A recruiting call of Nick Saban's was recorded without his knowledge back in 2021. I think it's fascinating to watch a master at work.

A link to the video of the call is below.

This was February 2021 and Saban was conducting a video call with an elite defensive recruit. He was giving the usual spiel about national titles, draft picks and how he built the best program in college football.

Then Saban broached the topic of negative recruiting. That’s when the pitch went into overdrive. That’s when he started spitting the hard truths prospects need to hear.

“Everybody is going to tell you in recruiting, ‘Don’t go to Alabama. You can play at our school before you can play there. They’ve got all these good players and you aren’t going to be able to play while you could play at our place earlier,’” Saban said. “I think that’s the worst stuff people can tell you. … If you ask our players on our team, they’ll tell you just the opposite. They’ll tell you, ‘The competition made me better.’

“Marlon Humphrey will say to you if you play corner — the first corner taken in the NFL Draft — he can say, ‘I had to cover Amari Cooper every day.’ Amari Cooper was the first receiver taken in the draft. Cam Robinson played left tackle here and won the Outland Trophy. Jonathan Allen played for Washington and he won the Nagurski Award. They practiced against each other every day for three years. All those guys will tell you, ‘That made me better … the guy I practiced against was better than the guy I played in the game against.’”

I'm guessing Brian Hartline and Tim Walton might be making similar pitches against the negative recruiting out there.

https://youtu.be/Mpq686UO5kk?si=CbDDzAeug2JEPizc