The Evolution of College Football Recruiting

Today’s landscape of college football has shifted dramatically when it comes to how talent is recruited and players are signed. While the days of brown paper bags filled with cash—along with under-the-table deals—have largely given way to the era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), there are still some memorable stories from the past.

Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron recounted a classic tale on his podcast, featuring broadcaster Chris Stewart and his former teammate, standout running back Trent Richardson.

McCarron, who hails from Mobile, shared how Tennessee’s head coach, Lane Kiffin, attempted to lure him to Knoxville by sneaking around Nick Saban and his staff. Saban, suspecting Kiffin was up to something, dispatched Jeremy Pruitt to McCarron’s house to keep an eye out.

The twist? Pruitt ended up at the wrong house.

McCarron reminisced, “One morning, I was fast asleep, my dad was at the fire station, and then suddenly, there’s this loud banging on my bedroom window. I woke up thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’”

As it turned out, Kiffin and his crew managed to slip past Pruitt unnoticed.

A short while later, McCarron—who had already decided on Alabama—received a call from Saban. “Coach Saban asked me, ‘What are you doing, boy?’ I replied, ‘I just had a meeting with the staff at Tennessee.’ He seemed surprised.”

Saban subsequently dealt with Pruitt’s little oversight.

In the end, everything worked out for McCarron, but this incident feels like one of those stories that are becoming rarer in today’s recruiting environment.