ATLANTA | The ties between Nick Saban and Mark Dantonio start long before they worked together in East Lansing for four years. Before Dantonio was Saban's defensive coordinator at Michigan State, he was a Kent State recruit.
"I remember Mark when he played at Zanesville High School," Saban said. "I was the coach that recruited that area."
Dantonio and Saban didn't connect at Kent State; he went to South Carolina. But Dantonio smiled when Saban mentioned their first meeting in the small town east of Columbus, Ohio.
Their careers have crisscrossed a handful of times since then.