Recruiting – Why Do You Care?

Alabama fans are doing it all wrong. They’ve been given a gift from Nick Saban but don’t seem to appreciate it in the slightest.

Here we sit, in the middle of the most competitive era in college football, and no one wants to take advantage of the benefits this unmatched level of success provides.

How many fans have white-knuckled the last day, week, month, or even year of recruiting? If you’re reading this, there’s a great chance you have done just that, and now you need to pay close attention to what I’m about to tell you.

Alabama finds itself in the midst of a dynasty despite Saban’s complete disregard for the word’s existence. And because of that, the list of benefits bestowed upon fans is incredible. Especially if you remember where the program was just 10 years ago.

There have been trips to three of the best January locations in America – Pasadena, New Orleans, and Miami. Sure, those trips have been all business for the football program, but they couldn’t have been any more carefree for fans traveling alongside. You can make the argument that the biggest worry over the course of three BCS National Championship Games in four years might have been safely navigating the streets of New Orleans after a celebratory few hours on Bourbon Street in 2012.

That will probably come off as arrogant and haughty to fans of any other program in college football, but it’s the truth.

Forget the other obvious benefits that have coincided with the Saban era at Alabama - what fans need to understand immediately is the most underappreciated perk afforded to Bama fans is that recruiting doesn’t matter anymore.

Before you start disagreeing, realize that I’m not referring to the football program. Of course recruiting is as important as it’s ever been for Saban and his staff. But the days where Alabama fans follow recruiting year-round should be over.

Let me be honest with you. I used to be in your shoes. I bought into Mike Shula’s 10-hour in-home visit with Tim Tebow right he committed in 2005 - how he could overcome the Danny Weurffel posters on his bedroom wall and the Florida mailbox at the end of the driveway to still sign the nation’s best quarterback.

I remember thinking Alabama had a chance to sign Joe McKnight out of Louisiana. After all, he had visited Tuscaloosa on his own time while he was playing a 7-on-7 tournament at Hoover High School and had a Bama hat on the table at his announcement.

I also gullibly believed Fred Rouse could be plucked out of a high school in Tallahassee, Florida, despite every other sign pointing to Florida State.

Why? Because it mattered. It was crucial to Alabama’s future. They absolutely had to sign these kids to return to the national scene. During a four-year period from 2002-05, the Crimson Tide signed one 5-star, 18 4-stars, and 17 2-stars according to Rivals. As a result, you needed to be exuberant anytime a top 100 player mentioned Alabama.

Times have changed. Here’s a point of reference to show you just how far things have come under Saban. Over the previous four recruiting classes (2009-12), Alabama has inked 11 5-stars, 57 4-stars, and only 1 2-star according to that same recruiting service. It’s absurd how much talent has been stockpiled at the Capstone.

You no longer have to concern yourself with whether or not a handful of blue-chippers will pan out. If it doesn’t happen now, the team won’t have a drop-off because the margin of error has grown so large.

Now that’s not to say that these kids are a dime-a-dozen or any less important to the program than they were 10 years ago, but it does mean fans shouldn't obsess over these kids anymore. There are going to be a number of 4 and 5-star players that will say no to Alabama. But when signing comes to a close again, Alabama will have assembled the best group of kids once again.

This is a wonderful position to be in because there's no better time to bow out of the recruiting meat market. With the explosion of social media, fans have an opportunity to interact with recruits like never before and it's not a positive. Plus, with the way the NCAA seems to have lost its ability to police even itself, recruiting has turned down an ugly path. You’d be doing yourself a favor to not follow the early commitments, the secret visits, the flips, the back-flips, the surprise commit, cheating allegations, and everything else that will take years off your life if you let it.

As the 2013 signing class comes to a close and fans begin searching out 2014 recruits, don’t be that guy anymore. Just let everything play itself out. Enjoy the actual football season, and only check into recruiting when the list of signees goes up next February. That’s the only way to enjoy this era of Alabama football to its fullest.