{"id":164738,"date":"2022-12-22T01:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T01:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nick-saban-thanks-deion-sanders-as-alabama-assistant-transitions-to-colorado\/"},"modified":"2022-12-22T01:06:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T01:06:00","slug":"nick-saban-thanks-deion-sanders-as-alabama-assistant-transitions-to-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nick-saban-thanks-deion-sanders-as-alabama-assistant-transitions-to-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Saban thanks Deion Sanders as Alabama assistant transitions to Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The best assistant coach in the country for recruiting players in the 2023 class? By 247 Sports’ rankings, that distinction belongs to Alabama safeties coach Charles Kelly.<\/p>\n

Kelly, who has also served as the Tide’ associate defensive coordinator the past four seasons, was involved in recruiting six of Alabama’s signees as part of its 27-player class announced Wednesday. That included a pair of five stars from Montgomery in James Smith and Qua Russaw, whose pledges on national signing day gave Kelly the highest recruiter ranking by 247 Sports’ metrics in the nation.<\/p>\n

Kelly’s rise to No. 1 came a day after he was announced as Colorado’s next defensive coordinator, an expected development since news of the move first broke earlier this month.<\/p>\n

At his signing day news conference late Wednesday afternoon, coach Nick Saban thanked Kelly and new Colorado coach Deion Sanders for how they handled the transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really appreciate Deion and Charles Kelly both in terms of trying to finish the right way,\u201d he said. \u201cI went through that experience when I left the Cleveland Browns to go to Michigan State as the head coach [in 1995] and we had four or five or six games left. I felt like I owed to the players, to Coach Belichick and that Cleveland Browns organization to do the best job I could and stay focused on that. Charles has done a really good job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saban said his entire coaching staff did a \u201cfantastic job\u201d in recruiting the 2023 class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a long-term process,\u201d he said. \u201cGuys really worked hard at this, not only in the evaluation process, but also in the recruiting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really encouraged by the energy, the enthusiasm, the relationships that the entire staff was able to, sort of, develop with this recruiting class and I think that’s important in the future. Because I think having good relationships is one of the things that will be critical with how you manage a roster in the future and I think when you have good relationships when guys come in, that’s something you can build on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama, with six five stars signed Wednesday, has the highest-ranked class in 247 Sports’ composite. Behind Kelly at No. 2 in the recruiter rankings nationally is defensive line coach Freddie Roach, who was involved in recruiting 10 of the Tide’s signees.<\/p>\n

Kelly is the only Alabama position coach to this point who has been announced to be leaving this coming offseason. Analyst Alex Mortensen is also departing to become UAB’s offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter <\/i>@mikerodak<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n