Biggest "insider miss" in recruiting history?

[aushrink 22]

I am relatively new to the message board and I have noticed that the insiders are very confident in RE coming to Auburn.

It got me thinking that which recruit in the past was a last minute switch when the coaches and insiders were as convinced (as you can be with 18 year old kids) he was gonna be in orange and blue?

Thanks!

[war eagle6 0]

Ray Drew comes to mind right off the bat.

[AuburnArch13 185]

I am relatively new to the message board and I have noticed that the insiders are very confident in RE coming to Auburn.

It got me thinking that which recruit in the past was a last minute switch when the coaches and insiders were as convinced (as you can be with 18 year old kids) he was gonna be in orange and blue?

Thanks!

Yeldon without a doubt. But in that situation, everyone was lied to coaches included. Other than that, the track record has been pretty good.

[GenesChin 9]

Yeldon wasn't as much of a miss as a coaching staff change collateral damage. It was more a recruit having a hard time cutting ties and people not wanting to believe it would happen.

Ray Drew and Leonard Williams were huge misses. Leonard Williams only gets mentioned because he was essentially an early silent. His entire family had told people that he would be going to Auburn. Last minute OV to USC changed his mind

[AuburnArch13 185]

Yeldon wasn't as much of a miss as a coaching staff change collateral damage. It was more a recruit having a hard time cutting ties and people not wanting to believe it would happen.

Ray Drew and Leonard Williams were huge misses. Leonard Williams only gets mentioned because he was essentially an early silent. His entire family had told people that he would be going to Auburn. Last minute OV to USC changed his mind

There was no coaching change surrounding Yeldon. Are you thinking of Foster perhaps?

[AuburnArch13 185]

Ray Drew comes to mind right off the bat.

Ah, had forgotten about him. I think the La' El Collins situation was similar to his as well IIRC.

[GenesChin 9]

There was no coaching change surrounding Yeldon. Are you thinking of Foster perhaps?

Are you saying that Gus Malzahn did not announce he was to leave Auburn a week before Yeldon flipped?

[cooltigger21 0]

Yeldon wasn't as much of a miss as a coaching staff change collateral damage. It was more a recruit having a hard time cutting ties and people not wanting to believe it would happen.

Ray Drew and Leonard Williams were huge misses. Leonard Williams only gets mentioned because he was essentially an early silent. His entire family had told people that he would be going to Auburn. Last minute OV to USC changed his mind

There was no coaching change surrounding Yeldon. Are you thinking of Foster perhaps?

we did change the OC.

[GenesChin 9]

Ah, had forgotten about him. I think the La' El Collins situation was similar to his as well IIRC.

La'El Collins was not similar to Ray Drew. That was JLee just being ridiculous. We had a chance at him but we never truly led for him. The only realistic shot we had at him was if we pulled in Jeremy Hill as well

[sprewellrimz 0]

It doesn't really count as an insider miss, but the Jerrell Powe saga was great.

Antonio Cromartie and Ernie Sims come to mind too. Peanut Whitehead.

[GenesChin 9]

Basically any RB since Michael Dyer that we have recruited should come to mind (fingers crossed on Roc)

Lache Seastrunk, Marcus Lattimore, I guess TJ Yeldon, Mike Blakely (who we ended up getting anyways), Derrick Green (pre Chizik firing though so expected)

All at one point were very heavy leans AU or expected Auburn commits

[aushrink 22]

Basically any RB since Michael Dyer that we have recruited should come to mind (fingers crossed on Roc)

Lache Seastrunk, Marcus Lattimore, I guess TJ Yeldon, Mike Blakely (who we ended up getting anyways), Derrick Green (pre Chizik firing though so expected)

All at one point were very heavy leans AU or expected Auburn commits

It was common knowledge that AU dropped Lache way before signing day.

[GenesChin 9]

The point I was making had more to do with the Chizik era having RBs heavy leans and predicted to AU and going elsewhere for whatever reason

[AU Counsel 64]

50/50 types really aren't big misses. We knew Lattimore was a close call. Yeldon was a lie/flip, but Bama was too confident on that one. Collins was a big miss by Lee, and I think ST was off on that too...it seemed way too unlikely that we'd snatch him from LSU like that. Foster was a miss, but Trooper not being hired by Gus sealed that deal. Drew was a miss but a known close call. I think we expected to keep Tashawn Bower.

I'm just not seeing a miss where we were so sure and then were shocked on signing day.

[imaolgatiger 523]

Tee Martin....

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I should add that the "confidence of our insiders" is also dependant on the coaching staff's ability to read kids' body language.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

Ronald Darby come to mind. AU thought they had him.

[DivisionN 102]

Lattimore... all we heard was, "Don't panic. He's in the house. He's an Auburn lock. His mama doesn't like Spurrier." Then he signed with USC.

[alexava 6,973]

calloway, kwonjo(SP?), savon huggins. kwon alexander. the biggest signing day flip i remember in our favor is devin aromashadu.

[AubTiger14 0]

Most of the guys mentioned (Ray Drew, Lattimore, Darby, Yeldon, Calloway, etc.) may have been considered Auburn leans at some point during the process, but none of those guys were considered to be locks to Auburn when they made their final decisions. Most of those recruits were close races. I cannot remember a guy in recent history that was thought to be an Auburn lock and then committed elsewhere. If Evans commits to Bama on NSD, I think that would safely be considered the biggest upset, at least in recent history.

[cooltigger21 0]

I am relatively new to the message board and I have noticed that the insiders are very confident in RE coming to Auburn.

It got me thinking that which recruit in the past was a last minute switch when the coaches and insiders were as convinced (as you can be with 18 year old kids) he was gonna be in orange and blue?

Thanks!

Yeldon without a doubt. But in that situation, everyone was lied to coaches included. Other than that, the track record has been pretty good.

Personally I am glad we missed him. He is talented but he does have a tendency to lay the football down on the turf. It looks as though he may have been relegated to #2 if what Henry did in the Sugar bowl is any indication. Glad we missed out on Foster as well for different reasons.

[InfernoOrangeSS 321]

Foster shocked me most. The tattoo seemed like a lock. (Of course the REC using his father kind of makes it understandable.)

[bigbird 60,498]

Roberson to UF

[NoALtiger 3,850]

Lot of folks were saying Lattimore to AU, I do remember that. Heck I watched the ceremony online and when I saw Steven Davis was there I was extremely confident. That was a tough one. On the flip side, I'd say Lemonier and Monty Adams were great last minute insider calls.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Again let's cover the facts not fiction. Callaway was just using AU to get uat to give him a shot at rb and it worked. Cyrus wanted to go someplace other than with his brother but parents would not allow it. After Gus left and uat gave his friend a scholly Yeldon flipped. Lattimore was a case where it was always even between home state and us and in the end we also had Dyer, I also think Steve Davis had some last minute influence. Lache had his offer pulled was also turned down when he left Oregon. Drew was also more of a uga to lose than AU, but it did come down to the wire.I don't know of any that really have been a nsd steal. On the other hand we have had some. Two big ones in the Final week last year with Adams and Daniels. We also took a couple high ranking 4 stars from hat this year. Think we hold our own. Gus will surprise some more come nsd. WDE