I was recently perusing the Rivals 100, the list of the Top 100 football prospects for 2007 and noticed a symptom of something I'm sure that will come as no surprise to followers of the Crimson Tide.
OUR OFFENSE SUCKS.
That's not shocking news to anyone that watched Alabama struggle to put points on the board last year.
If Dave Rader were to enter a car in the Indy 500, he'd probably think this would do the trick.
13 of the Top 100 players have Alabama on their lists of consideration. While that may sound decent, the optimism withers when one realizes that nine off of that list have already committed to Texas.
Our offensive suckitude is reflected in the list of prospects considering Alabama. See if you can find the common thread here:
DT - Torrey Davis (#7)
ATH - Joe McKnight (#14)
DE - Allen Bailey (#21)
DT - John Brown (#48)
LB - Chris Donald (#49)
DT - Kerry Murphy (#53)
DB - Michael McNeil (#72)
RB - Enrique Davis (#74)
DE - Michael Keck (#77)
QB - Stephen Garcia (#88)
DE - Cliff Matthews (#93)
WR - Brandon Gibson (#99)
DT - Will Blackwell (#100)
Only four of the thirteen on that list play offense. So, while several top recruits consider playing for the Joe Kines beast of a machine defense, very few want to hop on board the Dave Rader express.
I know these simple numbers aren't purely reflective of the problem, but they certainly are symptomatic of our offensive maladies.
For fans of other SEC schools out there, it's worth noting that Ed Orgeron has already lured two of the Top 100 into committing to Ole Miss...that right...the Ole Miss that's 7-15 over the past two seasons. Makes you wonder if a storm is brewing in Oxford.