Alabama Football: 5-Stars not choosing the Crimson Tide are foolish or scared

Talk about bad business decisions. Any 5-Star recruit passing on an Alabama football offer is making a serious, career-damaging mistake.

Like all young men, Alabama football prospects are vulnerable to making mistakes. Often they don’t realize how frequently doors open or close based upon good or bad decisions. Such errors in judgment are not indicative of being unintelligent. Thinking can be flawed at any age or at any degree of being smart.

How to avoid mistakes? Listen to those with opinions other than your own – and pay close attention to facts. No 5-Star, Alabama football prospect should ignore the fact presented below.

The disparity is staggering. With sound financial management, an NFL, first-round pick should not have to worry about money for much of their lives. In rookie NFL deals, there is a big difference between total contract dollars and guaranteed money. For a player drafted in the NFL first-round, the guaranteed money amounts to the signing bonus plus three years of salary. For the last player chosen in the 2019 NFL Draft, that meant about $7.7M, according to spotrac.com.

Contrast the $7.7M to the middle picks in the 2019 NFL Draft second round. The middle picks got guaranteed money between $2.7M and $3.5M. Financially, being drafted in the NFL first-round has lifetime ramifications.

Why would any elite high school player not choose the highest odds of making millions of dollars more? Given those odds are far better for Alabama football players, why would a young man risk going to another school?

Other than standard fare youthful folly, there are other reasons. Many 5-Star, college football recruits have been given bad advice for years. They have heard voices in their ears proclaim they are future first-round locks. Naturally, if believing they are that good, how well they are or are not developed in college does not much matter. What does matter for many is starting early and piling up college stats.

Joining the Alabama Crimson Tide does not provide a guaranteed starting role or even assured playing time. In Tuscaloosa, even elite players frequently have to wait their turn.

There is another reason for choosing a different school. Some 5-Stars, despite all the praise heaped on them, are fearful of competition. If fearful is too strong a word, maybe a better description is not wanting to compete with other elite players for college play-time. Nick Saban gives Alabama football opportunities. Everything else must be earned.

The Alabama football staff screens prospects for more than football talent. Playing for Nick Saban requires a certain mindset. Not every 5-Star has it.

5-Star, college football prospects should be wary about what some coaches offer. They should be more mindful of following a less demanding path to the NFL.