Saban recruiting, way back when (per 247)

Saban oversigned because miles first class we could only sign 11 one year
Keep in mind LSU was coming off hallman dinardo years as well
It would have taken off had saban committed but the nfl rumors were there every year at LSU and that hurt
The biggest thing he did for LSU was keep in state players home
The 00/01 class was loaded especially in la and that was the foundation for national title

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With Saban’s success at Bama over the years on NSD, I was interested in what he did at LSU. Granted, recruiting has greatly evolved from where it was 20 years ago...

2000: #21
2001: #2
2002: #21
2003: #3
2004: #4

The two #21 rankings seem odd and maybe older LSU fans know the reasons for that. There’s no doubt that he has fine tuned things to be the machine he is today.

I checked Bama’s rankings and it’s easy to see what NCAA sanctions can do to a program.

2000: #4
2001: #28
2002: #47
2003: #41
2004: #21

It was odd to see Tennessee at #1 and regularly in the top five in those days, based on where they are now.

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I think Saban's recruiting success at LSU was largely tied to the quality of the LA High School talent in a given year. In 2001 for example, LA had I think 4 of the top 30 in the country, he signed all of them. Marcus Spears from Baton Rouge, Michael Clayton from Baton Rouge, Andrew Whitworth from Monroe (still playing in the NFL) and the late Marquise Hill from New Orleans.

The 2003 and 2004 classes were also loaded with LA talent but Saban started to get top guys from out of state, JaMarcus Russel from Mobile and Matt Flynn from Texas were both QB's in that 2004 class, for example Glenn Dorsey was in that 2004 class was in-state, along with Early Doucet another top elite guy from in-state.

I can’t speak to the 2002 class, but I know the 2000 class was affected by the coaching change. I don’t remember exactly when Saban was hired, I believe sometime in December

Found it...Dec 1 1999 was his hire date:

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DEC. 1, 1999

Nick Saban left bowl-bound Michigan State on Tuesday for Louisiana State, a job that will nearly double his salary and make him one of the country’s top-paid coaches. He signed a five-year contract for about $1.2 million annually, joining a select group of millionaire coaches that includes Bobby Bowden of Florida State, Steve Spurrier of Florida and Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee.

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Also just an interesting thing as I was looking at his recruiting class rankings: it only took Saban basically ONE Top5 recruiting class to bring a national title to LSU (the 2001 class)...as his 2000 and 2002 classes were not highly ranked classes. He won the 2003 title after his first three classes at LSU were ranked #21, #2, #21