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Roster changes underway?

AU64

By AU64
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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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Saw a piece on AUC today about Connor Short transferring....piece made it sound like new news....but apparently he is already at Bama and listed on their squad so perhaps Short left the team and Auburn at the end of the season. But the piece made it sound like he was a major loss....which gave the anti-Sunny crowd a chance to slam CSG in some pretty harsh language and four or five of them took full advantage of it...and took a few shots at JJ too.

I guess there are 3 questions in my mind:

1) will the loss of a guy hitting .211 make a big difference for the coming year ?.

2) every time something like this happens will the anti-JJ crowd take the opportunity to flock to the various forum sites?

3) if Short had not played at Hoover, would anyone have cared so much?

Just wondering.... :-\

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Mikey Founding Father

Mikey 16,545

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

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WarAJEagle Mentor

WarAJEagle 5

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

I hope not but then again, I would not be surprised....the kid had a ton of talent but I expect CSG was on him a lot about base running issues, not hitting with runners on base, etc. Part of the game ......but guys like him with big time HS careers are not used to a lot of criticism and CSG can sure be caustic.

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Mikey Founding Father

Mikey 16,545

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

No, this was a big guy. Pitched and played first base. Was a rather high MLB draft choice out of high school but signed with AU instead. I think Pawloski redshirted him his first year. He never really played much if any at all but was said to have tons of potential.

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IManAUBURNlifer Experienced

IManAUBURNlifer 0

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

No, this was a big guy. Pitched and played first base. Was a rather high MLB draft choice out of high school but signed with AU instead. I think Pawloski redshirted him his first year. He never really played much if any at all but was said to have tons of potential.

Rock Rucker

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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Like in all college sports, players come and go from a team for various reasons....but from what I have observed over the years, the main reason a kid changes schools is because he is looking for an opportunity to play regularly....which is understandable. If your starters and leaders start leaving, you have some problems but otherwise.....maybe or maybe not.

We have about 20+ incoming players and some pretty good talent coming back from last season....and the parental whining should be a thing of the past now. A select group of AU people will ride CSG all season, no matter what, hoping AU will sooner or later hire Dunn I expect....but the rest of us are pulling for Sunny to do what he has done a number of times in the past.....take this team to Omaha in June of 2015.

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Mikey Founding Father

Mikey 16,545

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I wanted us to hire Dunn the last two times we hired somebody. I also want Sunny to succeed and get the team to the CWS. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

And thanks Auburnlifer, Rock Rucker is the player I was thinking about. I can't imagine why he didn't pan out here, though he had his chance under two different coaches.

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

I don't have an opinion on Dunn one way or the other ...except to wonder why so many AU people are hot to hire him and yet with all the coaching changes that occur each year, he has not moved up. Maybe that's his choice and he has a good situation at Samford with security, etc and knows that at the next level, if he has 2 or 3 mediocre seasons, he is out on the street whereas he is likely to never get fired from his present job? just wondering?

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WarAJEagle Mentor

WarAJEagle 5

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

I don't have an opinion on Dunn one way or the other ...except to wonder why so many AU people are hot to hire him and yet with all the coaching changes that occur each year, he has not moved up. Maybe that's his choice and he has a good situation at Samford with security, etc and knows that at the next level, if he has 2 or 3 mediocre seasons, he is out on the street whereas he is likely to never get fired from his present job? just wondering?

That's probably as good a guess as any, 64. That and JJ wanting to go "high profile."

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autigeremt Founding Father

autigeremt 6,562

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well....I've been to two fall scrimmages and so far I've seen 5-7 High School teams bigger than our kids. This will be a small bunch on the bench. The starters (assumed) are average but some of the new players are just....small.

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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well....I've been to two fall scrimmages and so far I've seen 5-7 High School teams bigger than our kids. This will be a small bunch on the bench. The starters (assumed) are average but some of the new players are just....small.

small ball again this year? :)

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PowerOfDixieland Founding Father

PowerOfDixieland 3,225

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

No, this was a big guy. Pitched and played first base. Was a rather high MLB draft choice out of high school but signed with AU instead. I think Pawloski redshirted him his first year. He never really played much if any at all but was said to have tons of potential.

