Nick Saban didn’t hold back from subtly flexing the number of guys playing in the NFL that he recruited during his time in the SEC on the Pat McAfee Show.
“Right now we have 61 players from Alabama in the league,” Saban said when explaining how Georgia’s head coach Kirby Smart is following in his footsteps in the recruiting process.
McAfee didn’t take the number so casually as he looked pleasantly shocked, even double-checking the number with Saban.
“I bet you what, 95% of the programs in the country don’t have 61 in history of their program to get to the NFL, I assume legitimately,” McAfee added.
“Right now we have 61 players from Alabama in the league,” Saban said when explaining how Georgia’s head coach Kirby Smart is following in his footsteps in the recruiting process.
McAfee didn’t take the number so casually as he looked pleasantly shocked, even double-checking the number with Saban.
“I bet you what, 95% of the programs in the country don’t have 61 in history of their program to get to the NFL, I assume legitimately,” McAfee added.
“I think it is because that’s very similar to what we always try to sell Alabama,” Smart started explaining how Georgia is following their recruiting principles. ” “It was the development, that when you play you’re going to play well and that’s what’s going to create opportunity for you. So don’t worry about playing as a freshman because you may even play too early and if you’re not ready to play and be productive, that could actually hurt you. So let’s focus on your development, you know how good can you be and then when you play. You’re ready to take advantage of your opportunity and then you’re going to get drafted. That helps you get the next guy because every one of these guys wants to play in the NFL someday so that’s a huge selling point in recruiting,” Saban explained.
During his 17 seasons at Tuscaloosa, Saban signed seven No. 1 nationally-ranked classes, six of them coming in six consecutive years from 2011-2017, and the lone one coming right up in 2019, after getting ranked at No. 6 in 2018, according to 247Sports.
Even when Saban left, several of his top recruits like Ryan Williams put their faith in Kalen DeBoer, who, today, is emerging as the star player at Alabama. This not only makes Saban one of the very few head coaches with 61 players currently playing in the NFL; but also a head coach who created a dynasty, a culture in his team.
That is precisely why Nick Saban is one of the most iconic head coaches in the history of college football.
