Nick Saban Says Texas A&M ‘Bought Every Player on Their Team’

The gloves have come off in college football’s new “arms race,” as Alabama coach Nick Saban accuses Texas A&M of buying “every player on their team” through a series of lucrative Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals.

At an event for the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, Wednesday night, Saban sounded off on Texas A&M’s star-studded 2022 recruiting class. However, the Alabama coach pointed out that his Crimson Tide had navigated the new NIL waters “the right way.”

Nick Saban says 25 players on Alabama last season earned NIL revenue totaling $3 million and did it “the right way.” Saban speaking at a 50-day countdown event for the World Games in Birmingham.

— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) May 19, 2022

Saban: We were 2nd 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. 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 https://t.co/uwEcLQa2u4

— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) May 19, 2022

In what is sure to make for some awkward moments on the set of their AFLAC commercials, Saban also took a shot at Jackson State’s Deion Sanders.

More from Nick Saban tonight: “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."

— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) May 19, 2022

A&M has only produced one Top 5 recruiting class this century. Then, suddenly, it produces the #1 class in the land with the advent of the new NIL deals. Not that A&M did anything wrong or illegal in structuring their recruiting class that way. However, to Saban’s point, the implications for college football are grim and troubling when other rich and powerful institutions such as Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame, and others follow the Aggies’ lead and begin recruiting with the dollar instead of the scholarship and opportunity to win.

While most agree with college football players having the ability to get paid, few would agree that arming 17-year-olds who lack education and emotional maturity with million-dollar deals is a good thing. Nor would most agree that allowing the recruiting and transfer process to turn into a bidding war among the most prosperous college programs is ideal.

What is the ideal solution? Who knows? But, ideally, someone will figure it out very soon.