http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/nmccready.ssf?/base/sports/1170239019197080.xml&coll=3 Saban finds the going tougher here Wednesday, January 31, 2007 Clifton McNeil met with Nick Saban, Mal Moore and Robert Witt last weekend. Michael McNeil's grandfather referred to the University of Alabama's head football coach, athletics director and president as "dynamic." "It would be very, very difficult for a young man to go in there, look at the facility, understand the history and tradition of the Crimson Tide and not be drawn to it," said the elder McNeil. Clifton McNeil's grandson, the top-ranked player on the Press-Register's Elite 18 and the No. 6-ranked player on the Super Southeast 120, went there over the weekend, as well, and apparently wasn't as drawn to it. Saban, Clifton McNeil said, is a "tremendous salesperson" who "helps himself with his experience, his confidence and the success that he's had. Michael understands that this guy is a gifted individual when it comes to teaching young men how to play defensive back. That's a draw because Michael likes to learn. He's a student of the game." Still, that wasn't enough of a draw. Saban's recruitment of McNeil resembled his two-year stint with the Miami Dolphins -- lots of hype and some promising moments followed by failure. Saban, Michael McNeil said, "was by my side the entire visit," eating dinner with the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder Friday and Saturday night and detailing how the free safety would fit in to his plans of rebuilding Alabama into an elite-level SEC football program. As it turns out, Saban's dinner date with McNeil marked the end of the hurried courtship. On Tuesday, McNeil accepted a proposal from another suitor. Instead of wearing crimson and white, McNeil will try to help keep Alabama down the next four or five years.
I guess I shouldn't have put his name in the title becase the article is really not about him specifically. Just that Bama is having trouble in the Mobile area.
