Measure depth by impact of recruiting class

Saban has recruited a top 5 class in each of the last several years. The 2011 class had 3 5* recruits, but none had a difference-making impact on this year's team, because of the existing talent.

The 3 5* recruits were

1)Hasean Clinton-Dix (S). He had Mark Barron, a Senior All American and Thorpe Award finalist ahead of him. He was also playing behind Robert Lester, a junior who is a highly rated NFL draft prospect. HCD only made it on the field for special teams and mop up duty.

2)Cyrus Kouandjio OT. He made the most meaningful contribution, playing LT behind Barrett Jones, Outland Tropy winner. CK played a lot of meaningful snaps prior to suffering a season ending knee injury. He looks to emerge as next year's starting LT.

3)Demetrius Hart RB. Dee was getting reps as a RB when he suffered a knee injury before the first game. He looked to be one of our return specialists. He was almost certainly going to make a meaningful contribution before his injury. However, he was behind Heisman finalist Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy.

4)Vinnie Sunseri, a 3* safety has made the most important contribution to this year's team. He was a headhunter on the kick-off,Kick-off return, punt, and punt return teams. He played in some of our nickel and dime packages, and played most of the Auburn game when Barron was injured.


Despite a top 5 recruiting class no freshman broke into the starting line-up. This year's team loses 17 scholarship seniors and 3-5 draft eligible juniors. More playing time will be up for grabs for the 2012 class.

I dare say that the same class would have produced several starters at 75% of the other schools in the country. This class would have produced several starters at Ala just 5 years ago.

The fact that Saban is not forced to play freshmen before they are ready
just shows the depth of talent at Alabama. That there were three national award finalists occupying the positions that these three 5*s play just shows the depth of talent at ALABAMA.

The scary part is that this year's class has a chance to be special.