Early committments - Kontera Test

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Early commitments a sign of confidence
6/22/06
by Jess Nicholas

Offseasons often offer a wide range of news about a football team, which leads to a wide range of emotions amongst the fan base and sometimes a great deal of hand wringing. Alabama, in 2006, is no different.

The bad can be summed up in two letters, two periods and one word: D.J. Hall. Hall is not with the team at the moment, having gone home to take care of, according to the official line out of Tuscaloosa, "family business." Because of others who have gone home in the past to tend to such business and never made it back to Alabama – Brooks Daniels being the primary example – anytime "family business" comes up it makes many fans about as comfortable as if the business in question involved people named Fat Tony and Ugly Lou.

But even if Hall doesn't return to Tuscaloosa, a different group of individuals have gazed into T-Town and have seen something they liked.

I'm speaking specifically about the 11 young men who have already committed to play football for Alabama beginning in 2007. The number was 12 until Desmond Jennings could no longer resist the lure of professional baseball. Still, 11 early commitments is a significant mark for Alabama – and is doubly or triply more so this year, given that Alabama figures to have only about 17 scholarships available for the upcoming recruiting class.

Back in 2001, when I was living in Tuscaloosa and covering the trucking and transportation industry for a magazine company in addition to writing for this site, I was given a great piece of advice by a longtime economic observer: "If you want to know what the economy is going to do, watch the trucking industry. They'll know six months ahead of time whether there's going to be a recession or a boom."

Converted to football terminology, if you want to know the relative health of a football program, watch the high school prospects. Many who will commit and later sign to a school weren't diehard fans of that school growing up, and they're trying to find the best place in which to invest the next four or five years of their lives.

In that regard, consider that eight of Alabama's 11 commitments so far come from outside the state's borders, and a ninth, Michael Ricks, is currently playing in a junior college in Mississippi after having grown up in Courtland. Of the other two, William Vlachos, regarded as the top center prospect in the state this year, has agreed to grayshirt if necessary and enter Alabama in 2008.

Those leaps of faith are not usually shown towards a school in a downward spiral. Indeed, when Alabama was buried under the specter of sanctions, it took a monumental effort even to convince lifelong fan and Crimson Tide legacy Brodie Croyle to sign with Alabama.

When head coach Mike Shula was brought to Alabama, it was understood that there would be a period of adjustment, and a whole lot of pain. The pain is mostly over; the adjustment period will probably run through the end of the coming season. Beginning in 2007, Alabama will be virtually clear of the effects of all sanctions, or at least clear enough that Shula and his staff can work around them. That might not be the case in 2006, where walk-ons are in contention for three starting jobs on defense alone, largely out of necessity due to numbers.

As for whether high school kids know it or not – they know it. And getting eight out-of-state players, most of whom will be highly sought after in recruiting, is evidence aplenty.

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