You don't win three national championships in four years without thinking ahead. Way ahead.
Alabama Coach Nick Saban offered eighth grader Dylan Moses a scholarship last weekend, AL.com reported. That's more than 4 1/2 years before Moses could actually play in a game for the Crimson Tide.
In fact, 'Bama was a little slow off the ball. Rival LSU offered Moses, from Baton Rouge, La., a full ride last summer.
An Alabama spokesman told The Huffington Post that the school couldn't comment on any student athlete until he signs a letter of intent.
That brings us to the qualifier. When coaches make deals like this, they are nonbinding for the school and star. The real commitment comes on signing day, the first Wednesday of February in the player's senior year of high school.
So Moses, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound athlete who plays running back and linebacker, will have plenty of time to ponder his options. But the attention sure is nice. (Check out his eighth-grade highlight reel above.)
"For Dylan, excitement spilled over," his father, Edward Moses Jr., told ESPN. "When he heard those words from Coach [Nick] Saban, 'We're offering you,' you could see him light up. It was shocking because we were going in thinking we were just going to get a tour of what Alabama has to offer."
The elder Moses said he'll have to bring his son down to earth after the early courting from big-time schools.
USC Lane Kiffin peered even further into the future when he got a verbal commitment from a 13-year-old seventh grader in 2010. David Sills, a quarterback from Bear, Del., always wanted to play for the Trojans, his dad said.