Alabama coach Nick Saban shares what he likes most about recruiting

Alabama coach Nick Saban has as much success as anyone on the recruiting trail.

The legendary coach has won seven national championships and has always said that coaches are only as good as their players.

Saban appeared on the Pat McAfee Show recently and opened up about recruiting and what he enjoys about getting out on the road.

“It’s been good. I enjoy recruiting. It’s fun to go out and meet people,” Nick Saban said. “I just took graduation pictures with a bunch of guys, and the first thing that comes to mind – these guys are graduating. It seems like yesterday I was in their home trying to get them to come to Alabama. And I always remember those home visits, because there’s some great experiences and meeting families and creating relationships.”

Alabama currently has the No. 3 recruiting class for the class of 2024, according to the On3 Industry rankings. The Crimson Tide finished No. 1 in 2023 and have finished No. 1 or No. 2 every year since 2019.

It’s clear that Nick Saban likes recruiting and is really good at it.

“So it’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it. And like I’ve said before, I only do a good job of coaching good players. So that kind of goes with the territory,” Saban said.

Nick Saban explains recruiting out of prep ranks vs. transfer portal, compares to NFL model

When it comes to stocking his roster at Alabama, head coach Nick Saban would prefer to do it with mostly players he recruited and signed out of high school. That doesn’t mean the Crimson Tide aren’t ready and able to mine the transfer portal as needed to fill a need.

And amid the confluence of high school recruiting and transfer portal that is early December, Saban shared some of his perspective on the new mode of roster building in college football on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. Saban analogized high school recruiting to the NFL draft and the transfer portal to free agency.

“I think it’s a little bit like, most teams in the NFL like to build their team through the draft. So we like to build our team through recruiting. Bring young guys, sort of develop the culture with them that you need long term to see them develop into being good players. But I look at the portal almost like you’d look at free agency,” Saban said.