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Alabama finished seventh in the recruiting rankings in the 2018 class, but expect the Crimson Tide to be back on top come 2019. SEC Country’s Chris Kirschner will answer the Recruiting Question of the Day each weekday. You can ask him your questions on Twitter or on Facebook. Find our previous questions and answers here.
Let’s get this out of the way, Alabama’s newest short series, Shop Talk, is a well-executed recruiting tool that fans can also enjoy. For those who haven’t seen it, Shop Talk features former Alabama stars sitting around a barbershop talking about their experiences playing for the university. The first episode features Julio Jones, Ryan Anderson and Eddie Jackson, who are all now in the NFL. Nick Saban is also in the barbershop talking with the players.
In the first episode, the trio talks about how Alabama’s facilities are much better today than what they once were when Jones was on campus. Jones jokes that he actually got lost and needed someone to direct him around.
If that isn’t a subliminal message about how great Alabama’s facilities are and how much fun stuff they have for the players then I don’t know what is. Oh, and the guys saying of this have won national championships and are now making millions of dollars in the NFL.
But the real recruiting magic is when Saban speaks to the guys. For those who don’t closely follow Alabama and only see highlights of Saban yelling at his assistant coaches or the media, this series really puts the coach in a good light. Take this part of the show for example when Saban is talking about how much his former players being around the program means to him:
“The thing that I don’t get to say much that makes me feel the best, even about winning games or anything else, is that all you guys that played here over the last 11 years that I’ve been here, everybody likes coming back,” Saban said. “That’s the most important thing to me, that you guys enjoy coming back.
“That means you had a great experience here, you liked the people here, you appreciate some of the people who helped you here, you come back to help the next guy. And that spirit sort of makes it special. I never really get to say that much but it is something that makes me really, really feel good as a coach that you guys feel that way because everybody out there says how hard it is and all this stuff, but really there’s a sense of accomplishment and pride that everybody that is really kind of a neat thing.”
Recruits tell me how Saban isn’t as mean as he looks on TV and that talking to him 1-on-1, he’s funny and easy to connect with. With this series, we now get to see that with our own eyes.
Alabama was significantly behind other programs in terms of its presence on social media, in my opinion. Even 5-star tackle commit Pierce Quick admitted it to SEC Country.
“Me and my dad have been telling them they gotta catch up in social media and all that stuff and making cool edits,” Quick said. “Clemson is the best. They would send me sick edits every single day. I loved it.”
The program has now stepped its game up and has even taken it to a new level with Shop Talk.
How big of a recruiting tool is Alabama’s new series, Shop Talk?
Let’s get this out of the way, Alabama’s newest short series, Shop Talk, is a well-executed recruiting tool that fans can also enjoy. For those who haven’t seen it, Shop Talk features former Alabama stars sitting around a barbershop talking about their experiences playing for the university. The first episode features Julio Jones, Ryan Anderson and Eddie Jackson, who are all now in the NFL. Nick Saban is also in the barbershop talking with the players.
In the first episode, the trio talks about how Alabama’s facilities are much better today than what they once were when Jones was on campus. Jones jokes that he actually got lost and needed someone to direct him around.
If that isn’t a subliminal message about how great Alabama’s facilities are and how much fun stuff they have for the players then I don’t know what is. Oh, and the guys saying of this have won national championships and are now making millions of dollars in the NFL.
But the real recruiting magic is when Saban speaks to the guys. For those who don’t closely follow Alabama and only see highlights of Saban yelling at his assistant coaches or the media, this series really puts the coach in a good light. Take this part of the show for example when Saban is talking about how much his former players being around the program means to him:
“The thing that I don’t get to say much that makes me feel the best, even about winning games or anything else, is that all you guys that played here over the last 11 years that I’ve been here, everybody likes coming back,” Saban said. “That’s the most important thing to me, that you guys enjoy coming back.
“That means you had a great experience here, you liked the people here, you appreciate some of the people who helped you here, you come back to help the next guy. And that spirit sort of makes it special. I never really get to say that much but it is something that makes me really, really feel good as a coach that you guys feel that way because everybody out there says how hard it is and all this stuff, but really there’s a sense of accomplishment and pride that everybody that is really kind of a neat thing.”
Recruits tell me how Saban isn’t as mean as he looks on TV and that talking to him 1-on-1, he’s funny and easy to connect with. With this series, we now get to see that with our own eyes.
Alabama was significantly behind other programs in terms of its presence on social media, in my opinion. Even 5-star tackle commit Pierce Quick admitted it to SEC Country.
“Me and my dad have been telling them they gotta catch up in social media and all that stuff and making cool edits,” Quick said. “Clemson is the best. They would send me sick edits every single day. I loved it.”
The program has now stepped its game up and has even taken it to a new level with Shop Talk.
How big of a recruiting tool is Alabama’s new series, Shop Talk?
