Nick Saban recalls trying to recruit now WWE Superstar Oba Femi to play football

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Three-time SEC shot put champion and Alabama alum Isaac Odugbesan, known as Oba Femi in WWE, is one of the fastest-rising stars in professional wrestling, and his display of power and strength in the Alabama weight room and in shot put grabbed the attention of Saban and his staff.

Femi broke the Alabama school record in shot put, and in the weight room, he had a 500-pound bench press and a 775 traditional back squat.

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As the head coach of Alabama football, Saban landed dozens and dozens of top recruits that went on to have sensational careers like Julio Jones, Derrick Henry and more, but Saban can now say he failed to recruit a future WrestleMania headliner.

“This is just a part of my legacy of all the great recruits that I didn’t recruit,” Saban said with a grin. “Someone this strong, this powerful, this explosive, this athletic that was right on our campus and we missed him; this shows you what a great coach I was.”

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Femi explained what it was like being recruited by Saban and his staff and why he turned them down.

“They were like, ‘Oh, who is this guy?'” Femi said. “‘This specimen, freak.’ And you know, they definitely wanted a piece of me, but it could never materialize because I was in love with the shot put.”

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