Alabama Football has been the biggest brand in college football for well over a decade. Somehow, in just one week, a decade of dominance is being flushed down the toilet as the current Alabama roster is transferring away and watching as opposing coaches do anything they can to get whatever talent they can from the old team.
This is the new era of college football. Tradition, prestige, and the future outlook of a team now hangs on the current Head Coach. For Alabama, that was Nick Saban. Today, if Alabama were to play, they’d probably go 7-5 with last year’s schedule.
This is very hard to hear if you’re an Alabama fan, and scary to hear if you’re a fan of any other school. On the flip side, coaches who figure out how to take advantage of these situations can flip their team and success around almost as quickly as other teams are falling apart.
Alabama, Washington, and Arizona Are Like Minnows in the Ocean
If you’ve ever watched an ocean nature documentary, you may have seen a shoal of shrimp, krill, or plankton gathering together to have strength in numbers. Eventually, this shoal gets so big that it becomes too irresistible for larger fish to pass up. Pretty soon, there are so many sharks, birds, dolphins, and other predators that the shoal falls apart and ultimately gets eaten up by everyone else.
Right now, Alabama, Washington, and Arizona, among other schools losing their Head Coach, are the shoals of fish, while other teams like Ole Miss, Colorado, LSU, and Oregon are the predators. While Arizona and Washington are certianly huring there has never been a shoal as large as Alabama, and the predators are already attacking.
Lane Kiffin is Trolling Alabama While on Campus
This week, Lane Kiffin posted multiple times on Twitter trolling Alabama while driving to the University to meet with players who have entered the transfer portal. He posted multiple posts, but none of them had quite the impact or cut as deep to Alabama fans as the post below that suggested that not only was Kiffin meeting with former players but that he was going onto their campus to do it. Anyone familliar with Tuscaloosa knows this area very well, making fans feel like Kiffin was entering their backyard.
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) January 18, 2024
Kiffin is known for being a very aggressive recruiter, and does not follow the typical strategies of getting players that most other coaches use. But even for Kiffin, this seemed very aggressive, and nothing short of a shark smelling blood in the water.
Kirby Smart Helicopters To a Recruit
Hours after 4-star offensive lineman recruit Mason Short de-commited from Alabama, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart did not waste anytime going after the now available recruit. Rather than calling, scheduing a home visit, or inviting Short out for a visit, Smart went above and beyond to ensure that nobody could get to Mason first.
https://twitter.com/barrettdavis4/status/1747322157439258795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1747322157439258795%7Ctwgr%5Ef9a54fafe4b48af2bde1ef5d18035678d2c2eaa2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yardbarker.com%2Fcollege_football%2Farticles%2Fkirby_smart_took_helicopter_to_recruits_school_after_he_de_committed_from_alabama%2Fs1_13132_39825911
Obviously trying to show-off and steal some of the Lane Kiffin’s coverage, Kirby smart flew in a helicopter to see what he hopes will be his future offensive lineman, only a few hours he had de-committed from Alabama.
Kirby Smart all off season has been on a mission to get back into the top-tier of the sport after missing the College Football Playoff this past season. Georgia has already received the committment of four 4-star transfers and has interest from many others.
Conclusion
There is definetly crimson blood in the water with Alabama Football. To make things worse, the transfer portal closed on January 2nd meaning players from other teams are unable to leave their school to come to Alabama until the portal opens up again in April. The portal is open for Alabama for 30 days after Nick Saban’s announcement meaning their players are still able to leave, although there is a very limited amount of players who can come in. The exceptions are grad transfers, players who haven’t committed yet, and players who are also on teams to have a coach departure (Washington, Arizona).
When adding all of this together, it is clear that things are getting really scary in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide have already had 29 players enter the portal, and that number will continue to rise until February 12th when the portal will close again. Until then, the shoal will get smaller and smaller as bigger fish continue to feast.
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