re: Sayin tidbit from Watts

I'm of two minds about this.

On one hand, Kalen DeBoer is the head coach, and he and his staff have to establish their version of the Alabama program. I support Coach DeBoer and am completely confident in his ability to maintain the success Alabama has had. They will do it in a different way than Coach Saban did, but I believe they'll do it.

On the other hand, Julian Sayin was the crown jewel in this past recruiting class, and he actively recruited other players to Alabama. This is an unexpected blow. I didn't think Sayin would start in 2024 (barring horrendous injury luck), but I could see him being ready to take the reins in 2025.

I think some players are being very short-sighted with their decision to transfer. Bond and Niblack are top of that list for me; I think they both would have put up impressive offensive numbers this year. Downs as a transfer hurts, but it's at least somewhat understandable.

Sayin, though ... there's not a good way to spin this. He may be a bust (although I doubt that), he may go somewhere and have a pedestrian collegiate career ... but regardless, he was the highest-rated recruit we had in 2023. Losing him can't be easily ignored, and sets a terrible precedent that won't be fully resolved unless and until Alabama is very successful this fall.