I cannot believe we are sitting here in the summer dead period with ESPN breaking down 21 five-star kids like they are all gonna stay put for four years. That is not how this works anymore and it is driving me crazy. Back in the 1992 season when we won it all, we had guys like Antonio Langham who came in as a nobody and left as a legend. He did not transfer when things got hard. He did not jump into the portal because the NIL money was better somewhere else. He stayed, he worked, and he put a ring on his finger at the Sugar Bowl against that Miami team that thought they were unbeatable.
Now we have Oregon sitting on five five-star recruits in their 2027 class and everybody is acting like that is the new standard. I remember when we would go into a season with three or four blue-chip guys total and still run the table because we had heart and discipline. Coach Stallings would have laughed at the idea of recruiting rankings dictating your season. He would tell you to strap it up and earn it on the field. That is what I miss about this sport.
And do not even get me started on how these five-star kids are spread across a dozen different programs now. Back in the 80s and 90s, the best players in the country wanted to come play in the SEC because that is where the real football was played. Now you have kids gonna Texas Tech and Colorado because of the NIL deals and the lifestyle. I understand the game has changed but I do not have to like it. What happened to the days when a kid committed to Alabama because his daddy listened to Coach Bryant on the radio every Saturday night and knew what this program stood for?
I will say this much. We are sitting at No. 3 in the 2027 recruiting rankings and people are already panicking because we are not No. 1. That is ridiculous. We have a portal-heavy offensive line that is gelling in spring ball and we are bringing in the kind of talent that wins championships. But the days of having a roster full of homegrown kids who bleed crimson are gone. The portal killed that. The NIL killed that. And I am tired of pretending otherwise.