You see this Yahoo Sports piece about our GM Courtney Morgan and the whole NIL policy in Tuscaloosa, and I have to say it is refreshing to see us sticking to our guns in this crazy environment. This recruiting target essentially confirmed that we do not negotiate NIL like a bidding war, we stick to what we think a kid is worth and we do not budge. That is the kind of backbone you love to see, but it also makes me wonder if we are playing checkers while Oregon and Texas are playing chess with these kids.
Back in the 1992 season when we won it all under Coach Stallings, you never heard a single word about what a recruit was getting paid to come to Tuscaloosa. You came because of the tradition, the weight room, the coaching, the chance to play on Saturdays in front of 100,000 people. That was the currency. Now a 17 year old kid is sitting in a living room with his parents and a lawyer and an agent and they are comparing spreadsheets like it is a car dealership. It is embarrassing for the sport honestly.
You watch what is happening with Colorado bringing in 43 transfers and Oklahoma State bringign in 50 under their new coach and I just shake my head. That is not building a program, that is running a fantasy football league. Where is the loyalty? Where is the development? Coach Bryant used to say you win with players who have been in your system for three years, who know your expectations, who bleed the same color. Now a kid shows up for spring ball and if he does not get the NIL bump he wants he is gone by June.
I read that the spring transfer portal window got eliminated starting this year and I think that is the best thing the NCAA has done in a decade. At least now there is some stability during the season. But the damage is done. The culture is changed forever. We used to have walk ons who would run through a brick wall for a scholarship. Now you have five star kids who transfer three times before they ever take a meaningful snap. Coach Stallings would have run them off the practice field.
And do not get me started on how this affects the depth chart. You cannot build a program when you do not know who will be on the roster from one semester to the next. We used to have battles for positions that lasted three years. Guys like Cornelius Bennett did not show up and start day one, they earned it. Now a kid gets beat out in spring practice and he is in the portal by Monday morning. That is not football, that is a business transaction.
I respect that Alabama is trying to do it the right way with a firm NIL policy, but I worry we are going to lose kids to programs that will promise the moon and worry about the consequences later. You see Oregon with five five star recruits in their 2026 class and you have to wonder how much of that is tradition and coaching and how much of it is just straight cash. The sport is not recognizable anymore. I miss when June meant voluntary workouts and summer conditioning and nobody was worried about tampering or b...