Nick Saban wants to do things the old-school way. In a perfect world, players would join the Alabama football program as freshman and develop into All-Americans and NFL Draft picks.

But in 2023, that’s not always how it works. The transfer portal has impacted every team in college football, and Saban’s Crimson Tide is no different.

The Alabama head coach said Wednesday at SEC Media Days that he looks for immediate contribution when pulling talent from the portal.

“I think those players need to play if they’re in the transfer portal and we should therefore need them to play,” Saban said. “There should be some need at their positions so they have an opportunity to be able to contribute and I think that’s the case at most positions where we took guys this year out of the portal.”

Saban used the example of running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who joined Alabama from Georgia Tech, of what the Tide can gain from the portal. Gibbs starred in the backfield for the Crimson Tide, racking up 926 rushing yards and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round.

Alabama’s coach said he looks at the portal like the Crimson Tide are a team at the pro level.

“We use the portal sort of as you would use free-agency in the NFL,” Saban said. “When we feel like we have need at a position, we look and see if anybody’s available in the portal that would help us at that particular position and I think this year we brought five guys in from the portal to compliment, we had like 28 freshmen maybe.”

Alabama brought in quarterback Tyler Buchner, cornerback Trey Amos, safety Jaylen Key, linebacker Trezman Marshall and tight end CJ Dippre from the portal.

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