Just saw that ESPN piece ranking our offseason and grading us on the portal haul and I had to sit down. They talk about how we revamped the offensive line through the portal and call it a smart move. Smart move. I remember when we built offensive lines the old way. Coach Stallings in 1992 had guys like John Earle and that group that just grew together. They did not show up for one spring and leave the next winter. They sat in the same meeting rooms for three years and learned to pull together without even looking at each other. That 1992 defense was special but that offensive line opened holes for Derrick Lassic to run for 100 yards in the Sugar Bowl against Miami. You cannot buy that chemistry in a portal window. You cannot download it from a recruiting site. You earn it in August two-a-days when the humidity is suffocating and your hands are raw from snapping the ball.
And the thing that gets me is everybody is so proud of these grades. ESPN grades our offseason like it is a term paper. A for portal work. A for recruiting. Meanwhile we lost something that made us Alabama. The 1994 team that went 12-1 and beat Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl did not have a single transfer on the roster. That team had Sherman Williams running bheind guys who had been in the program since they were 18 years old. We played Florida in the SEC Championship Game and wore them down in the fourth quarter because we had depth we built over years not months. Now we patch holes like a tire shop and call it modern roster management.
NIL and the portal have turned college football into free agency. And I know I sound like I am yelling at clouds but I watched Coach Bryant build a dynasty with junior college kids who had something to prove and walk-ons who would run through a wall for a scholarship. Not kids shopping their talents every December because they did not get enough targets. The 1992 team had a walk-on kicker who won the Super Bowl later. Michael Proctor. Where is that story now? Now it is all about who got the biggest bag in the winter window.
I will still be here in September. I will still be screaming at the television when we pull a guard on a power play. But do not ask me to celebrate a grade from ESPN for how well we shopped in the portal. The 1992 team did not need a grade. They just needed a football and a field.