I read that ESPN piece about the portal killing QB competitions and I just shook my head because they used us as the headline example and that is exactly the problem. We used to have real battles in fall camp where you watched a kid earn the job through August scrimmages and two-a-days in the heat. I remember sitting in the stands for the 1993 A-Day game watching Brian Burgdorf and Jay Barker go at it and knowing whoever won that job had earned every snap because they had been grinding since January. Now we bring in a portal qquarterback and hand him the keys before he has even practiced in full pads because the NIL investment demands a return. The whole concept of earning the job is dead.
You look at what we are doing this spring with the offensive line and it is the same story. We went into the portal and pulled in three or four guys who will probably start because that is how it works now. Nobody develops anymore. Nobody sits for two years learning the system and learning what it means to be a Crimson Tide lineman. Coach Stallings would have never allowed a kid to transfer in and take a starting spot from a guy who had been in the program for three years. That was not how we did things. You earned your stripes by going through the grind with your brothers, not by shopping your services in December.
And the scary part is this is not going to get better. They eliminated the spring portal window starting this year so now everything happens in that winter frenzy and you have no idea who is going to be on your roster from one month to the next. I miss the days when you knew the starting lineup in January and you watched those guys grow together through spring practice and summer workouts and fall camp. Now we are piecing together a roster every single year like we are playing fantasy football. It works in the short term maybe but it kills the soul of the program. The 1992 defense did not become the best in school history because guys transferred in. They became that because they practiced together for three years and knew each other's tendencies blindfolded. You cannot buy that chemistry with a revenue sharing check.