FILE – Alabama coach Nick Saban watches players warm up for the College Football Playoff championship NCAA football game against Georgia on Jan. 10, 2022, …
Alabama coach Nick Saban watches players warm up for the College Football Playoff championship NCAA football game against Georgia on Jan. 10, 2022, in Indianapolis. Saban called out Texas A&M on Wednesday night, May 18 for “buying” players in its top-ranked recruiting class with name, image and likeness deals, saying Crimson Tide football players earned more than $3 million last year “the right way.” (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban on Wednesday accused Southeastern Conference (SEC) rival Texas A&M University of buying top-ranked recruits through the NCAA’s name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said at an event in Birmingham, Ala., speaking about how paying players for branding deals is changing the game, AL.com reported.
“You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough,” Saban added. Texas A&M, coached by Jimbo Fisher, a former assistant coach under Saban, delivered Alabama its only regular season loss last year. Saban, who has won seven national championships in his storied coaching career, including six at Alabama, also mentioned Jackson State University, a Mississippi-based historically Black college coached by NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, allegedly paying a top recruit $1 million to commit to their football program.
“We have a rule right now that said you cannot use name, image and likeness to entice a player to come to your school. Hell, read about it in the paper!” Saban said at the event. “I mean, Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it.”
Saban was referring to Travis Hunter, a five-star football prospect who flipped his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State in December. Sanders has denied a rumor that his school paid Hunter $1.5 million to commit to the program and called out Saban in a tweet on Wednesday.
