I was told Nick Saban didn't cheat

by DCT, Monday, February 16, 2009, 13:03 (6307 days ago)

I can't remember who told me that....

Oh yeah, now I remember.

Anywho.

Say it aint so Nick...say it aint so...

Here is the text.

DID SABAN COMMIT RECRUITING VIOLATION WITH NEW COMMIT?
Posted by Keith Arnold on February 16, 2009, 1:50 p.m. EST
It's getting ugly in SEC country.

While Lane Kiffin has been doing his best to keep CFT in business, it seems like Nick Saban might have gotten himself into some hot water after receiving a commitment from a 2010 prospect out of Memphis Mitchell High, receiver Keiwone Malone.

A quote from Malone himself in yesterday's Memphis Commercial Appeal all but spells out the violation of the "bump rule," which allows a coach to have no contact with a prospect "in excess of an exchange of a greeting." Malone description of his run-in with Saban in the school's parking lot is anything but a simply greeting.

"I had on my Dolphins hat, and he liked my favorite team, so we kind of bonded a little bit. And when he started talking to me, I started liking the stuff that he was saying."

Yet today, Ron Higgins at GoVolsXtra.com notes that Mitchell High didn't have any seniors being recruited by Saban, and that a coach can't have direct contact with a junior at the time Saban did.

Predictably, today Malone's coach Nathan Cole tells the Mobile Press-Register that Saban "did it the right way," describing the conversation between Saban and Malone as such:

"They didn't really talk," Cole told the Press-Register. "(Saban) said, "˜Hey, how you doing?' and "˜I can't talk to him right now.' Really, it was like, "˜Hey, my name is Keiwone Malone, and that was it."

It seems like a wonderful bit of revisionist history by a coach who may have been covering for his star player. Either way, you can bet that Tennessee fans everywhere won't be too quick to let this one drop, especially with Saban going into Tennessee and pulling out a prized prospect.