Before he became one of the leading faces of SEC Network, Marcus Spears was an All-American and BCS national champion at Louisiana State University. While many people state that Alabama’s dominance is possibly ruining the Southeastern Conference, Spears sees no issue with a program running the gamut.
Since 2008, Nick Saban has coached the Crimson Tide program to five SEC championships, four national titles (BCS, College Football Playoff) and seven consecutive top-ranked recruiting classes. He’s guided the institution to three consecutive conference championships (2014-16), and despite falling to Clemson in the 2017 CFP title game, the Tide came close to winning that matchup.
“A lot of the turmoil you see from coaching staffs to players transferring is caused by the University of Alabama,” Spears said on Tuesday. “Every fan base believes Alabama is the standard in the SEC and probably in the country. Alabama forces everyone else to do their job better.”
As we reflect on recruiting, much of the Tide’s success has come from signing players that hail from Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, California and even Hawaii. Not to mention, Saban’s ability to walk into different homes in Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas in getting elite talent to sign.
“If someone told you that you could be on the executive team at Apple or the executive team at Whataburger, where are you going to go,” Spears said. “The SEC Network has seen Alabama win the last three SEC championships since it started. You are in a time period now and people probably felt like this when Bear Bryant was at Alabama or when Steve Spurrier was at Florida, for a few years, you are in a time where somebody has to become really good to change the way the conference is going and it starts in recruiting.”
From being recruited and coached by Saban to watching Alabama defeat his former team via ESPN Networks, Spears said having the dominance of the Tide is good for college football.
“I don’t think it hurts the league,” Spears said.
“I like dominant teams. I don’t think you blame them, just everyone else needs to raise their level of play. Now I don’t like the fact that Kevin Durant went to Golden State, but everyone is going to have to change their course because of Golden State. It’s like that in every arena. Everyone has to change their course in the NFL because of New England Patriots. It’s one of those deals where if we get to the model before you do, it will take you some time to get there.”
Stephen M. Smith is a managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @Smsmith_TDALMag.
