Nick Saban (SEC Photo)
Did you know Alabama football was recruiting internationally? I did not but Alabama coach Nick Saban explained at SEC Media Days Wednesday how recruiting has spread.
Q. You’ve got a player on the roster from Finland, and you’ve just recruited the No. 1 player in Germany. As the game grows outside of the U.S., how necessary and how realistic is it that your recruitment expands with that?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think things are obviously a little more global maybe than they have ever been. I think football is creating a little more of an international brand in terms of where they are playing, who is playing, how they are playing.
So we had the opportunity with both — our punter is also from Australia. But we have had the opportunity to get to know these young men that we recruited from Europe, really, because they came and spent a significant amount of time with us, whether it was in camp or visiting or whatever, so that we could determine, do they have the right stuff to be able to compete at this level. It was pretty easy to see they had the talent to do it. But could they understand that this is a little more competitive, the quality of ball was going to be a little bit different, and how are you going to respond to that.
We were excited, and with the players that we have that are international players on our team right now, and the ones that we have recruited in the past, they have all made a significant contribution. You know, Jessie Williams was one of the first from Australia, and defensive lineman who was an outstanding player who played for the Seahawks for four or five years.
We feel like these guys that we have recruited, Olaus is on our team now and developing nicely, and we had the young man from Germany in our camp this summer, and was very impressed with him.
So good additions to our team. Glad to have the opportunity.
