How the BCS Championship Affects Alabama Recruiting Efforts

It’s official; the Alabama Crimson Tide is the No. 2 team in the BCS, and will be featured in the national championship game in New Orleans on January 9. The Tide is now one win away from sporting its fourteenth national championship, and second in three years.

A friend asked me after the good news, what I thought this would do for Alabama recruiting. I started thinking that others may have the same question, so I wanted to try to answer several questions about the implications of the BCS title game – and all that goes along with it – and how those things affect recruiting for Alabama.

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Being in the title game for the second time in three years is wonderful exposure for the Crimson Tide, especially where recruiting is concerned. Making it to the championship game is the main goal for every program in the country, and winning that game is the ultimate prize.

Every high school football player in the nation will be tuned in to watch the season finale. Alabama coach Nick Saban and his stellar staff has reaped the benefits of that exposure on the recruiting trail over the past four seasons. Saban resurrected the Crimson Tide football program, bringing back the national attention and respect the Tide enjoyed for so many years under legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

The first order of business when Saban took over at Alabama was bringing in the very best prospects from around the country. Any new coach has to have a plan in place, and must be able to sell winning to the recruits they are trying to bring in. Saban brought in a top recruiting class in his first full year at Alabama, and has continued to do so every year since. If not for the SEC title game in 2008 and the BCS title game in 2009, coach Saban and his staff would have had a much tougher time convincing recruits that Alabama is where they should be. Recruits will buy into the hope that a once powerful program is on its way back to the top, but without results, that hope begins to fade.

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher took over for Bobby Bowden and has experienced two great recruiting classes in a row, with very little in the way of on-field results. The players were convinced that Fisher was the man to bring the Seminoles back to national relevance, but that hasn’t happened. Many 2012 prospects that were pursued by Fisher and his staff waited to see how this year was going to play out before committing.

A pre-season top five team, the Seminoles have crept along to a mediocre 8-5 season and weren’t even in contention for a conference title. This year’s results – or lack thereof – experienced by Florida State is already steering potential high-profile recruits away from the Seminoles. Alabama would likely be in the same boat as many programs under new leadership, had it not been for the plan paying dividends.

The BCS title game and the NFL draft are two of the most influential events on high school recruits, and the importance of success concerning both can’t be overstated. While Alabama fans within the state know chapter and verse of the long history and tradition of the Tide football program, it’s easy to forget that Alabama’s roster is made up of the best players from all around the country, not just kids from Alabama.

National prospects usually range from 15-19 years old, and can be from as far away as California. Kids there and other parts of the country likely don’t even know who Bear Bryant is, much less know of the rich tradition Alabama football has. Many of them receive letters and invitations from the Tide and they haven’t a clue what to expect. Most are amazed at the passion and love the community has for Tide football when they visit for the first time, and learn a great deal about the history of Alabama football while on campus. But that’s not enough to convince them. There is no replacement for results.

Last year, four Alabama players were selected in the first round of the NFL draft. That is a huge selling tool for Tide recruiters, as many players want to play in the NFL someday.

When Chan Gailey of the Buffalo Bills drafted Alabama’s Marcel Dareus as the third pick overall in the 2011 NFL draft, it was another huge recruiting boost for Alabama. Gailey was asked why he chose to go with Dareus as his first-round pick. He told reporters that Dareus was as NFL-ready as any player he evaluated, having played in Nick Saban’s system at Alabama. It’s no coincidence that the year before he was drafted third overall by the Bills, Marcel was the defensive MVP of the BCS championship game. That was the game that that put Marcel Dareus on the map nationally and made everyone take note.

Imagine being a prospect and getting an offer to play for a team that NFL coaches and managers refer to as an NFL training team. When Alabama players are receiving the highest praise from anyone associated with the NFL, it sends a very strong message to the high school recruits, and when they get that offer all they see is themselves walking up on that stage accepting a jersey of their own someday.

Recruits want to be winners. They want to play for championships, win a lot of games and get the attention of NFL scouts. When a program has a long history of winning but hasn’t been relevant in a number of years, it is extremely tough to sell that old tradition to prospects. Alabama currently has about 14 players that came from states not surrounding the state of Alabama. Those guys came in as 17- and 18-year-old kids, and the only Alabama tradition they have actually witnessed has come from recent years.

The media exposure from putting players in the first round of the draft, the BCS championship game, and SEC championship showdowns with Florida is the tradition these kids know about. Until a recruit comes on campus to visit, the draft, title games and all the other high profile exposure is crucial to continued recruiting success. Nothing has a more profound effect than a recruit sitting there, watching the biggest game of the year and imagining himself out there on that field.