How did Ameer Abdullah get out of the state of Alabama to play for Nebraska?
- Thread starter Al A Bama
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Nope.West Virginia, Vandy, CLemson, Arkansas wanted him. That was it. He was ranked #13 in the state of Alabama. http://247sports.com/Season/2011-Fo...Rankings?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=AL
If you look at the names...it is understandable to why we didn't really go after him.
If you look at the names...it is understandable to why we didn't really go after him.
Iirc he was not that highly recruited out of high school and was a smallish back. The barn recruited him but wanted him to be a defensive back.
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Outstanding link, and highly instructive.
It's not that they thought he wasn't good...it's that they thought his size limited his upside.
You recruit a lot of 5'9" running backs into the SEC, and you'll have way more washouts than successes. Abdullah is the exception that proves the rule.
Also, while he was (lucky) #13 in 20011, he wouldn't have been that high in most years. There were no five stars in Alabama that year, and only six four stars.
Interestingly, the most accomplished of the 12 ahead of Abdullah were Reese Dismukes, Sammie Coates and Christion Jones, all of whom had, or have had, well-publicized problems (Dismukes) or stretches of inconsistent performance, punctuated by flashes of brilliance. And it goes downhill from there.
Abdullah was small. It was a thin year. The best of those ahead of him has been Dismukes, and he still wasn't all that highly rated. Abdullah beat the odds.
I'm happy for his success, but it's not a reason to second-guess the evaluation four years ago.
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Also, the announcers in the West Virginia-Oklahoma game said that the OU back (Perine) that just set the FBS records for rushing yards in a game grew up a Bama fan. They said he saw a faster route to playing time at OU.
Mark Ingram says "It was more about the 175 pound part than the 5' 9" part."
You can't have it both ways. Alabama had some issues for a while in getting their pick of the state's top talent, a guy like JaMarcus Russell comes to mind. Once Alabama shifted to the point that they were basically having their pick of talent, both in the state and really in the neighboring regions to a certain extent, they no longer had the scholarships to use on a kid that might have a big upside, but not as much immediately apparent ability.
We landed 3 of the top 6 and none of them are still in Tuscaloosa. In addition to Abdullah; probably the best DE in the SEC, Trey Flowers was ranked #35. While you may miss some like these two, you have to question why we completely whiffed on Shinn, Calloway and Woodson, Jr.
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FWIW, I don't think Abdullah would be playing ahead of Yeldon right now anyway, so it wouldn't have really mattered if he had come here.
The average distance away from home for a Nebraska recruit was reported the other day as 600 miles. They have to take chances. Alabama can't afford to take that many chances. 175 lb backs don't hold up too well to the beating that the SEC defenses impose.
Exactly! I think Dee Hart was better than Abdullah, but he had unfortunate injury luck and couldn't get on the field. It just shows that we can't sign every good player. I am happy for Abdullah as an Alabama kid who has done well.
Great way to look at Abdullah. He is a 3rd down scat back in the SEC, but a 25+ per game carry back in other conferences - and he hasn't been able to avoid injuries while at Nebraska. He is very good, but too small. He will get a shot in the NFL, but would be a role player.
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