Jeremiah Smith may have just put a spotlight on one of Nick Saban’s biggest recruiting whiffs.
Alabama’s wide receiver room was loaded from 2017 through 2020, when the Crimson Tide packed future first- and second-round picks into the same depth chart. The “Ryde Outs” stretch included Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith, Henry Ruggs and Jaylen Waddle all at once, with John Metchie buried as WR5 in 2019 despite eventually becoming a future second-round pick himself.
After that run, though, Alabama’s production at receiver dipped, especially when it came to high school recruiting. Jameson Williams delivered huge results in his lone season in Tuscaloosa after transferring from Ohio State, but the Tide had a tougher time landing and developing homegrown wideouts.
The biggest miss, though, didn’t come into focus until this week.
At SEC Media Days, Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith said Alabama was once his “dream school.”
“Growing up my dream school was Alabama when Nick Saban was there. But they wasn’t recruiting me," Smith said, via Stephen Means of Cleveland.com.
Smith was a class of 2024 prospect and committed to Ohio State early, but it’s still jarring to think Alabama apparently never pushed hard for a player who now looks like the best wide receiver in college football from the moment he stepped on campus.
There’s no way to know what would have happened if Alabama had gone all-in and landed him. Saban retired after the 2023 season, and Smith would have had the same portal freedom so many others used, including his current quarterback in Columbus, former Alabama signee Julian Sayin.
Still, it’s easy to imagine what Smith could have looked like in Tuscaloosa alongside Ryan Coleman-Williams. Those two were the most explosive young receivers in college football during the 2024 season, and together they would have given Alabama’s offense a terrifying one-two punch.
Saban has already pointed to another recruiting miss as the biggest of his career, saying he should have recruited tight end Mason Taylor harder. Taylor ended up at LSU and delivered the game-winning two-point conversion in the Tigers’ 2022 win over Alabama in Baton Rouge.
That one stung. But Smith’s revelation makes for a different kind of what-if entirely.
Maybe Saban never knew Smith viewed Alabama as his dream school. He does now. And if he ever gets asked about his biggest recruiting mistake again, the answer might not be the same.
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