Alabama Leans on Out of State Players

TUSKtimes

1st Team
Sep 18, 2008
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Been a concern for years. Mainly because I assume what we don't harvest the barn will. It's hard not to believe that our national windfall in recruiting isn't keeping the barn flowing in dangerous talent. Never good to have a bunch of angry Alabama players showing up with chips on their shoulders the size of Mobile Bay. It's just impossible to complain with so much talent coming in from wherever.
 

AUDub

Hall of Fame
Dec 4, 2013
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Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
I still have great respect for Banks, most of all, because I hit my first home run in high school against them, and when I rounded second, their shortstop, Jeff Rutledge, slapped me on the butt with his glove and said, "Great hit". That's pretty classy.
sip
Now I know how old you are. :p My dad was in the same class as Rutledge and was a lineman on the football team. My aunt was in the same class as David Cutcliffe.
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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The University is also more than 50% out of state student body as of this past year. Just an interesting correlation.
My youngest, 14 years old, is very interested in Alabama. There seem to be Alabama alumni everywhere that I travel. The "family" spreads out, but the "children" still come home when it is time to go to college.
 

tidefanbeezer

All-American
Sep 25, 2006
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This article piqued my interest, so I did a little digging. In a looking at in-state recruiting since Saban arrived (I excluded the 2007 class, since it was "inherited"), here's a few interesting nuggets I've found. I used Rivals as my source for ratings.

- From 2008-2014, the state of Alabama has produced 16 5* rated prospects; Bama has signed 13 (~81%) and Auburn has signed 2 (both of which were in 2014).
- Same time frame, Alabama has produced 69 4* prospects; Bama has signed 34 (~49%) and Auburn has signed 20.
- Bama typically signs ~23% of the top Rivals rated prospects in a given year (it should be noted that Rivals fluctuates between a top 25 and top 40, but most years its a top 40). 2008 was the only aberration, with Bama signing almost half of all the top 40 Rivals rated prospects. This could be due to Saban working extra hard in-state to establish his pipeline and repair any damaged relationships from prior staffs.
- Alabama produces ~12 4* & 5* prospects each year (high of 16 in 2008, low of 8 in 2011).

It appears that the level of talent in-state hasn't drastically decreased from the start of Saban's tenure to now. And Saban's ability to take all the top in-state talent hasn't diminished over the years. While I agree that Saban has established a national recruiting machine, its clear that all the top in-state talent isn't leaving the state.

I tend to agree with the sentiment of "If the best player for your system is in New York, you go to New York and get him." But I think this is a case of perception is different than reality. Are we signing more out of state guys? Yes. But we are also taking dang near all of the top in-state talent as well. The national stuff gets more heavily reported. It's a big story when 5* recruit Cyrus Kouandjio decides to leave Maryland to attend school in Alabama. It's not as big a story when 5* prospect Bo Scarborough from Northport decides to attend the University in his home town.

Been a concern for years. Mainly because I assume what we don't harvest the barn will. It's hard not to believe that our national windfall in recruiting isn't keeping the barn flowing in dangerous talent. Never good to have a bunch of angry Alabama players showing up with chips on their shoulders the size of Mobile Bay. It's just impossible to complain with so much talent coming in from wherever.
I agree that this is a risk. But in general, Bama signs more top in-state talent year in and year out than Auburn. Based on the Rivals research I did, the only year Auburn signed more top 40 rated prospects than Alabama, was 2011. And as Cecil notes in his article, that was an atypically thin year. In general, Bama whips Auburn every year when it comes to in-state recruiting.

All of this is to say Cecil Hurt needs to learn to do research. Alabama hardly "leans on out-of-state football players". We take all the best talent in-state, then we go take the best from other states.
 

TUSKtimes

1st Team
Sep 18, 2008
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I agree that this is a risk. But in general, Bama signs more top in-state talent year in and year out than Auburn. Based on the Rivals research I did, the only year Auburn signed more top 40 rated prospects than Alabama, was 2011. And as Cecil notes in his article, that was an atypically thin year. In general, Bama whips Auburn every year when it comes to in-state recruiting.

All of this is to say Cecil Hurt needs to learn to do research. Alabama hardly "leans on out-of-state football players". We take all the best talent in-state, then we go take the best from other states.


I was actually encouraged by the statistics when I researched the total number of Alabama recruits for both teams. The first 3 years of the Saban era would have made up about half the total recruits on the team. The last 4 years a little less than a third of the team. But looking at the barn's numbers it would have been a little less than half of the team the first 4 years of the Saban era and the number of state recruits would be exactly the same as Bama the last 3 years. So for the last 7 years Alabama is actually running ahead of the barn in state players. Given the stars of these recruits as opposed to the barns, you can at least come away from all this national cherry picking feeling that the barn is not getting filthy rich at our expense. The last 3 years it seems neither team has done much in the state.

However, I hope that isn't Florida State over there grinning at both of us?
 

tidefanbeezer

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Sep 25, 2006
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I was actually encouraged by the statistics when I researched the total number of Alabama recruits for both teams. The first 3 years of the Saban era would have made up about half the total recruits on the team. The last 4 years a little less than a third of the team. But looking at the barn's numbers it would have been a little less than half of the team the first 4 years of the Saban era and the number of state recruits would be exactly the same as Bama the last 3 years. So for the last 7 years Alabama is actually running ahead of the barn in state players. Given the stars of these recruits as opposed to the barns, you can at least come away from all this national cherry picking feeling that the barn is not getting filthy rich at our expense. The last 3 years it seems neither team has done much in the state.

