Nick Saban vs Jim Harbaugh’s newest twist
Jim Harbaugh, Harbaugh takes trolling to a new level by wearing a Julio Jones jersey to a South Alabama camp, in Nick Saban’s territory.
Last week, Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban gave his take on satellite camps, saying they’re bad for the game of college football. While the Crimson Tide’s head coach was insisting he wasn’t targeting Jim Harbaugh with his comments about the camps, the writing was on the wall. This isn’t the first time Saban has been opposed to a new trend, as he used to be against the read-option.
Harbaugh, being the type of person he is, didn’t back down from Saban after his comments.
"Amazing" to me- Alabama broke NCAA rules & now their HC is lecturing us on the possibility of rules being broken at camps. Truly "amazing."
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) June 1, 2016
If you thought that would be the end of Harbaugh vs. Saban, you were wrong. Harbaugh threw gas on the fire today by wearing a Julio Jones jersey to a camp in South Alabama Tuesday. While this isn’t a new tactic of Harbaugh; wearing jerseys of popular players from the area, selecting Julio Jones in particular, who was a receiver for Nick Saban from 2008-10.
Jim Harbaugh & South Alabama @CoachJoeyJones at South Alabama camp. pic.twitter.com/lPeYi12n8b
— Creg Stephenson the First (@CregStephenson) June 7, 2016
If nothing else, this recent verbal rivalry between the two coaches gives all of the sports writers and pundits something to talk about in the offseason. In that regard, it’s just good for the game of college football. It continues to push the Big 10 vs SEC narrative and debate. Rarely at the college level do you have actual rivalries down to the coaches themselves, especially when they aren’t in the same conference.
Saban could be scared of Harbaugh when it comes to recruiting. Saban used to be the hands down best recruiter in the country every year, but with Harbaugh snagging the number-one player in the country this year in Rashan Gary, and Saban not getting a top 20 player this year according to ESPN’s 300 rankings, he’s not going to be wild about these camps or anything else that could potentially cause him to lose more recruits from his area. According to ESPN’s 300 rankings, there were 12 recruits committed to six other SEC schools before Alabama’s 24th-ranked commit Ben Davis. Although it’s still 78 days until the start of college football, I believe this season will be well worth the wait.
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