Texas A&M Football May Be the Biggest Portal Benefactor from Nick Saban's Retirement

Recruiting Prowess, Shrewd Personnel Moves by Elko Could Have Texas A&M Football Hugely Benefit After Nick Saban Retires

The talk of the college football world right now, including among Texas A&M football fans, is the retirement of Nick Saban, which was announced earlier today by Chris Low of ESPN. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the common thought is that the Georgia Bulldogs are the new top team in the sport—pretty logical, given that they came close to three-peating as national champions. Of course, it was Saban's Tide that stood in their way.

So what do you do if you have come to Alabama to play for the greatest coach of all time, and he steps down? In the world of the portal, I don't think that's a very answer to figure out for many of these stud players.

The Aggies under Jimbo Fisher were a chief recruiting rival to the Crimson Tide for quite some time. Jimbo and his staff went head to head with Saban and company more times than I can count, and won their fair share of battles.

Now that Saban is out the door, however, the Tide players have a thirty-day window to enter the portal and find a new home. Given the work that Elko has been able to do so far in the portal, and the connections that many Tide players have to Texas A&M football, I have to imagine the Aggies will be big players there.

Oh yeah, and there's the fact that the top recruiter on staff for the Crimson Tide just came over to College Station anyway. Holmon Wiggins, just hired as the WR coach for Texas A&M football, has a strong connection with not only the stud receivers for the Tide, but many other players as well. Having that asset on your side in a situation like this is another feather in Elko's cap.

Whether Elko, Wiggins, or anyone else knew this was coming, it's undeniable that the Aggies are in perhaps the most enviable position of any team to benefit from Nick Saban's retirement via the portal. Given the departures we've seen from the Aggies, the potential adds here could be seismic for this roster, and prepare Mike Elko for a run at an SEC championship, and therefore a national championship, as early as year one.