Nick Saban opens up on how early signing period has changed recruiting

The recruiting world has gone through multiple changes since Nick Saban took over at Alabama in 2007. Perhaps the biggest difference is the early signing period, which debuted during the 2017-18 season and allows recruits to sign their National Letters of Intent in December.

As a result, there’s a balancing act to perform as teams prepare for bowl games — or, in the Crimson Tide’s case, the College Football Playoff. National Signing Day is now one of the most important days on the college football calendar, sandwiched between conference championships and the CFP, and it means coaches have to keep their heads on swivels.

So while Alabama brought in another highly touted class, there are still come uncommitted prospects out there for the taken. Saban said the focus now has to turn to the Rose Bowl against Michigan, although the staff is still monitoring the available talent.

“Our focus right now is on the game, aight?” Saban said. “We’re trying to get ready for a game. I know we’ve got to recruit, and we’re trying to recruit and there’s a lot of stuff, there’s a lot of guys in the portal. There’s still some players out there that we’re recruiting that we think are outstanding players. We’re trying to do the best that we can in every regard from coaching our players standpoint to trying to get quality players to come here.

“But the whole recruiting process, when we had the early signing date years ago, we said this would be come the signing date. Well, it also just moved the recruiting calendar up, like, six months, aight? So players visit in the summer time. That’s when most guys visit. We used to have tons of guys visit in January. We’ll have very few guys visiting in January. The whole thing is kind of pushed forward. I don’t know how to answer. There’s just a lot of things happening right now, aight, that kind of take our time and focus and attention — the game’s important, recruiting’s important our team’s important. We’re trying to manage our time the best that we can to do a good job in all those areas so that we can finish.”

Nick Saban: ‘We try to be honest, we try to be up front’ with recruits

As recruiting changed, Nick Saban had to evolve with the times, too. It’s safe to say he’s done just fine. Alabama’s 2024 recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the nation as of 9:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking. It shows the Crimson Tide are still toward the top of college football amid the NIL and transfer portal era.

When it comes to staying ahead of the curve in the recruiting world, Saban’s philosophy is simple.

“We try to be honest, we try to be up front, we try to sell people on the fact that they can create value in their brand that we’re gonna make a great investment in them here personally, academically and athletically,” Saban said. “There’s a lot of guys that still buy into that.

“I think name, image and likeness has maybe spread where guys go out because some guys are interested in how much money they can make. And that’s okay. But we’re trying to invest in the players and their future so they can create more value for their future. There’s a lot of players that still buy into that.”