Jimbo Fisher was extremely pissed off about what Nick Saban said about his program.
Alabama coach Nick Saban singled out Texas A&M for “buying” its top-ranked signing class and threw a spotlight on the unintended effect of name, image and likeness rights on recruiting during an event with local business leaders Wednesday night in Birmingham.
“I mean, we were second in recruiting last year,” Saban told the audience. “A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team — made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn’t buy one player, all right? But I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
His comments prompted a stern response from Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher on Thursday and he went off.
“It’s despicable that he can take shots at 17-year-old kids and their families. … We never bought anyone. No rules were broken.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral Football stories via Google! Follow Us
“When people show you who they are, believe them.”
Fisher also stated that Saban has called him, but he’s not accepting any from him.
The problem with NIL, Saban said Wednesday, is “coaches trying to create an advantage for themselves.”
Saban said people blame the NCAA, “But in defense of the NCAA, we are where we are because of the litigation.”
NCAA rules prohibit a school or its employees only from paying athletes directly for their NIL rights.
Deion Sanders, who was also called out by Saban, plans to speak on what Saban stated about him as well.
