Nick Saban Torches Rival Texas A&M Over NIL Deals: They ‘Bought Every Player on Their Team’ (UPDATE: Jimbo Fisher Slaps Back: ‘Despicable’)

Amiliano FragosoMay 19th, 2022, 11:39 am
 

Alabama football head coach Nick Saban hasn’t been shy about voicing his opinion on the new NIL program in college sports this offseason. To be clear, Saban isn’t against athletes getting the bag, but more so against paying players to join specific schools to help the “parity” of the game.

Maybe there’s a little bias in there, since he now has more competition for recruits than ever before, but Saban went off on the NIL topic Wednesday when speaking at an event, calling out Texas A&M in particular for buying players in the 2022 recruiting cycle.

“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said. “You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.”

“We didn’t buy one player, alright? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”

Saban didn’t stop there, also calling out Miami and Jackson State for being so open about using NIL to recruit players.

“Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper. They bragged about it! Nobody did anything about it,” Saban said, taking a swipe at head coach Deion Sanders.

The player to whom the Alabama titan is referring is Travis Hunter, the No.1 overall recruit in the class of 2022, who shocked the world by joining HBCU Jackson State this year.

But apparently, Saban got it wrong here too as Hunter and Sanders took to social media to hit back at the Tuscaloosa coach.

The chancellor of Texas A&M John Sharp also hit back at Saban, calling his rant about NIL “desperate”.

“Sometimes when kings start losing their empires they get desperate. That’s what’s happening at Alabama,” Sharpe said to FOX4.

UPDATE: Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher took to the podium Thursday and completely unloaded on the “czar of football,” calling in to question his past recruiting campaigns and his character.

“Some people think they’re ‘God,’ go dig into how ‘God’ did his his deal. You may find out about a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be this czar of football. Go dig into his past, or anybody who’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out, what he does and how he does it. And it’s despicable. It really is and it’s a shame we have to sit up here and have this conversation about things we do in,” Fisher exploded to the media Thursday.

The Aggies coach also apologized to all the families Saban may have offended by his remarks Wednesday, calling them “despicable” once again.

Watch above, via AL.com

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