I was a big fan of the show MythBusters back in the day. I enjoyed not just finding out whether there was anything behind a lot of myths, urban legends, old wives’ tales, and the occasional movie or TV stunt, but I enjoyed the testing process too.
After watching untold hours of the show, it became clear to me that there was a template behind a lot of the scenarios. In particular, they tried to test a lot of “always” or “never” questions. All it took was one counterexample to render the show’s signature Busted verdict on the story. It was easiest to prove out a concept in the extremes that way.
College football is in a new era with the transfer portal facilitating player movement and an even newer era of the one-time transfer rule for undergrads. Things have definitely changed in how athletes go about choosing where to go and whether to stay there long. Exactly how much it has changed is still an open question.
It’s instructive, then, to look at the extremes. Few things get more extreme than the greatest head coach of all time retiring, so Alabama is our new test case of said extremes.
I’ve been seeing whispers for years about Bama getting a Saban Discount on NIL because of how good his program was at getting guys not just to the NFL but drafted early. There definitely was a Saban boost to recruiting too for that reason, aside from NIL itself.
The player story that has struck me the strongest since the G.O.A.T. stepped down is that of Kadyn Proctor. He was a 5-star offensive tackle from Des Moines in the 2023 class. His rating was a near-perfect .9960, and he was the No. 5 overall player in the country.
Proctor started all year for the Crimson Tide. After some early season struggles, he got up to college speed and played quite well. He hopped in the portal after Saban retired, thus re-opening the window for 30 days for Bama players, and he recently committed to Iowa.
Now as I said earlier, Proctor was from the state of Iowa. He committed to the Hawkeyes as a recruit before flipping to Alabama. If anyone is going to bail on a program after the head coach disappears, an out-of-state guy who had previously committed to a team in his home state will be at the top of the list.
Thing is, Iowa doesn’t have an offensive coordinator. The interim athletic director fired OC Brian Ferentz, son of head coach Kirk, back in late October. Because of the obvious nepotism angle, Brian had officially reported to the AD and not the head coach. Once the prior AD who let Kirk walk all over him was out, the interim swung the axe after two months of largely brutal offensive performances — which had followed years of largely brutal offensive performances — without waiting to see if things would turn around (they wouldn’t).
Ferentz the Elder had publicly stated he wanted to have a new OC by now, but a quick search suggests that some of the top choices have turned the job down. I don’t really know; you don’t come to this newsletter for hot Hawkeyes insider news anyway.
The point is, Proctor knows what kind of offense the team ultimately will run. It will be a lot like the run-heavy scheme Ferentz the Younger ran, just hopefully for the Hawkeyes’ sake with some new creativity and fewer obvious tendencies. And Kirk has been good at getting linemen on both sides of the ball to The League, and the offensive line coach is still around.
But still, there isn’t a coordinator on Proctor’s side of the ball. Not only has the position not been filled, but just last week Ferentz announced that he wasn’t renewing the wide receivers coach’s contract. They’re still losing offensive coaches, not hiring them.
To sum it up: Proctor is from Iowa, he committed to Iowa before flipping to Alabama, and he’s willing to transfer to Iowa despite there being no offensive coordinator and fresh turmoil on that side of the staff.
What that tells me is that Proctor really, really wanted to play at Iowa. Only one thing changed his mind: Nicholas Lou Saban, Jr.
And now, that one thing is gone.
My favorite one-liner that I’ve come up with under Florida’s current regime is that the worst-case scenario for Billy Napier is that he’s decaf Ron Zook. Maybe he won’t win enough games — and, as it turns out, maybe there will be too many game day embarrassments — but he’ll at least stock the cupboards well for the next guy.
Thing is, it may be impossible to have a Zook-like figure in college football anymore. Plenty of prospects talk about wanting to play for ol’ State U just like their forebears did, but college players’ actions are showing it not to be the case to near the extent it used to be. If a guy doesn’t want to wait an extra year to start, or he wants to test his NIL market value, or if the head coach position turns over, or one of many other potential factors change, then he’s in the portal on the double.
DJ Lagway talks about wanting to come to UF and play there. But as much or more, he talks about how much he likes Napier and his offensive system. If Napier gets the boot next fall, how sure are you that the native Texan Lagway will stay loyal to Florida instead of hitting the portal to test his value? I can tell you how sure I am: not at all.
And so it goes, on down the line. A lot of the way things used to be was inextricably linked to the much tighter restrictions on athlete movement and agency. If players in, say, the ’80s had the options available to them as current guys do, they’d probably do the exact same things.
Unfortunately I think I’ll have to retire by decaf Zook line because there are no locks on the cupboards anymore.