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Could Alabama’s ‘Fab Five’ be a package deal?

Jerod Haase

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2012, file photo, UAB head coach Jerod Haase encourages his players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Haase and UAB football coach Garrick McGee didn’t win a bunch of games in their debut seasons, but their boss saw plenty of less obvious signs that better times are coming. “They came in and really set the groundwork that a lot of people didn’t see in public,” Blazers athletic director Brian Mackin said. (AP Photo/Ted Richardson, File)

AP

I’m getting kind of sick of all this talk about package deals in recruiting.

Most of it is smoke, a quote that gets twisted around or a kid that’s looking to get attention by saying that he’s linked to another player. Think about it like this: one top 40 recruit rooms with another top 40 recruit at an all-star camp, they become friends, they tell a reporter they’d be open to going to the same school because they get along well, and all of a sudden they’re a package deal.

That’s usually how it happens.

And I get annoyed hearing all the talk about it.

But there’s a potentially cool story brewing down in Alabama, because the “Fab Five” -- the crop of elite recruits in Alabama’s 2014 class, Justin Coleman (Rivals No. 92), Riley Norris (No. 95 Rivals), William Lee (Rivals No. 125), Isaac Haas (No. 58 Rivals) and Demetrius Houston -- could all end up enrolling at the same school, and it looks like that school could end up being UAB. From AL.com:

Why? Well, the AAU culture that high school coaches worry so much about could benefit the Blazers in this instance. The state’s top players have grown close from their years on the AAU circuit playing in camps and showcase events.

Coleman noted a strong chemistry among the state’s top players and the versatile talents of Coleman, Norris and recent verbal Lewis Sullivan do mesh well together on the floor.

Haas, the 7-foot-2 giant, said during All-Star Sports Week that UAB was his leader among schools like Purdue, Texas A&M and UCLA. He also brightened up considerably at the thought of playing college ball with Coleman.
Then there was this comment about UAB.

“I believe that if we can get the right recruitment and the right people to step up and play for UAB then I believe we can get the ‘Fab Five’ and go all over again and put UAB back where it used to be,” Haas said.


There’s also this nugget: UAB can sign five players in the class of 2014. Alabama and Auburn would have to run a couple of people off to open up that much space on their roster.

I’d say the odds of this happening are pretty low, but it would be pretty awesome if Jerod Haase and his UAB staff are somehow able to pull it off. Five Alabama kids heading to the third-biggest program in the state to bring glory back to Blazer basketball?

That’s a sportswriter’s dream!

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.