It is OK to not like Alabama, especially if you are in the SEC and have to compete against what has become a massive machine of football domination.
Here we are, one week from college football national signing day, and guess who is No. 1? Yep, Bama, again, and Nick Saban still has a scholarship to offer.
But chances are pretty good he'll sign more than one, and a couple of the guys on his current list will find themselves searching for a new school the night before they were to officially sign their letter of intent.
Saban is not afraid to hint that someone on his staff made an evaluation mistake and players will be taking their talents elsewhere.
There is an outside chance Ohio State could sneak into the No. 1 spot ahead of Alabama, and the ratings used here are a consensus of three sites that rate recruiting classes.
SEC rankings after Alabama, as of today: No. 3 Georgia, No. 7 LSU, No. 8 Auburn, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 23 Kentucky, No. 24 Florida, No. 27 Mississippi State, No. 28 Arkansas, No 38 Missouri, No. 50 Ole Miss and No. 60 Vanderbilt.
Saban is 112-13 (.896 winning percentage) since his second season at Alabama, a testament to his knowledge of Xs and Os and his ability to get the Jimmys and Joes.
Throw out Saban's first season, 2007, in which he had less than a month to recruit and the Tide later had to vacate three victories because football players were getting their free books and selling them, but that started before Saban arrived.
In that same time frame, Saban is 65-8 in SEC play.
It once was suggested in this space that the other 13 SEC schools all put up $2 million each for Saban to retire or relocate out of the SEC. Upon further thought, make that $3 million each for a $39 million golden parachute. Or just for moving expenses.
If any other school in America had seven consecutive No. 1 recruiting classes, everyone in the world would be screaming it is cheating, but because it is Saban no one dares whisper that. Some might be afraid to think it.
Since becoming what appears to be the permanent No. 1 in 2011, Saban will have signed 29 five-star players if all five sign a week from today. He has five former players in Super Bowl 51.
Those 29 five-star signees represent 11 different states, and while eight were from the state of Alabama, he also signed seven from Florida, three from California, two from Louisiana, Texas and Virginia, and one from Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Hawaii.
Recently, Alabama's biggest threat on the field in the SEC has been Ole Miss, which currently is lagging in recruiting but expected to close with a bang.
Granted, Alabama had great football history under Bear Bryant, but it had mostly been missing since his retirement. The Tuscaloosa campus is beautiful, the education is good, but what Saban is pulling off year after year is almost insane.
No school, especially since recruiting became a sport within a sport, has had more success than Alabama has with Saban. He's relentless. Maybe even ruthless to a degree, but it is a simple plan.
Get the best players, coach them up and win.
There is still a week to go, but it appears history will repeat itself for the seventh consecutive time and Alabama will sign the No. 1 recruiting class. Oh, and in 2010, 2009 and 2008 when the Tide finished No. 5, No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, one of the recruiting services had them No. 1.
Sports on 01/25/2017