PAWWWLLL, Kirby’s bitin’ the hand that fed him!

Really, this is a pretty obvious recruiting pitch.

Still, Smart made clear that even though he, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Florida’s Jim McElwain are branches of the Saban coaching tree who must recruit against their former boss, the former coordinators can differentiate themselves even though their programs are structured similarly to Saban’s. In Smart’s case, his pitch is simple. “Do you want to play? Because if you want to play, let’s go,” Smart said. “We need you to come play. If you want to play, come on.” Translation: Do you want to sit behind all the five-stars stacked like cordwood in Tuscaloosa or see the field quickly in Athens? Of course, Smart isn’t going to say it like that.

We’ve been focused on our own butt hurt over Smart staying in Tuscaloosa to coach in the CFP, but come February, if Alabama loses a couple of top recruits to Smart, the reaction from some parts of Tide Nation should be fun to watch.