While Alabama has compiled the nation's top recruiting class for six consecutive years, a frequent criticism has been the manner it's accomplished.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has faced scrutiny for offering late grayshirt offers to long-time commits and accused of running off lower-rated prospects late in the process. A grayshirt offer asks a player to delay his enrollment a semester so he'd arrive in Tuscaloosa the following January rather than the summer with the rest of his class. The player is not able to enroll as a full-time student or receive scholarship benefits during that semester off.

Alabama offered at least three grayshirt offers to committed recruits in the class of 2016. All three of the commits -- Riley Cole, Brendan Scales and Joshua Perry -- declined the offer and signed with another school. Cole, a linebacker from in-state Oneonta, said Alabama wouldn't give him a straight answer about their plans for him. His father reiterated that stance to a local Birmingham radio station. Cole ultimately signed with South Alabama on National Signing Day.

Saban isn't the only one to offer grayshirts -- Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was in the spotlight for it this year -- but his moves have generated the most discussion. After another round of media scrutiny, AL.com asked Saban to explain his grayshirt policy.

Saban said Alabama views the grayshirt offer as a "real positive" and offers them to players that were likely to be redshirted.

"We have a player that is here now, a mid-year guy, that we did that to a year ago that has gained weight, gotten bigger and got stronger and he's got a better chance to be successful now," Saban said. "So when we do that, we usually do that early in the process, so guys have a chance to weigh any other opportunity they may want to do that."

The timing hasn't always worked out that way.

Christian Bell, the player Saban mentions above, said Alabama first approached him about grayshirting two weeks before National Signing Day last year. The former Hoover defensive end, who initially committed to Alabama in April 2014, admitted Wednesday he wasn't pleased with the offer.

"My initial reaction, I was like there's no way I was going to accept that," Bell said. "But then I sat down, prayed, talked to family members, coaches, people that helped me with my decision."

Bell never considered other schools after accepting Alabama's grayshirt offer, and instead focused on putting on weight. He hired a personal trainer and put on 20 pounds of muscle, becoming more college-ready in the process. Bell said most kids view grayshirts as a bad thing, but that he knew he had things he needed to work on and it ended up being good for him.

Bell is the exception. The majority of players Alabama offers a grayshirt to never end up in Tuscaloosa. Rather than miss a semester and a football season, they sign with other schools, even if they are less prestigious. Former Arkansas defensive lineman Darius Philon is one of the biggest success stories of heading elsewhere rather than waiting to enroll at Alabama.

Despite the limited success rate, Saban maintained Wednesday Alabama doesn't use grayshirts as a way of pushing players out of its recruiting class.

"We recruit them, we want them to come here," Saban said, "we just think it would help their development if they matured before they enrolled."