Alabama's Class of 2027 will be small because they need to pay to retain the talent on the roster.
The Crimson Tide has a bevy of young and talented players to pay in the upcoming years.
Video Transcript
Yeah, I think that, that his comments are just really, um, good to keep in the forefront of our mind all summer long when we're wondering, why isn't the recruiting jumping off like it has.
I think that, you know, and it goes into the conversations we've had before, Theo with, Um, roster management and construction of this team and, and, and, and Alabama's philosophy of roster management and construction.
You know, we, we, we've gone through a couple of transfer portal cycles now where you've had, why didn't Alabama go after X Y Z 5-star.
I mean, you, you brought Cam Coleman in, in, in this past, uh, transfer portal window, but that was really kind of a long shot, especially monetarily.
Like, I, I think that you have seen the philosophy of we're gonna get good high school players, retain them, develop them, we'll pay them along the way to stay and to, and to be developed, uh, and, and, and, you know, you see that with the roster, with how many guys have, have been on the roster for For 2 years and I may have been, been on it for 3, for this will be their 3rd for, for, for with, uh, with Kaylin DeBoer.
I think that, uh, as you said, this is, this would be in any typical college program, the year where you'd expect to start actually winning.
I mean, you had big roster turnover after Coach Saban retired and, uh, Coach Deboer tried to fill it as best he could.
He brought in a good class of what was that 24 .
Um, so, so, so you brought in a good class, but they were, they're, they're babies, they're freshmen.
So, uh, I, I, I, now that, now, now those freshmen, those Ryan Williams freshmen are juniors, and I think it is a time to compete, and I think that, uh, as we move through the summer, we should be, uh, keep that, we should be mindful of the fact that there's a lot of experience.
are already on this roster, but not very many seniors and you want to keep them on the roster and you're not gonna be committed.
Like, look, if you are committing money, if this is money, would you rather be paying freshmen in the class of 2027?
Or, or, or rising juniors next year, rising seniors next year, who you've been developing for the last 2 and 3 years.
Like that's the, that's the trade-off there and it's a pretty easy choice to me.
Right, there's no debate.
Yeah, I'm right there with you on this one too, Joe.
OK, so, uh, I, I think that, uh, that should be something we all keep in mind.
Why don't we have 10, 5-stars in this class?
Well, because, you know, you're gonna play lots of Brooks to come back for his junior year next year.
Uh, so the, the, the.
These are gonna be really or or Key and Russell to stick around like isn't that what you want, guys?
We all want Key and Russell to stick around.
Jackson Lloyd to not hit the transfer portal like we all want those things over X Y Z five-star five-star classic 2027 player.
