Alabama Football Spring Practice Day 12 - Saban Presser

Alabama football coach Nick Saban is no fan of the satellite camps Big Ten teams have planned in the south.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

In the world of recruiting, there are rules and there are trends.

One fad is creating waves in the SEC and they're discussing a rule to curb it. Schools from the Big Ten conference are coming south and setting up satellite camps in places like Atlanta and Prattville, Ala.

That's not sitting well with SEC coaches since they have a league rule banning such events. League officials are looking at ways to fix the situation. Count Alabama coach Nick Saban among those who aren't wild about these traveling camps.

"If we're all going to travel all over the country to have satellite camps, you know, how ridiculous is that?" Saban said Tuesday evening before the Crimson Caravan stop in Huntsville. "I mean we're not allowed to go to all-star games, but now we're going to have satellite camps all over the country. So it doesn't really make sense."

The latest Big Ten school to bring a camp to the south is Michigan. New coach Jim Harbaugh has one scheduled for Prattville on June 5. Penn State held one in Atlanta last summer.

Incoming SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed these camps Monday at the Associated Press Sports Editors' Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

"As we remember camps, they were instructional and development opportunities," Sankey said. "Now, what we're talking about is recruiting tours. So, let's just be clear about what we're really talking about here."

Sankey said the league would discuss the matter at next month's SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla.

"I'm not sure that the others want our coaches going to places like State College, Penn.," Sankey said. "Because very clearly, if we do take the approach that others have ... it will certainly, I would expect, change the tone of the conversation."

Saban is eager to further the discussion on this topic moving forward.

"I certainly think that we need to address this if it's going to be a competitive disadvantage and other people are going to have these kind of camps," Saban said. "So, I think it's something that we'll probably address as a conference, and I think it's something we ought to look at from an NCAA standpoint because I think it's best to have a rule where people come to your campus, they can come to your camp."