Who will falter more, Alabama or Michigan? Both programs will take a step back, this is obvious, but which one drops further? This isn’t about Kalen DeBoer or whoever the next coach at Michigan will be. It’s about which program is left in better shape after a legendary coach leaves. And the obvious answer is Alabama.
Why Alabama? I’ll give you five good reasons.
1. Recruiting territory
— This is the biggest one, and it’s a slam dunk. Guess what states border Alabama? Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Guess what states border Michigan? Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (if you want to count the Upper Peninsula.) The amount of talent surrounding Alabama is insane, and the state of Alabama has been one of the states on the rise for producing elite talent. Michigan? Not so much, and the border states aside from Ohio are bad, really bad, when it comes to elite talent. The recruiting advantage alone gives Bama a massive edge.
2. Culture
— Michigan’s culture was amazing this past year and has been for a few years now. This was a player-led team with amazing resiliency, and those who remain will pass that along to the younger players. But Alabama’s culture has been in place since Saban took over, and it’s been amazing for over 15 years. You could argue that a new coach and staff at Alabama vs. Michigan if they stay in-house and hire Sherrone Moore, is relatively equal. But to me, the culture at Alabama is just so rock solid it will remain for years to come, while Michigan could struggle without Harbaugh and some of the players like JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum.
3. Roster strength
— Alabama has more talent. Yes, Michigan beat them, and yes, Alabama has lost some key players to the portal, but in the end, Alabama just has a better roster coming back. They lose some talent to the NFL but nothing like Michigan, and they just reload where Michigan might need to rebuild a bit. Alabama had an advantage at almost every position over the Wolverines.
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4. Portal prowess
— Michigan has done an amazing job in the portal. Harbaugh found key pieces of the puzzle to supplement his roster and fit what he wanted to do on offense and defense. Alabama has only spot-recruited the portal, adding guys like Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, and others as needed. So why does Alabama have an edge here? If Alabama wanted to use the portal under Saban, he would have picked star after star off other rosters, and it would have been No. 1 with ease every year. And that can be done now as they will be more aggressive in that area. Michigan is an attractive destination as well, don’t get me wrong, but trust me when I tell you that Bama will have higher-ranked portal classes than Michigan in the years to come.
5. Warm weather
— Dumb, right? Nope. There’s a reason why only two northern-based teams have won it all since 1997. Player development at the high school level has vastly changed over the last 25 years, and more and more elite players are coming from warm weather areas. And let’s not fool ourselves. It’s harder to lure warm-weather kids to Ann Arbor, Michigan, over a place like Tuscaloosa. It’s just a fact of life and a major factor here.
