Alabama Football: No Jimbo, Nick Saban did not attack 17-year old kids

Jimbo Fisher struck back at Nick Saban and Alabama Football Thursday morning. It was somewhat a defense of the Texas A&M program, but more so it was a personal attack on Nick Saban. Fisher labeled Saban’s comments Wednesday night as despicable.

Fisher is entitled to his opinion. He claimed he and his program have nothing to hide. He also claimed having zero knowledge of the workings of a Texas A&M NIL collective. He said he does not cheat and does not lie, implying Saban does and adding maybe Nick Saban needed to be slapped.

His defense was nothing done by his program for recruits violated Texas state law. Nick Saban was not talking about state laws.

When Saban accused the Aggies of ‘buying’ players, he was not talking about whether or not any Texas state law was violated. He was specifically talking about the fact NIL was not designed to be used to recruit players. It was blessed by the NCAA to allow current college athletes to financially benefit from their name, image and likeness. The key word is current – not future college athletes.

Check out more of what Nick Saban said Wednesday night.

Alabama Football does not and will not misuse NIL

Nick Saban is not playing word games. Jimbo Fisher is. Nick Saban states NIL is being misused in a pay-for-play manner that absolutely was not its intended use and is in fact not allowed by the NCAA. Not that what the NCAA allows and does not allow much matters.

Fisher is saying the NCAA intent does not matter because the NCAA left it up to state governments to pass NIL laws. Without reviewing the Texas state law, apparently, it carries no restriction to prohibit the buying of players.

The Alabama state law may not either, but even if Nick Saban could do it within Alabama law, he doesn’t want to. Nick Saban understands the potential problems and consequences that will result from making multi-million dollar deals with high school kids. Those consequences will not be good for college football.

Many across the college football world will agree with Jimbo Fisher and echo his attack on Nick Saban. They will do so for many different reasons, but they will all be wrong. There is a bigger picture for those willing to consider it.

Regrettably, Jimbo Fisher does not care about the big picture. His classless personal attack on Nick Saban revealed a man not to be trusted or admired.

A video of Fisher’s Thursday media event is available below.

It will be interesting to see how many coaches have the courage to agree with Nick Saban. Lane Kiffin has pretty much done so in advance.