The recent rule changes regarding college athletes profiting off of their name, image, and likeness have generally caused people to lose their minds. The latest example of this came on Wednesday, when Alabama head football coach Nick Saban called out a pair of college football programs, Texas A+M and Jackson State, and one basketball program, Miami, for how they have benefitted from NIL.
Saban alleged that Jackson State “bragged” in newspapers that they paid $1 million to get No. 1 recruit Travis Hunter to go to the HBCU, while Miami has players “that are going to play basketball there for $400,000,” a reference to the NIL deal received by Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack. But the most pointed comments came when discussing A+M, a division rival led by former Saban assistant Jimbo Fisher.
“I mean, we were second in recruiting last year,” Saban said, per ESPN. “A+M was first. A+M bought every player on their team — made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn’t buy one player, all right? But I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
The Aggies were, indeed, the only team to finish above Alabama in 247’s team rankings last year by putting together a class filled with eight 5-star players, including four top-20 defensive line prospects. Fisher was pretty upset about all of this, so he called an emergency press conference on Thursday morning and decided to throw some haymakers in his old boss’ direction.
What a grenade at Nick Saban.
“Some people think they’re God.” pic.twitter.com/etbIFpeUDF— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) May 19, 2022
“Some people think they’re God,” Fisher said. “Go dig into how God did his deal, you may find out about a guy that … a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be the czar of football, go dig into his past, or anybody that’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you wanna find out, what he does and how he does it. And it’s despicable.”
Fisher went on to defend how the Aggies put together their class and revealed that while Saban has tried contacting him in the aftermath of his comments, he refused to take the call.
Jimbo Fisher: "We never bought anybody. No rules were broken."
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 19, 2022
Jimbo Fisher: "I have nothing to hide and our program has nothing to hide."
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 19, 2022
Jimbo Fisher: "I just know that what we did was nothing wrong. Not done the wrong way. Nothing was promised. Nothing was a deal. And we didn't buy any players."
— Max Olson (@max_olson) May 19, 2022
Jimbo Fisher says Nick Saban has tried to call him but he didn't take the call. "Not going to…we're done."
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 19, 2022
Beyond that, Fisher suggested Saban could use a smack upside the head.
Jimbo Fisher: "You can call me anything you want to call me, you don't call me a cheat. I don't cheat. I don't lie. I learned that when I was a kid, if you did, your old man would've slapped you upside the head. Maybe somebody should have slapped him."
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 19, 2022
SEC Media Days will take place from July 18-21, while the Crimson Tide will play host to the Aggies on Oct. 8 this season.
