Nick Saban appeared to be in a chipper mood Wednesday. And he had good reason to be. The Alabama head coach just secured the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation -- all but ensuring the Crimson Tide machine will keep rolling along.

But Saban expressed disappointment about the absence of an elite cornerback in the 26-person class. Only Kyriq McDonald comes close to fitting the profile, and according to 247Sports the Madison product is a three-star recruit.

"We obviously try to identify needs that we have each year and I think in this class we sort of hit every spot but one," Saban said. "We wanted to recruit at least one corner, maybe two. It just worked out that it didn't happen that way for us."

It's somewhat odd that it didn't. Saban's area of specialty, after all, is the secondary.

"There are not many things he hasn't seen or he doesn't have an answer for," said Derrick Ansley, who has the title of defensive backs coach at Alabama.

The positions on the back end of the defense are highly valued by the Tide, which used its nickel and dime packages 85 percent of the time in 2016. Last season, Alabama played seven different cornerbacks and six of them will be back next season. Explaining why Alabama wasn't able to land many players at that position this year after signing four in 2016, Saban pointed to the the seismic shift within the sport that favors the side responsible for producing touchdowns.

"There are more skill guys on offense, just like in the draft," Saban explained. "Probably the number one position that has the greatest number of players to choose from is receiver. When we're out there recruiting, there are a lot of receivers out there to recruit. It's harder to find defensive players. If I were a high school coach, I would put my best players on offense.

"The best athletes on my team I would give them the ball and score points. I wouldn't play them on defense. I would play them where they can get the ball and score points. So, sometimes you got to look at it like maybe this guy is not playing the position he could play so maybe he'll end up playing something else."

To illustrate his point, Saban specifically mentioned Cyrus Jones, the former Alabama player who converted from wideout to defensive back his sophomore season and was later drafted in the second round by the New England Patriots.

Of course, Saban could have also used a more recent example and dropped Eddie Jackson's name. Jackson came to Alabama known primarily as a three-star receiver before leaving as an all-conference safety. Saban left open the possibility that some of the players in the current signing class could also switch positions.

"We may have to look at some guys on our team like that," he said. "But I can't say who right now until they get here."