come over to put on a show, or to flatter us, or to tell us what he thought we wanted to hear. He didn’t make some big sales pitch, or promise the moon. He didn’t promise a starting spot, or SEC dominance, or national titles, or NFL riches — none of that. Truthfully, Coach didn’t promise me a thing. But what he did do was sit across from me … and answer every single one of my questions … and treat me like an adult.
The takeaway is that Allen’s story about his coach falls in line with practically everything we’ve heard about Saban, who once told Julio Jones he would win at Alabama with or without him. Saban is not an over-the-top recruiter who will make promises to every highly rated kid out there. He won’t suck up to the parents by scarfing down meatloaf or tell recruits how much they’re needed.
Because he doesn’t have to, and that is an important distinction.
Allen appreciated Saban’s honesty, as have a number of Alabama’s top-flight recruits. It’s a counterintuitive move -- one would think blue-chip recruits who have been told how great they are would want that type of individual attention -- but it brings to mind what CBS color commentator Gary Danielson told me last fall.
“I remember when Michigan and Ohio State were recruiting players under Bo [Schembechler] and Woody [Hayes],” Danielson said. “In those days, they would offer what we would consider today to be a 5-star player. The player would say ‘You already have a bunch of players at my position, maybe I should go to, say, Purdue so I can actually play,’ and Woody and Bo would say ‘Yeah maybe you should.’ The ones who accepted the challenge were the ones they wanted. And the ones who didn’t, they would go get beat.”
“That’s the process that happens at Alabama. The ones who aren’t afraid to compete are the ones Alabama wants.”
We make our jokes at #TheProcess, but it’s something Saban lives by and recruits buy into. It’s not for everyone once they step on campus, and that’s fine, but those who accept the challenge have gone on to do great things.
Allen’s entire article is worth reading as it goes into great detail about what it’s like playing for Saban. What stands out above all else is that the coach makes it clear right away he bows down to no one.
