Alabama’s Nick Saban rolls into Georgia for 2010 prospects
Nick and Blake shake on it (Photo submitted by Sims family)
Alabama’s Nick Saban dampened UGA’s national championship hopes last year. Now Saban is returning to the state to inflict more damage.
Gainesville QB Blake Sims is the latest 2010 prospect to pledge to Alabama. Sims picked the Crimson Tide over UGA, Michigan, Tennessee and West Virginia, among others.
Alabama has as many commitments from the state as Georgia Tech (3), and more than UGA (1). The other Tuscaloosa-bound prospects are North Gwinnett OL Austin Shephard and Westside-Macon WR Ronald Carswell.
The big questions are these: Now that Saban is scoring big early in Georgia, will he be able to finish as strong as he started with recruiting? And will he be able to hold on to the commitments he has? So far, so good.
UGA touched base with Sims this week, asking if he wanted to take another look at the Bulldogs. “[Assistant John Jancek] wanted me to come down there, so they could roll out the red carpet like Alabama did for me last weekend,” Sims said. “I told him thanks for the invitation, and I appreciated it. It was hard to turn down Georgia. I grew up a Georgia fan. I’ve been good friends with [Mark Richt] since my freshman year.”
“But I’ve already picked my school, and I’m going to keep my word because [Saban] gave me his word.”
Saban closed the deal with Sims at a dizzying pace. It was the stuff of recruiting legends. Last Wednesday, Sims said West Virginia, Michigan and UGA were his top three choices. Thursday, Alabama offered out of the blue. Friday, Sims talked to Saban for the first time in his life. Saturday, Sims visited Alabama for the first time. Within a few hours, Saban had Sims so fired up he was ready to learn words to the school fight song.
“Coach Saban showed me love, lots of love,” Sims said. “He let me know I was very important to the future of Alabama football. I was head over heels about the place. I surprised myself by committing. I just looked up and asked God to help me with my college decision.”
The quick commitment by Sims abruptly ended a long travel itinerary for his family over spring break. They were headed to West Virginia the next day, and then Michigan by the end of the week.
However, the recruiting journey has just begun for Sims, along with rest of Alabama’s seven overall commitments. As with all the top prospects, Sims will be pursued by other schools until he signs the scholarship papers in February. He got 11 letters from colleges on Thursday, including hand-written cards from coaches at West Virginia and Michigan.
Nice start by Nick Saban with next year’s recruiting class, especially in Georgia. We’ll see where everything stands in 10 months.
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116 comments Add your comment
Steve Superior
April 10th, 2009
11:55 am
Puppy fans resorting to bragging about a Utah win, now that’s what top tier programs do! What were your other big wins puppies? Ole Miss beating the Gators, or maybe Virgina Tech beating GA Tech, no I got LSU beating GA Tech. LMAO.
Tom From Bama
April 10th, 2009
11:54 am
chaliedog – Final AP poll – 2008 season
#1 – Florida – 13-1
#2 – Utah –
#6 – Alabama – 12-2
And, rounding out the top-10.. . . er, I mean top – 12???
Uh – Top-13 -
#13 UGA 10-3 – 1-3 vs. teams that ended the season ranked
RJS
April 10th, 2009
11:51 am
Saban is certainly a great coach and a fantastic recruiter, but I hope he was honest with Blake Sims that Alabama is going to offer more scholarships than they have available this year- just like Saban does every year. If Blake is a good student and great player, he should be okay, but some kid will get burned.
rational bamafan
April 10th, 2009
11:50 am
JIM- You know what’s funny? You trying to liken UGA’s loss to Florida with our loss to Florida. First of all it only means one thing…Florida was better than both of us last year. Second, we were still playing when we weren’t supposed to be and yall were sitting at home when you weren’t supposed to be.
globeflyer
April 10th, 2009
11:48 am
People, people…We’re talking about a kid here…He may change his mind and he may not. A lot can change in a few months. Let’s all take a deep breath here and just enjoy how the “game” unfolds. After all, what counts is between the sidelines and what the scoreboard reads at the end. As a Bama fan, I can tell you Dawg fans that a lot of us respect your program and your coach. We have had a lot of good games in the past, and will in the future. My only comment is to the guy who said Bama embarrassed the SEC in the bowl game. We ALL expected the Tide to Roll over Utah, but we were beaten by a team that was better-prepared, if not better. They ended up #2. That tells me that a lot of other people thought it was a bit more than an SEC embarrassment. My hat’s off to Utah…they kicked our butt…….. Roll Tide.
Tom From Bama
April 10th, 2009
11:46 am
JB – regarding Richt’s record vs.Coach Saban, I DID “check it out for myself”, and I think you might be a tad off.
Its more like 2-3:
vs. LSux –
L – 10-17 – 09-20-2003 – Baton Rouge, LA
L – 13-34 – 12-06-2003 – Atlanta, GA – SEC Championship Game
W – 45-16 – 10-02-2004 – Athens, GA
vs. Alabama
W – 26-23 – 09-22-2007 – Tuscaloosa, AL – (in OT)
L – 30-41 – 09-27-2008 – Athens, GA – “Blackout Game” – 31-ZIP at the half. . . OUCH!!!!
Mark vs. Nick Saban – all time SEC games – 2-3
Pts for – 79, Pts against – 115
charliedawg
April 10th, 2009
11:36 am
Bama fans, don’t foget to take credit for making Utah a “relevant” program. Previously, only Pitt could claim that…LOL!
charliedawg
April 10th, 2009
11:33 am
Bamabelle, you must not have been one of the fans throwing your drink at UGA players after last game in Tuscaloosa….
Bamafan
April 10th, 2009
11:31 am
Saban is like a cat playing with a mouse in recruiting!! Folks Bama has not had this kind of talent
in many years except in 91,92,94 when Gene Stallings was the coach. I just hope Saban stays more
than 5 years at Alabama!! ROLL TIDE!!
Rick From Bama
April 10th, 2009
11:22 am
Hey Braveshater – It’s just that kind of attitude that drives the talent to other schools. How old is this kid – 17, 18? Be classy like the other UGA fans and wish him well. We don’t hate the kids from Alabama that go to other schools – but to think of it, they don’t go to other schools now that NICK SABAN (COACH OF THE YEAR) is at ALABAMA.
Hope to see you in black next time we play. Roll Tide.