Johnson: It’s Time for Alabama and Auburn to Start Spending Their Millions at Home
As college football programs with rich histories, passionate fan bases, and significant financial resources, both Alabama and Auburn find themselves at a crucial point in their respective trajectories. While both programs have experienced their fair share of success, it’s time for them to shift their focus—back to their home state. They need to start investing their considerable financial power into bolstering their homegrown talent and keeping top-tier athletes from leaving the state to pursue opportunities at other prestigious programs.
In this article, we will explore why Alabama and Auburn should look inward, put more emphasis on home-state recruiting, and stop letting their millions flow out of state when it comes to securing talent for their football programs.
A Legacy of Success but a Changing Landscape
Both Alabama and Auburn are historically significant programs in the SEC and college football in general. Alabama, with its unmatched tradition of success under legendary coach Nick Saban, has dominated college football in recent years, and Auburn, despite its ups and downs, has still remained a formidable force in the SEC.
However, with the changing landscape of college football, including the rise of the transfer portal, name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, and the increasing importance of high school recruiting, both programs are faced with heightened competition for talent. In recent years, Alabama and Auburn have allowed players from their own state to slip away to other schools, especially to powerhouses like Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, and even out-of-conference programs like Notre Dame.
This trend should be a cause for concern. Both Alabama and Auburn have massive financial resources at their disposal. They can offer high-level facilities, coaching staff, and opportunities for national championships—but are they offering enough to keep in-state talent in Alabama?
The Power of Home-State Recruiting
Home-state recruiting is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful program. Players who grow up supporting a local team are often more motivated to stay close to home and contribute to their state’s legacy. However, Alabama and Auburn must step up their efforts to keep these players within their borders and give them the resources to develop into top-tier college football players.
1. Building a Foundation with Local Talent
Alabama is a state rich with high school football talent, consistently producing top prospects year after year. From the Birmingham area to Mobile, the state has become a hub for NFL-caliber athletes. Historically, Alabama has done a good job of securing in-state talent, but as other programs raise their recruiting profiles, it has become increasingly difficult to retain top local recruits.
Alabama’s strategy should not only focus on finding these top athletes but also on building long-term relationships with high school programs and coaches. Having strong ties to high school football coaches and recruiting staffs can go a long way toward ensuring that Alabama and Auburn’s coaches remain at the top of mind for rising stars.
For example, programs like Georgia and Ohio State have been successful at raiding other states for talent, but they also work hard to maintain relationships with high school coaches across the country. Alabama and Auburn need to take this same approach to develop deeper, more personal connections with their local talent pool.
2. The Transfer Portal and NIL
The arrival of the transfer portal and the increasing influence of NIL deals have made the recruiting landscape even more competitive. Historically, both Alabama and Auburn could count on being the destination for many of the state’s top prospects. But with the wealth of options available through the transfer portal and NIL opportunities elsewhere, local players are being lured away by programs that may offer immediate playing time, higher-profile coaching staff, or more money in their pockets.
That’s where Alabama and Auburn need to make a concerted effort to use their resources at home. As schools that have some of the deepest pockets in college football, they should be pouring more money into NIL opportunities for local players to ensure they have a competitive advantage. NIL isn’t just about creating bigger deals for the star players; it’s about ensuring every recruit feels valued.
3. Keeping Homegrown Talent Close to Home
When players from Alabama leave for schools like Georgia, LSU, or even out-of-state programs like Texas, it’s a significant loss for the local programs. In many cases, these athletes have deep ties to their state and might prefer to stay in Alabama—but their decision often comes down to whether they feel they are being offered the right opportunities.
Alabama and Auburn need to work harder to ensure their homegrown talent feels like the program is committed to their development. This means offering these players everything from world-class training facilities to professional development programs that prepare them for life after football. Local players who feel like they’re getting top-tier coaching, mentoring, and NIL opportunities are much more likely to stay in-state.
Maximizing Resources: Investment in In-State Recruiting
Alabama and Auburn need to start investing their millions back into their home programs—not just in stadium renovations, recruiting tools, or coaching salaries, but also in the relationships they maintain with in-state players. Here are a few specific ways these programs can start making a bigger impact:
1. Boosting In-State Recruiting Budgets
Alabama and Auburn need to make recruiting in the state a top priority by increasing budgets for in-state recruiting efforts. This could mean more money for travel to local high schools, creating more robust recruiting staffs dedicated to the state, and funding resources for camps and showcases aimed specifically at Alabama’s high school talent.
Both programs have already made substantial investments in their recruiting operations, but local recruiting is often treated as a secondary focus. If the state of Alabama is the bedrock of their recruiting efforts, these resources should be disproportionately allocated to ensure the programs’ coaches are heavily involved in local high school football.
2. Developing a Stronger Relationship with High School Coaches
High school football coaches are a critical part of the recruiting ecosystem. Alabama and Auburn should continue to foster strong relationships with high school coaches to gain their trust and access to the best players. Programs that build a reputation of integrity, transparency, and reliability with high school programs will be able to secure more recruits and have access to better local talent.
While both Alabama and Auburn already maintain relationships with local high school coaches, they should continue to elevate these connections by attending local events, offering coaching clinics, and even partnering with high school programs to help develop future coaching talent. These kinds of community partnerships not only elevate a program’s image but also create goodwill in the state, which can pay dividends when top prospects are making their decisions.
3. Offering More NIL Opportunities for Local Players
NIL has become one of the most powerful tools in modern college football recruiting. For in-state players, Alabama and Auburn should take advantage of their deep financial resources to offer competitive NIL deals to local recruits. These deals don’t always need to be as big as those offered to elite players; even providing smaller, meaningful NIL opportunities for lower-profile recruits will help keep them in-state.
The key here is that local players often want to feel valued by their home programs, and NIL offers a powerful incentive. Both Alabama and Auburn should work with local businesses to create meaningful NIL packages that allow in-state players to stay in their hometown while still maximizing their earning potential.
The Importance of Keeping Local Talent at Home
For Alabama and Auburn, retaining local talent isn’t just about winning on the field; it’s also about building a program culture that resonates with the community. These local recruits can be the foundation for a program’s long-term success, helping to strengthen ties between the team and its fanbase.
There’s something special about in-state players who grow up rooting for their local teams and eventually get to play in front of their families and communities. When local talent succeeds, it creates a sense of pride that transcends the football field. It elevates the program and brings the entire state together. Keeping these players in-state ensures that the success of Alabama and Auburn football remains rooted in the community that helped build it.