How much do the words of an Alabama Football legend matter?

During Nick Saban's peak Alabama Crimson Tide run of excellence, from 2011 through 2017, Alabama Football and dominance were synonymous. Even the most rabid Alabama football fans know those days are more than likely over. They are over because college football has moved into a phase of relative parity. It is still possible for a team to dominate in a season, but the same team, being dominant over several seasons may have vanished.

The college football world is different now, as al.com's Michael Casagrande recently explained, "Talent is distributed more evenly thanks to changes in roster management rules and financial incentives." Casagrande explains that hoarding talent, as Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, and a few other programs did not many seasons ago, is no longer possible. The Alabama Crimson Tide roster is filled with talent, but not at the NFL first-round level of abundant talent enjoyed by several of Nick Saban's teams.

Casagrande suggests the expectations of fans need to be recalibrated. He is not just talking about Alabama fans. Maybe part of the recalibration requires no longer using the word dominance as a standard to measure any team.

Recently talking about Alabama Football, ESPN's Tom Luginbill said, "There just doesn't seem to be this urgency of dominance from this football team." Not to pick on Luginbill, but I'm not sure urgency much applies to the pursuit of dominance. Becoming a dominant player or team is more of a grind of seeking excellence on every training rep, every position drill, and every play in a game. I'm not sure urgency ever helped that process.

Alabama Football Legend

I wonder if, like dominance, some other things about college football are outdated. On the Friday before the South Carolina game, Alabama football legend, Sylvester Croom spoke to the team. Check out what Croom said in the tweet below.

To Alabama's 2024 players, Croom said, "You and I, we're the same." His words that followed were Alabama Football eloquence about the "fraternity of the Crimson jersey." For those of us who have followed Croom's career from a Crimson Tide All-American to a longtime successful coach, to him becoming a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Croom's words are powerful; 'run through a wall' kind of powerful. There is no better ambassador for Alabama Football than Sylvester Croom.

Can being part of a team's tradition, even one so steeped as the Alabama Crimson Tide mean as much to today's players? It has quickly become part of the standard business of college football for players to be part of two, three, or even four programs in their college careers. And 'business' is the operative word for college football. Much of the change is good, and none of it is unfair, but that does not mean other good things have not been lost. Maybe one lost thing is the sense of honor from being a member of the Crimson Tide fraternity Sylvester Croom describes.