If you were to ask every head coach in the country, what is the life blood of college football nearly all would give the same answer.
Recruiting.
And over the past decade plus, no head coach has done a better job of it that Nick Saban at Alabama.
How he gets all of these high caliber athletes to buy into the program is still a little light on specifics but former Alabama tight end O.J. Howard shared what made him want to make the move to Tuscaloosa.
“I would say, for me, just when I would come on my visits it just made me always feel like I was at home,” said Howard during an Alabama Football video titled “Why Bama”. “You know, the staff at the time, some of the players that were there before me, when I’d come on visits they’d always just show me love and open arms and that just made me feel like I was already a part of the team before I really was.”
But of course, just like every recruit who picks the crimson and white hat on signing day, they want to be able to compete for a chance to win, and that is what Saban does best.
“When you look at coach Saban’s resume, at the time he had won maybe like four championships and you watch him coach on tv and be like, man I’d love to play for a guy like that,” said Howard. “Just the way… no matter if we’re up by a lot of points or we were down, he will always be coaching the game and when you see that as a recruit you like I would love to play for a guy like that, break my neck for a guy like that, and when I got here it was nothing short of that.
“And coach Saban treated everyone the same, everyones gonna get coached hard. You know he’s just one of the greatest to ever do it, so just to even be put in that category saying I played for him and to even have a chance to go to through a championship experience with him was amazing. And you know, ultimately when I saw that as a high school recruit I knew I wanted to come here and play for that guy.”
Howard was one of the top tight end recruits in the country back in 2013 where he had also seen interest from SEC powers Auburn, Florida and Ole Miss before ending up with Alabama.
In his four years with the Crimson tide Howard caught 114 passes for 1,726 yards and seven touchdowns. But what he will forever be remembered for is his massive game against Clemson in the 2016 national championship where he had five catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama’s 45-40 win.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
