Kirby Smart Got 'Sabanized' Like Everybody Else
Arkansas may be gaining some ground on Alabama but we've seen that before.
Saturday in Atlanta showed Nick Saban isn't thinking about taking a step back and while the Razorbacks may have appeared to be within a touchdown that was due more on the Crimson Tide than making up some distance.
It's not slowing down in Tuscaloosa and the goal there is to win a national championship.
Kirby Smart may have learned a lot of what he knows from Saban but he wasn't taught everything Saban knows.
The Hogs are trying to get to the Citrus Bowl. Along with everybody else in the SEC West and who knows what's going to happen when Oklahoma and Texas show up in a couple of years.
Don't start the "well, this year ..." stuff because both places are making plans now for the SEC, not the Big 12. They won't be playing like they have the last couple of years.
Sam Pittman sauntered through Bud Walton Arena with a passle of recruits Saturday afternoon.
It was interesting to note the latest prize in this class — Jadon Haselwood, the Oklahoma transfer portal recruit — was right beside Pittman.
Saban hasn't had the time to wine and dine Haselwood. He was focused on winning a national championship and had to destroy his former longtime assistant coach, Kirby Smart at Georgia, to make a leap into the College Football Playoff.
Frankly, it's hard to understand why any top skill position player in the country wouldn't at least check on Alabama's interest in them.
Quarterbacks and even wide receivers are winning the top awards there on a pretty regular basis these days.
The Tide knows how to develop and promote their players. And they get paid there. Bryce Young made over $1 million before playing a game there and the word is that's just the start with this whole NIL thing.
If you aren't getting picked in the first 10 picks of the NFL Draft you could probably enhance your position at Alabama. Don't holler injury because there is affordable insurance these days for big enough money unless players are stupid they will never go broke.
As we have seen in the last week or two college football is now about money.
Even Pittman has jumped into that, whether he will admit it publicly or not.
Hiring Jimmy Sexton as an agent means it's not just about the Arkansas Razorbacks for him and money gets into the conversation sooner or later.
Now Sam is in the big leagues and money is going to enter the equation sooner or later. Again, everybody will say it's about everything but the money.
That means it's always about the money.
Because everyone wants to be Alabama but until someone figures out how to avoid getting "Sabanized" at some point nothing is going to change.
Georgia found that out this year.
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