Grace McWhorter talks about our run game improvements and the QB battle and I just think about something entirely different. We are sitting here in the summer dead period with a portal-heavy offensive line that we had to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle and that is not how Alabama built cahmpionships in the 1990s. I remember the 1992 offensive line with guys who came in as freshmen, redshirted, learned under Coach Stallings for two years, and then started for three seasons together. They knew each other's tendencies without saying a word. Now we are asking five guys who met each other in January to block for a quarterback who transferred in last year. That is not how you win in November.
Nick Saban was on Finebaum talking about what he would change in college sports and I bet the transfer portal was at the top of his list. The man built seven national titles on high school recruiting and player development. He took three star kids and turned them into first round picks because they stayed in the system for four years. Now we are ranked in the top 25 for portal classes and I am supposed to be excited about it. Give me the old way where you signed a kid from Mobile or Birmingham or Tuscaloosa and he bled crimson for four years before he ever thought about leaving. That is how you build a program that lasts.
This under-the-radar players list ESPN put out is fine and all but half those kids will be in the portal next December before they ever become household names. The loyalty is gone and that is the part that hurts the most.