Alabama coach Nick Saban did his homework on Palm Beach Gardens linebacker VanDarius Cowan.
New Alabama signee VanDarius Cowan has coach Nick Saban’s support. The Palm Beach Gardens linebacker was dismissed from the Gators in October, but has spoken extensively with Crimson Tide coaches since then. (Photo by Allen Eyestone)
After the four-star recruit and No. 1 player on the Post’s Class of 2017 Big Board was dismissed from the Gators’ football team in October for his behavior during a loss to Wellington, Saban and his staff reached out to the school’s football coaches and administrators to learn more about Cowan, and they also spoke with Cowan himself.
“We did a significant amount of investigating in terms of what his character issues might have been relative to his team,” Saban told SEC Country in a story posted Wednesday. “We interviewed a lot of people in the school. We interviewed his coaches. We spent a significant amount of time with him.
“We evaluated how he’s improved academically to try to make the choice and decision as to whether he was someone that we wanted to have involved in our program.”
Ultimately, they determined he was.
“I think a lot of the players in this class really like him in terms of their relationship with him,” Saban said. “We’re looking forward to helping him be successful here.”
Cowan, who shut down his recruiting last month, signed with Alabama early Wednesday.
He spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon about his expectations for his college career.
“I’m talking on a regular basis with coaches over there, and I know as of when I enroll in college, it’s going to be a lot harder,” he said. “Coming in as a big-time recruit, it’s definitely going to be a lot harder after that.
“I’m probably going to be wearing No. 10 this year, and I’ve got issues to deal with that too. It’s going to be pretty rough. But I’m ready for it.”
