Greeson: Recruiting overblown? Sure, but wins in February are huge, too

Alabama football coach Nick Saban wins on signing day before he wins in the fall, but it's how he uses talented recruits that separates the Crimson Tide from so many other programs.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban wins on signing day before he wins in the fall, but it's how he uses talented recruits that separates the Crimson Tide from so many other programs.

Make fun of the guys who spent all day Wednesday attached to their phones or computers if you want.

It's true that the recruiting process has become a monster on several fronts. It's a borderline holiday for the college football fanatics who are well aware of the 40-yard-dash time of the three-star wide receiver from Powder Springs, Ga., and it's the busiest day for fax machines everywhere.

But discount the importance of Wednesday at your own peril, and know this: National signing day matters.

It may not matter in terms of five-star or three-star labels on specific players. The ranking system is far from an exact science. But it does matter, because without the horses your team can't win consistently, regardless of the level.

Certainly talent development has a lot to do with program progression, but it's foolish even to suggest that teams can remain among the heavyweights - be it in the Southeastern Conference or the Southern Conference - without top-line talent. And as more and more underclassmen declare for the NFL draft, adding impact freshmen never has been more important.

The teams standing at the end are almost always the healthiest and the deepest, and those traits can be co-dependent. Staying healthy obviously helps depth. Conversely, if your team is deep, alternating playing time and keeping kids fresh help prevent injuries.

After winning another national championship last month - its fourth under Nick Saban - Alabama welcomed back a host of big-name players many thought were headed to the draft, including projected first-round defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. That limited the size of Alabama's new class but certainly not the impact of the newcomers, who will be needed soon enough considering most everyone expected Allen, tight end O.J. Howard and safety Eddie Jackson for sure to move to playing on Sundays.

The Crimson Tide rarely miss on elite prospects, landing five-star players who play like they deserve five stars. Other than a couple of off-the-field incidents - and those happen to everyone, regardless of star power - Alabama's five-star misses barely fill up one hand. But Alabama's skill involves more than simply luring the best classes almost every year since Saban overtook the SEC.

Saban has developed and perpetuated that star system into a real difference-maker.

First, he has never shied from playing freshmen, although he rarely has needed to at Alabama because of the talent level. Still, if you are a player the caliber of Julio Jones, Amari Cooper or Cam Robinson and you deserve to be on the field, you get on the field. This is not lost on prospective recruits.

Second, Alabama has more future NFL talent on special teams than any team anywhere outside of the NFL. Granted, almost all of it is young, but a multitude of the names you know in Alabama's newest class will be covering kicks and trying to block punts next fall. It's the Tide's five-star cycle of life: "Come to Alabama. Dominate special teams as a freshman. Become a starter as a sophomore. Get drafted and make coin. Rinse and repeat." Forget Timon and Pumbaa. This is Saban's pattern to the Alabama Pride Land, his own "Big Kahuna Tada" if you will.

Third, the multitude of star power allows Saban to be even more demanding of his front-line players. If Tennessee's Derek Barnett or Auburn's Carl Lawson consistently jump offside, their coaches are forced to try to work through the situation because the talent level of Barnett and Lawson is so far superior to their teammates. It's not an uncommon scenario and one certainly not limited to football.

Alabama, though, is different. If players there make silly mistakes, most of them find their way to the end of the line. Playing time is so precious and the difference between first- and second-string is so scant at most positions, Saban can demand better.

It allows him to be perfection's guardian in a lot of ways. It's hard to remember the last time Alabama had trouble with pre-snap penalties or foolish turnovers. (Yes, the five turnovers in last season's loss to Ole Miss were an outlier, and if the rest of the college football world is going to need five Alabama turnovers to win, well, that's a powerful statement on its own.)

The Tide's power comes from their talent, plain and simple.

Are they accomplished at developing that talent? Sure.

But the path to the top for Saban and Alabama was paved with a whole lot of victories on the first Wednesday in Febraury over the past decade.

Still think it doesn't matter?

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter @jgreesontfp.

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