5. The NFL has been calling: Saban told me he spoke with seven NFL teams in the 10 years he was in college football.

"I thought the Giants job in 1997 was really intriguing," he said. "But my wife didn't want to make that move. Then I talked to the Colts, and I thought that would work, but I had a buyout clause in my contract at Michigan State, and they (the Colts) didn't want to get involved in [paying it off]. I can't put exactly into words why talking with Wayne Huizenga felt right, but it just did. Something about his presence. Good person. Cares about others. Has compassion."

Pays very well. Leaves his coach alone. Lets him be a potentate.

My words, not Saban's. But I'll bet you a latte that's what he was thinking.

6. LSU almost didn't happen: "I don't think I've ever said this before," he said, "but when LSU wanted to talk to me when I was at Michigan State, I didn't think I could make the trip. I didn't want it getting out that I was talking to them in case it didn't work out. So I said to my wife, 'You make the trip, and see what you think.' And it ended up working out. We made an agreement without me even being there. When it came time to introduce me down there, I walked around, looking the place over, and suddenly I didn't feel very good about things. There was a press conference waiting to start, and I said, 'I've got to use the men's room.' I went into the men's room and called my wife and told her, 'I don't know if I want to do this.' But I went ahead with it. For three months, I was very apprehensive and didn't know if I'd made the right call. But it worked out great."

7. Saban considered staying in college coaching: "For a long time I thought the right career path for me would be: assistant in college, head coach in college, assistant in the pros and then head coach in the pros. But there I am at LSU, a successful college coach, winning a national championship, and I think: Maybe this is where I ought to be. Maybe I should make my legacy as a college coach, maybe trying to win as many games as Bear Bryant -- which probably would never happen, but that's what I was thinking.

"But Miami had such a great history and it was such a great challenge. At this point of my life, I felt like it was the right challenge for me."

STAT OF THE WEEK

Matt Jones is projected by many to be a wide receiver or tight end in the NFL. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

I must say that if I heard it once, I heard it 10 times at the league meetings last week: How high is Matt Jones going to be drafted? And what position will he play in the NFL?

I believe Jones, the quarterback from Arkansas who might be a wide receiver or tight end in the NFL, is the most intriguing prospect in recent draft history. Check out these numbers from the Master Report at the Scouting Combine:

Height: 6-foot-6 1/4.

Weight: 242.

40-yard dash times: 4.38, 4.37.

Vertical jump: 39 1/2 inches.

Faster than Braylon Edwards. Jumps higher than Mike Williams. Taller than any tight end.

Some teams think Jones could go as high as the last third of the first round. And some of the teams in that area of the first round -- St. Louis (19th), Denver (25th) and Pittsburgh (30th) -- have coaches with the guts to take chances on interesting prospects. I remember how much Mike Martz of the Rams wanted Antwaan Randle-El in the 2002 draft before the Steelers beat him to it and took Randle-El in the second round. And you know how excited Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher gets about versatile players (Randle-El, Kordell Stewart, Hines Ward) with college quarterback experience.

I am not denigrating Jones, because I agree with the masses who think he's going to be a heck of pro player, somewhere. But I have one name to give you to put this workout wonder in perspective: Mike Mamula. In 1995 the Boston College pass rusher had the greatest combine of all time, and he flew all the way up to the seventh pick in the first round even though he was an undersized guy. He ended up getting pushed around during his brief NFL career.

Sounds like the Rams' second-round pick is a wiser risk, not the first.