Alabama coach Nick Saban might be fined for his public comments as requested by Texas A&M. He certainly won’t be suspended and he shouldn’t be. No matter. There’s a bigger picture in play that could alter the SEC.

Saban, in a rare moment, has looked vulnerable in the latest evolution of football. Tennessee and other schools had best take advantage before he adapts. Meanwhile, Saban has simply been a critic, having called out Texas A&M for “buying” its 2022 recruiting class last month.

Saban doesn’t find himself behind other SEC programs often. That hasn’t been the case since 2021 when the NCAA finally allowed players to benefit off of their name, image and likeness. Since then, Saban has been the Vanderbilt of NIL recruiting.

Saban has been behind when it comes to recruiting and utilizing NIL money to bolster his class. Meanwhile, while schools like Tennessee and Texas A&M have bolstered their rosters and recruiting classes based on cold, hard cash – that is, if you believe the various rumors and innuendo to support as much.

Who can really blame Saban for being left behind? Paying players, especially prospects, was the once the unforgivable sin. Paying players could lead to the death penalty that SMU suffered in 1987. That was a long time ago. Now, paying players is just smart business. That’s not how Saban initially thought NIL could help his program.

Saban thought he could entice recruits to go to Alabama based on bragging about how much money Crimson Tide players could make once they got to Alabama, not by just choosing to go to Alabama for tradition, facilities and good coaching. Saban laid down the NIL sales pitch at SEC Media Days in 2021 when he said Bama quarterback Bryce Young would make $1 million before even starting a game for the Crimson Tide. Saban was pitching that IF a prospect comes to Alabama, he will get paid. Schools like Tennessee and Texas A&M took out the waiting period. Why wait to get paid? Could we get your bank information for your direct deposit?

Young had at least proven himself in practice after bidding his time as a backup. He worked hard to deserve the starting position and reap the NIL rewards that would come with being the man under center for the most dominant football program in the history of college football.

It’s natural to be a little bit old fashioned in that regard. A player shouldn’t theoretically be able to profit on NIL rewards until after he proves himself, just like players shouldn’t get more playing time until they prove themselves. It hasn’t worked out that way.

With recruiting coverage and an NCAA that has the teeth of a goldfish, prospects are stars well before they announce their college decisions and get promised cash to make the right choice. That means prospects now expect to get paid. With no bylaws, ordinances or any semblance of rules in the way, the cash has been flowing.

Tennessee has been one of the athletic programs that has reportedly benefitted the most from the legal, behind-the-scenes recruiting slush fund. Saban wasn’t too keen on those sort of tactics when he called out Texas A&M last month. In fairness, Saban is right philosophically. In the real world, he’s trailing his competition.

Tennessee and Texas A&M are perhaps the two schools in the SEC that have capitalized on NIL money the most. Texas A&M nabbed the top 2022 recruiting class in the country. Tennessee has received some highly rated commitments in recent months, led by five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava. There will be more to come.

The current state of the NIL will allow Tennessee to become much more competitive much quicker than they could have been without it. As I’ve noted before, the Vols have one of the most supportive, well funded fan bases in the nation. They can compete with most anyone in the country. Look at how much it has helped Texas A&M, which has one of the few group of boosters that can outspend Tennessee. The Vols have followed Texas A&M’s lead.

Tennessee currently has the No. 13 class in the country. According to a source among several SEC coaches, the feeling is that the Vols will end up with a class in the top 10 and possibly rank among the top five classes in the country.

Cha-ching.

Before now, Saban has been a leader when it comes to pushing the NCAA rules envelope. That’s why he had well over a dozen coaches on staff as “analysts” when the NCAA said a program could only have nine assistants. Saban had enough assistants and analysts to start a coaching army.

Tennessee and other SEC schools had better take advantage of Saban’s unwillingness to adapt for as long as they can. He won’t be behind the field much longer.

Saban was a bit behind the curve one other time in his Alabama tenure. He was a bit too slow to accept high-speed offenses. If you recall, he even said that playing at such a high tempo was bad for players’ health. Then, when the game refused to slow down, Saban adapted and can now run a high tempo offense with the best of them.

Saban’s lack of accepting NIL recruiting won’t last much longer. The NCAA will address the issue and make changes or Saban will rally his boosters to pony up some hefty payments just like some other teams that have seemingly mastered NIL recruiting.

It’s certainly debatable whether or not a college football player deserves to reap financially from their stature as a player and their hype as prospects. After all, players do still get a free education. I understand that some think college athletics should be truly amateur. Too bad. That genie is out of the bottle.

The rules may change. Saban may adapt. However, it will take a bit of time to get a better infrastructure in place to get the cash flowing. It will be interesting to see how quickly Alabama boosters fork over the dough and how just much they’ll dole out. Saban’s public comments about NIL recruiting were meant to challenge those boosters. However, those boosters have seen Saban be successful without NIL in recruiting. It seems they were intent to sit back and let Saban and Alabama perform some sort of recruiting mystics to keep up with cold hard cash.

That didn’t happen when facing off against the Aggies in the 2022 class. However, it’s worth noting that Alabama still finished second in recruiting. Still, Texas A&M signed eight five-star prospects. Alabama signed three. There’s no arguing that the Aggies’ 2022 class was much better than what the Crimson Tide hauled in on signing day.

Saban and his boosters thought the previous way of doing things in recruiting would over overcome bank deposits. That was part of Saban’s very orchestrated comments about NIL in recruiting. In addition to calling for more legislation (which isn’t a bad idea), Saban was also laying down the gauntlet for Bama boosters and his own athletic department administrators to get a better process in place to funnel cash to prospects.

Before all this NIL hullabaloo, Alabama had a program in place to share the wealth as opposing to one player making a beaucoup more than his teammates. That sort of sports socialism just won’t work. It also doesn’t need to. Sure, a good quarterback will receive more money than a great defensive back because the quarterback receives more exposure. That’s just the way a free market system works. The players I’ve talked to have no problem with that.

Saban has seemingly just figured that out. The Vols need to take advantage before Saban and Alabama catch up – and he will. Hurry up, Saban evolves quickly. History has proven as much time and time again. Remember when Saban preferred prodding over potency on offense? Saban changed that seemingly overnight. He’ll adapt one way or another to NIL recruiting so now is the time to strike.