Andre Smith is the #1 prospect in the South, and he is the #1 offensive line prospect in the country by Scout.com

Moments ago he made his decision to attend the University of Alabama at his press conference. Taking a page out of Tim Hawthorne's book yesterday, Andre had three hats on the table, and Alabama was not one of them. Wearing a coat and tie, Smith talked about his three schools then said he brought his own hat, and he committed to Alabama.

well, thats great for alabama. he is only an offensive lineman. not like they got a big name qb or anything. but congrats on the recruit, maybe it will help their offense score some points. i just read on this site http://msn.foxsports.com/name/public/CFB/Recruiting
alabama was ranked 22 in the country with this recruit and tn was ranked 24th. not that big of a difference if u ask me. especially with tn having a losing season. so i think that means that these players would like to play for a losing tn team just as much as they would prefer to play for a 9 or 10 win bama team. sounds comical to me. tn still has better players with the recruiting class that they got last year. and their biggest recruit was cutcliffe.

[sydalicious]

You have to start recruiting outside of Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. Head west and go to Texas and California.

[TxAg94]

kids from Texas aren't going to Alabama. Maybe those kids that are not recruited by Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, & TCU. But hey, if that is the kids you want............more power to you.

[sydalicious]

You can't say that. A majority of kids WILL NOT leave Texas I agree. But...McElroy was verbally committed to Tech and flipped the bill when he signed with the Tide one week later with no prior word of ever showing interest there. It can happen...but Bama would have to start playing the type of hard-nosed football that they play in Texas before we see a major shift

[TxAg94]

But that's my point........Alabama got a kid away from Texas Tech. No big deal. Alabama will have to start getting kids away from U.T. & O.U. for Alabama to get the players they need to make a difference, and I don't see that happening. Mack Brown and Bob Stoops are too far entrenched within the High Schools in Texas to lose the top recruits to Alabama. Sure everynow and then a shocker can happen, but now with A&M coming on, it will make recruiting that much tougher for Alabama or anyone else outside the Big 12.

[sydalicious]

Oh yeah...I agree with that totally. It's going to take Bama going 10 wins a season for a few years like Texas did before anybody even looks away from OU, UT and A&M

[rmjvol]

Originally Posted by sydalicious

You have to start recruiting outside of Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. Head west and go to Texas and California.

Originally Posted by TxAg94

kids from Texas aren't going to Alabama.

Originally Posted by TxAg94

Sure everynow and then a shocker can happen, but now with A&M coming on, it will make recruiting that much tougher for Alabama or anyone else outside the Big 12.

I think you're both right. TN has a similar problem that we don't have enough in state talent to field a good enough team & we have to recruit nationally. Bama has to start recruiting more effectively around the nation and that means TX & California are 2 of the top states. You don't have to get 10 of the top 20 prospects out of TX, you only have to get 1 or 2. And that should be very do-able for a good recruiter from a traditional football power like Alabama.

[sydalicious]

While recruiting off of tradition may have worked 10 years ago...it doesn't seem to work now. Kids want to go where they are going to play and where they are "guaranteed" to win. Nobody cares about tradition or academics anymore.

[rmjvol]

My point is all the things that come from having that tradition. No the tradition itself. I know (almost) nobody is going to come just becasue Bear Bryant is their hero. It's the fan base, the TV exposure, the facilities, the expectations of winning.. thats what gives a "Traditional football power" school an advantage over schools that aren't big time football programs. Sure, lots of schools have some/all those things.

Bottom line, if Alabama has good/great recruiters, they can pick up a few top prospects from other states. Maybe not so much this year while things are in transition, but I'm not ready to put Alabama football recruiting in the same class as Vandy & Kentucky football recruiting yet.

[sydalicious]

oh i'm not ready to give up yet either. the problem with recruiting outside players is the tv exposure. granted they are coming off of probation and that is a problem along with the coach. but i know here in texas the only times the tide are on tv are when they are playing tennessee, auburn and somtimes florida and lsu. on top of that, they lost those games. if you want out-of-state players, you have to win your nationally televised games.

[EmpireWF]

Andre Smith is gonna be a beast of a player. HUGE commitment for the Crimson Tide.

I also like Mike Ford, the runningback they signed out of Virginia. He could be a force to be wreckoned with.

[Stoney]

Has anyone heard how recruiting has gone since Saban got there?

[GaBamaGirl]

Originally Posted by Stoney

Has anyone heard how recruiting has gone since Saban got there?

I have heard/read that boys that were not even considering Bama are now saying they want to take a look. Boys that were already willing to take a look at Bama, have said now that Saban is the coach that that really changes their look at us! Good new so far!

[Stoney]

They can say what they want to about Saban but the guy has a uncanny sense of timing to get the attention of all the highschool recruits.