However, I hope that isn't Florida State over there grinning at both of us?
In terms of best of the best (4-5*), in-state usually lands at Alabama or Auburn. With the exception of Jameis Winston, every 5* player has stayed in-state during this time frame. In the 3-4* range, I didn't notice any one particular team that seemed to grab a disproportionate share of players. So it could very well be FSU, but I haven't checked. Would be interesting to see.

It would also be interesting to determine the success rate of players. Do we have a higher success rate with in-state vs. out-of-state? That can be tricky depending on how you define success. Perhaps I will delve into that this evening when I have a bit more free time.
 

GrayTide

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Just checked both Alabama and auburn spring rosters on AL.com. We had 35 Alabamians on 99 man roster, auburn had 32 Alabamians out of 98 players.
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
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Birmingham, Alabama
This article piqued my interest, so I did a little digging. In a looking at in-state recruiting since Saban arrived (I excluded the 2007 class, since it was "inherited"), here's a few interesting nuggets I've found. I used Rivals as my source for ratings.

- From 2008-2014, the state of Alabama has produced 16 5* rated prospects; Bama has signed 13 (~81%) and Auburn has signed 2 (both of which were in 2014).
- Same time frame, Alabama has produced 69 4* prospects; Bama has signed 34 (~49%) and Auburn has signed 20.
- Bama typically signs ~23% of the top Rivals rated prospects in a given year (it should be noted that Rivals fluctuates between a top 25 and top 40, but most years its a top 40). 2008 was the only aberration, with Bama signing almost half of all the top 40 Rivals rated prospects. This could be due to Saban working extra hard in-state to establish his pipeline and repair any damaged relationships from prior staffs.
- Alabama produces ~12 4* & 5* prospects each year (high of 16 in 2008, low of 8 in 2011).

It appears that the level of talent in-state hasn't drastically decreased from the start of Saban's tenure to now. And Saban's ability to take all the top in-state talent hasn't diminished over the years. While I agree that Saban has established a national recruiting machine, its clear that all the top in-state talent isn't leaving the state.

I tend to agree with the sentiment of "If the best player for your system is in New York, you go to New York and get him." But I think this is a case of perception is different than reality. Are we signing more out of state guys? Yes. But we are also taking dang near all of the top in-state talent as well. The national stuff gets more heavily reported. It's a big story when 5* recruit Cyrus Kouandjio decides to leave Maryland to attend school in Alabama. It's not as big a story when 5* prospect Bo Scarborough from Northport decides to attend the University in his home town.



I agree that this is a risk. But in general, Bama signs more top in-state talent year in and year out than Auburn. Based on the Rivals research I did, the only year Auburn signed more top 40 rated prospects than Alabama, was 2011. And as Cecil notes in his article, that was an atypically thin year. In general, Bama whips Auburn every year when it comes to in-state recruiting.

All of this is to say Cecil Hurt needs to learn to do research. Alabama hardly "leans on out-of-state football players". We take all the best talent in-state, then we go take the best from other states.
To suggest that Cecil needs to get better at anything is sheer ignorance. Best sporstwriter in the state and it's not even close. Great guy, too.
 

tidefanbeezer

All-American
Sep 25, 2006
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To suggest that Cecil needs to get better at anything is sheer ignorance. Best sporstwriter in the state and it's not even close. Great guy, too.
He suggests that we don't sign enough in-state players. I proved that Bama signs all the top talent in the state. He is a very good writer but a very poor researcher.
 

BamaJama17

Hall of Fame
Sep 17, 2006
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He suggests that we don't sign enough in-state players. I proved that Bama signs all the top talent in the state. He is a very good writer but a very poor researcher.
He to must not be aware that typically only the top 10-15 in Alabama are SEC quality players. Why sign a 3 star WR in Alabama when you can get a 5 star in Florida.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

RJ YellowHammer

Hall of Fame
Sep 1, 2009
7,117
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He suggests that we don't sign enough in-state players. I proved that Bama signs all the top talent in the state. He is a very good writer but a very poor researcher.
Or he's digging for football content in a football starved state and didn't want to another "who's going to be QB?!?" piece. Cecil's great, but needs readers and you're exactly right about CNS signing all of the instate cream.
 

venegoni

Scout Team
Mar 18, 2007
128
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I think the issue is more of Auburn / Alabama culture. It has been said on this board a million times and I'll say it again, Auburn works 365 to beat Alabama. They are obsessed with the Tide. Alabama works 365 to be the best nation wide and Auburn is just another step to the goal. Hence Auburn will sneak up and knock us in the head and win their share in this rivalry.
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
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I think the issue is more of Auburn / Alabama culture. It has been said on this board a million times and I'll say it again, Auburn works 365 to beat Alabama. They are obsessed with the Tide. Alabama works 365 to be the best nation wide and Auburn is just another step to the goal. Hence Auburn will sneak up and knock us in the head and win their share in this rivalry.
I don't find this acceptable.
 

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