re: Alabama Early Enrollees

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Gotcha. I was wondering if 18 was just kind of a coincidence or if Saban and the staff were talking to recruits about trying to enroll early and made this part of the recruiting program. It's so advantageous for the kids and the program.

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Probably both. While that high of a number would be abnormally high. I'm sure Saban, as well as most coaches, encourage a kid to graduate early. Especially guys that want to see the field early.

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So much of it depends on the school district the kid comes from. In some districts, if they aren't on a block schedule, it can be virtually impossible for a kid to achieve the credits needed for graduation without attending the spring semester as a senior.

But, I do think kids that are in academic situations where it is possible, they are wanting to do it more and more each year.

But I think 18 is an outlier.

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Very true.

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Will Reichard

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Any way we can convince this kid to not show up until the night before fall classes start? The less exposure our kickers have to the water in Tuscaloosa, the better I'd feel.

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But, I think probably one of the bigger things is that Saban tries to target "high I.Q." guys. I'm not saying other coaches don't, and probably a lot of them put just as much emphasis on it as he does. But, with the ability to get a very high percentage of the guys you're targeting, if you're targeting a lot of guys who are capable of graduating early, you get a lot of them.

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Alabama has a system to graduate guys in 3 - 3 & 1/2 years - from what Saban talks about (as recently as his last press conference), it is the highest early grad. rate in the country.

So, IF they come in early AND they are good enough, they can leave early for the pros with a degree in hand.

While Saban also mentions a system for recruiting each person for a position (which I assume means character/school as well), it (the graduating early part) is quite a selling point for recruits and parents.