Nick Saban's track record says he's one of the best recruiters in the business.

But in reading Thayer Evans' behind-the-scenes account of Jadeveon Clowney's recruitment, it's obvious Clowney wasn't impressed with the Alabama head coach. Clowney, ESPN's No. 1 overall prospect in the country, signed with South Carolina on Monday. His other finalists were Alabama and Clemson.

After Saban's in-home visit to Rock Hill, S.C., in December, Clowney told Evans, "I don’t see no big deal like everybody else. They’d say, 'He’s the king of all of football.' The guy ain’t nothing but 5-5. He’s a short guy. Everybody’s going crazy on Nick Saban."

Clowney said it was Saban who did all of the talking during the in-home visit.

"Nick Saban’s going to take over and talk,” Clowney told Evans. “He talked the whole time he was there. I was dozing off. He can talk. A lot. He talked for a whole straight hour.”

Still, Clowney told Evans in late January that he probably "would have committed a long time ago" to the Crimson Tide had they run a 4-3 defense instead of a 3-4 defense.

And just how much of a player was Clemson?

Well, Clowney's mother, Josenna Clowney, told Evans during a Feb. 2 interview that she was leaning toward Clemson and didn't feel comfortable with Clowney going to school at South Carolina. Clowney also told Evans on Feb. 2 that if he had to sign with a school on that day, that it would be Clemson. By that time, Alabama was out.

As for his not-so-flattering comments about Saban, anybody think there's a chance they might come back up again if Alabama and South Carolina were to meet next season in the SEC championship game?