I saw that ESPN ranking of our offseason and I just had to laugh. They grade our portal haul and talk about how we revamped the offensive line and I think back to the 1994 team when we had guys like Sherman Williams and Tarrant Lynch coming out of the backfield and we built chemistry over three years in the same system. Now we are plugging in four or five transfers on the offensive line and hoping they learn to play together by September. Coach Stallings would have looked at this roster and asked where the seniors were, the guys who had been through spring drills together for three straight years.
The portal has turned loyalty into a joke. Remember when we had a guy like Derrick Thomas come in as a freshman and stay through his senior season and become the greatest linebacker in school history? Now these kids transfer if they do not start by the third game. I saw that Colorado brought in 43 transfers this offseason and people are calling it innovative. Coach Bryant is rolling over in his grave. He built the 1979 championship team with high school kids he recruited three years earlier, not a bunch of mercenaries shopping their talents every December.
And do not get me started on the spring portal window getting eliminated. That is the only good thing the NCAA has done in ten years. But the damage is done. We have kids entering their names in December before the season even ends. I remember when you committed to Alabama and you stayed at Alabama unless Coach told you to move on. That is how we won national championships in the 90s, by developing players over four years, not by buying a roster every February.
NIL has ruined everything. The portal has ruined everything. And ESPN can rank our offseason however they want, but I will take a team of juniors and seniors who have been through the battles over a roster full of portal all-stars any day of the week. That is how we beat Miami in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. That is how we won it all.