Nick Saban reveals his most interesting recruiting story of all time

James Burnip is a freshman punter for Alabama. He is the first player in Nick Saban’s coaching career that has come directly from Australia to Alabama to play football. Saban was asked about Burnip’s transition to America on Thursday, and that led to a great story about another Australian-born player Saban has coached in the past – Jesse Williams. Saban called Williams’s recruitment one of the most interesting Alabama recruiting stories of all time.

Williams did not come straight from Australia to Alabama. He played at Arizona Western College to begin his collegiate career. Williams enrolled at Alabama in 2011 and started on their national championship teams in 2011 and 2012 on the defensive line.

After two seasons at Alabama, the Seattle Seahawks selected Williams in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Williams missed his rookie season with an injury but was part of Seattle’s Super Bowl winning roster. He also missed all of the 2014 season and never found his footing in the NFL due to injuries and health issues.

Saban recalls the unique experience of recruiting Williams to Alabama

Alabama brings in high-end recruits every season and a lot of great players come and go all the time. But for Saban, Williams is a player that Saban will never forget. Recruiting Williams involved a lot of conversations between Saban and Williams’ parents, who had never visited Alabama or even America.

“Jesse was here (in America) for two years (before playing at Alabama),” Saban said. “But Jesse was the most interesting recruiting story of all time. Jesse’s parents had never been to America and Jesse had been in America for two years. We’re recruiting Jesse from junior college, and it’s like six in the morning because it’s 10 at night in Australia, and I would do zooms. I would do these zooms and I did five or six of them. Recruiting zooms, talking about academic support and all the things we do for players. I mean, his parents knew nothing about American college, nothing about training technique, they knew nothing about anything. They were great people, just fantastic people.

“After about the fifth zoom call, (Jesse’s father) Arthur came on the line and he said, ‘Well, I’ve decided where I want Jesse to go to school.’ My heart just dropped. They hadn’t been here on an official visit, never been to America and I’m thinking he’s not coming to Alabama when his dad says that. I said, ‘Well how did you come to this decision, Arthur?’ And he said, ‘I’ve got 25 schools calling me here and all they ever talk about is Alabama. So I think you guys must be the best. So that’s where I want Jesse to go.’ And that’s how we got him.”