Nick Saban continues NIL rampage, calls out Miami basketball for transfer portal interference

During an event in Birmingham Wednesday night, Alabama head coach Nick Saban sounded off on the state of NIL and how it affects recruiting. After previously calling out Texas A&M and Jackson State, he brought up a third program: Miami.

Saban brought up Miami as part of a nearly 7-minute answer about NIL. During his answer, he alluded to former Kansas State guard Nijel Pack, who signed $400,000 deal with LifeWallet upon his commitment to the Hurricanes.

“These guys from Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000,” Saban said, via AL.com. “It’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he’s doing it.

“But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law, and that’s an issue, that’s a problem. Unless we get something that protects them from litigation, I don’t know what we’re going to do about it.”

More of Nick Saban’s answer on NIL, Texas A&M and Jackson State

During Saban’s answer, he sounded off on NIL collectives and the roles they’re beginning to play in recruiting. But after that, he named two schools who’ve gone to the forefront of the conversation: Texas A&M and Jackson State.

The first school Saban brought up was Texas A&M, a conference foe who brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country this year, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking. In fact, the Crimson Tide headman alleged Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher “bought” that talented group.

“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said, via AL.com. “You read about it, you know who they are. We were second 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. Aight? 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. It’s tough.”

Then, he brought up Deion Sanders and Jackson State, who famously got Travis Hunter to flip from Florida State to the Tigers on National Signing Day. Hunter was the No. 2 player in the nation from the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus — a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies — but was the nation’s No. 1 prospect when he committed. Saban said Jackson State “bragged about” getting Hunter to flip.

“Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school,” Saban said, according to AL.com’s Mike Rodak. “It was in the paper. They bragged about it! Nobody did anything about it.”