Did you see where all three went? It was the money and if you read what Haha said you don't get paid for potential but for production. All three were fairly productive but we were not willing to pay them what they wanted and got.
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- Thread starter AlistarWills
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Did you see where all three went? It was the money and if you read what Haha said you don't get paid for potential but for production. All three were fairly productive but we were not willing to pay them what they wanted and got.
^^^^^ This. Agreed Ols. He was not brought in to get 10-15 carries a game.
When I watched some of his highlights I was surprised that nobody ever seemed to run him down. He's got enough speed. Jess mentioned him possibly joining the H-back group...interesting.
As long as we didn't overpay, I'm OK seeing these guys get one more chance to show what they can do. One thing we've definitely seen from all the portal madness is unknown guys moving up and turning into well known guys. These days we'll never know until the games are played. We've had some misses so we're due for a hit.
Yes.Dumb question but this late in the Semester, will he be able to participate in Spring Drills?
In JessN's latest update, he said it seems he was brought in for mainly a "depth piece". I've seen other places say he could, possibly, be used as an H-back/ FB type of role. It's reasonable to even think he may never even touch the field in a regular game. He's not as talented as AK Dear, and Dear, outside of a few times, never touched the field. We've got Daniel Hill as the "big man" for short yardage situations, so this guy may just be a practice body before it's all said and done.
I think we have two things going on at once. One is something I remain a bit concerned about, Alabama has been a bit slow to adapt to the NIL era and some other schools that don't actually have more resources got out a bit ahead in that regard. So there is some understandable frustration when Alabama struggles to get a few guys they seemed to want.
However! Alabama has a chance with those extra scholarship slots, to add some kids they had to stop adding before. Some local 3 star kids and that sort of thing that they had to pass up because of signing limits. Nick Saban took on walk-ons and grey shirts when he could, it wasn't all 4 and 5 stars but the limits forced him to focus on those. I'm happy to have some more veteran in state kids in the locker room, and in those cases it isn't where the NIL money went, it was where the new scholarships went... You're not going to get highly sought after guys anymore with just a scholarship.
I kind of figured since "academics" are separated from "athletics" more than ever...
I'm hoping this guy makes the same impact for us that Jameson Williams did (irrespective of actual position).
The former players, particularly those from the Saban era, are no different than the rest of our fan base in terms of having unrealistic expectations in this new era of NIL/portal. They might have a little more visibility to certain things, but probably not much. The reality is, and hopefully there will be a better understanding of this by our fan base at large, that we have a budget and out staff has to make the best use of that budget. I have no knowledge of what that budget is, but it seems to be quite different than what Texas, A&M, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Miami have to work with. I'm not saying that we have navigated the portal flawlessly, but we have probably done pretty well within those budget constraints in terms of preserving players already on the team and bringing in new players from recruiting and the portal. Guys like Marquis Maze probably aren't thinking about the new dynamics of roster management, and are still under the old mindset that Bama gets who they want. Eventually, they will get there just like the rest of us have had to.
The only thing I worry about is that I do think we have a window where we are still a premier program in the eyes of current and rising players, but we can't fall back into mediocrity for long, or preferably at all. Nebraska is sort of the cautionary tale of this. It also happened to USC to some extent more recently. Their luster wore off after several years of very mediocre football. I recognize that there are many more factors at play in today's game, but I do think a team needs more than just a huge NIL budget to have a championship team, they also need notoriety to fill a roster that has quality depth. I realize that is in direct contradiction to what Indiana just proved, but I think that is much more the exception than the rule.
Lost track. Where did they go?
Smith and Russaw OSU and Horton A&M.
Ultimately, team chemistry, discipline, physical play, and effective game planning won the NC over pure raw talent.
We cant afford to pursue the raw talent route, we will have to pursue the former route to remain competitive.
We cant afford to pursue the raw talent route, we will have to pursue the former route to remain competitive.
I don't want to get too caught up again in what is ultimately a debate (how the athletic department should spend their funds), but there are about 5 programs Alabama can't outspend at will in the NIL era. One or two of those though, are purely using booster funds to make up for weak athletic departments.
Ohio State, Texas, and Texas A&M all can outspend Alabama in such a way that it would be nearly impossible for Alabama to match them, if their boosters feel like spending! That last part is important, the programs are heavily subject to the whims of the boosters.
Other than that though, Alabama has a huge amount of leverage that programs like Texas Tech and Oregon do not have. Alabama's athletic department makes 100 million more than Texas Tech, they make 60 million more than Oregon. That includes about 50 million per year in donations to Alabama's athletic department.
So, ultimately this becomes a matter of priorities. If Alabama and the boosters collectively decide they really want to compete with NIL, they have the capacity. They just have to change how the money is flowing.
With expander roster space, teams would be wise to use some slots on "lottery picks". It's akin to MLB teams taking a few chances with guys on their roster who might be able to be "unlocked" by their coaching staff. Those are typically guys that never panned out elsewhere but would end up being a huge "get" if the stars lined up.
Yeah, I think Alabama still has a lot of "figuring out" to do about how to best maximize the NIL world. But I'm certain they're not the only ones. There's only a handful of colleges that have "stupid money" and the rest are pretty much in the same pot. But, even the schools with access to "stupid money" can't guarantee that type of money will be donated every year.
I just can't imagine the total pot of money is limitless among the boosters. Much like the NFL, these things can happen in cycles, or for some teams, it seems to never happen.
I've got some college eligibility left. Never know what a broken down, 50-something-year-old guy with a hip and knee replaced could do for Bama with the right amount of NIL!!!
The big booster for Texas Tech who dropped like $30 million to buy a DL and an OL wants college football to have one tv contract that covers all the schools so Texas Tech can get bigger tv revenues. He wants that to happen so he doesn't have to keep coming off $30 million each year.
In the long run, if Alabama doesn't lose too much ground, there's some real potential there for them to be one of the most stable NIL programs.
If what I read is correct, there's over 100 people who have donated a million or more to the athletic department. They lack a billionaire, but they also can cast a wider net than most schools. It's not just about whales.
Phil Knight at one point actually did withhold funding from Oregon athletics because he didn't like a position the University had taken. I believe Texas Tech is mainly driven by one particular booster. It's been a while but last I checked one of Miami's biggest NIL guys was in some legal trouble.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Alabama to also have a Phil Knight, but Alabama doesn't necessarily have to have one either.
I can't blame him. I wouldn't want to spend $30 million a year, even if it was a drop in the bucket for me.
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