You see these recruiting rankings with 21 five-star kids and I just shake my head. Back in the 80s when Coach Bryant was still walking the sideline, we found our future All-Americans at a high school field in some Alabama town nobody ever heard of. Guys like Cornelius Bennett came out of nowhere and turneed into legends. Now these kids are built up like NFL prospects before they ever take a college snap. Half of them will transfer twice before they see a third season because the NIL money chases them around like a dog chasing a bone.
I remember when we landed a kid because his daddy worked at the mill and listened to Coach Bryant on the radio every Sunday night. That was how you built a program. You grew your own. Now these 2027 five-stars are spread across a dozen different programs and half of them have never even been to the state they are committing to. Oregon landing five of them is great for them but that is not how you build a legacy. Coach Stallings would have walked into that living room, sat down with the mama and daddy, and told them exactly what their boy was going to become. Not what his NIL valuation was going to be.
The portal killed loyalty and these recruiting rankings just prove it. We got 21 five-star kids and they are all chasing the biggest bag instead of the biggest legacy. Give me a kid who grew up wanting to run through that tunnel at Bryant-Denny over any five-star who is shopping his commit like a used car. That is how we won championships in the 90s and that is what we are missing now.