Rock Rucker

Rucker wasn't from Russell County, that just happened to be the last stop (From Marietta, GA - Redan HS prior to RCHS) and he didn't transfer to FSU. Moved on to Seminole State Junior College. Didn't play 1B, he was a P/OF. I would say he was a casualty of the can't do it Golloway's way purge.

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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The big kid from Russell County, (name escapes me at the moment) transferring to FSU is a bigger loss than Short, IMHO. And no, were he from some non-Birmingham school there would be no newspaper article.

We aren't talking about Anfernee Grier are we? He's my favorite guy to watch.

No, this was a big guy. Pitched and played first base. Was a rather high MLB draft choice out of high school but signed with AU instead. I think Pawloski redshirted him his first year. He never really played much if any at all but was said to have tons of potential.

Rock Rucker

Rucker wasn't from Russell County, that just happened to be the last stop (From Marietta, GA - Redan HS prior to RCHS) and he didn't transfer to FSU. Moved on to Seminole State Junior College. Didn't play 1B, he was a P/OF. I would say he was a casualty of the can't do it Golloway's way purge.

Maybe just the "can't do it" in the SEC....who knows...and if he becomes a star somewhere else, we can hop on Sunny ......it"s up to the kid to prove that CSG made the mistake.

As for size, I was surprised at the number or really big guys playing college ball last season. Didn't seem that long ago that the typical college baseball roster was mostly guys 5'-8 to 5'-10 but now there are 6'-4 200+ pitchers all over the place and some big guys in other positions too.

Assuming the livelier ball has the expected effect, we will probably see a bit less of "small ball" this season...at least at many schools and will be nice to have some guys to knock some 3 run homers....I mean, when was the last grand slam by an AU player?

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Mikey Founding Father

Mikey 16,545

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Rucker was "from" Russell County in that that's where he attended his senior year of high school and was recruited from. Beyond that it's rather clear that I am not that familiar with Rucker, so thanks for the updates. I suppose I got Seminole Jr. College and Seminoles mixed up.

If he was purged because he can't do it the way the coach wants it done, then he was correct to go elsewhere. Both Auburn and Rucker will be better off.

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PowerOfDixieland Founding Father

PowerOfDixieland 3,225

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Rucker was "from" Russell County in that that's where he attended his senior year of high school and was recruited from. Beyond that it's rather clear that I am not that familiar with Rucker, so thanks for the updates. I suppose I got Seminole Jr. College and Seminoles mixed up.

If he was purged because he can't do it the way the coach wants it done, then he was correct to go elsewhere. Both Auburn and Rucker will be better off.

Yeah, sorry. That wasn't written quite the way it was intended. I met the kid a couple of times, was around a family that seemed to want to ride on his coattails and the whole thing was incredibly irritating. What was intended in the comment is that his history seems to show that if things don't go his way, he takes his glove and moves on. Knowing Golloway's bent for "team" guys, this was probably never going to end with him finishing at Auburn.

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Mikey Founding Father

Mikey 16,545

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Auburn hasn't had a lot of luck with kids who have lots of family members, advisers and handlers hanging around. Maybe everybody's happier with Rucker headed elsewhere.

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  • 1 month later...
InfernoOrangeSS Founding Father

InfernoOrangeSS 321

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You gotta build a program, it takes time in baseball. Got confidence that we will build a great program in the next 3 years

Total agreement.

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AU64 Founding Father

AU64 10,122

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heading in the right direction, glad to see it

Very little similarity between this team and the Tigers from this time last season.

New guys are doing well, those who came back have adapted to the changes. Considering the turmoil and turnover from last year, the team is better than many folks expected.

Sunny still has some work to do to put the kind of players on the field that we see playing for some of the other SEC schools but IMO, he's getting a lot of mileage out of what he has.

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