Recruiting is one of the foundational pillars of college football. When Nick Saban was hired at Alabama in 2007, he inherited a program that only had three winning seasons since 2000. Under Saban, the Crimson Tide have never had a losing season and have more national championships (six) than seasons with fewer than 12 wins (five).
How did Saban build a winner so quickly? How has he sustained this level of success during the most talent-rich era of college football despite a high rate of assistant coach turnover? Several reasons can be pointed out, but it all starts with recruiting.