Jump to content

Biggest "insider miss" in recruiting history?


aushrink

Recommended Posts

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

I agree Eagle Eye.

I am not talking about kids that were on and off the Auburn fence and decided to sign elsewhere. I remember a full week before NSD that the yeldon stuff was blowing up on these boards. That was not an insider miss. Same for Benedict calloway. We had many insiders saying he was gone. With kuanjo, were not most of us shocked when he said Auburn? I do not recall 23 and wde saying he was a lock either.

I am still waiting a a clear cut miss that every insider had to wipe egg off their face. It sounds like there is not an agreed upon example.

My conclusion is that these insiders know what they are talking about and we all need to calm down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites





  • Replies 324
  • Created
  • Last Reply

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

I agree about "lets don't rewrite history". I saw more than one Auburn "super insider" put Ray Drew at 80% Auburn just a day or two before signing day. Leonard Williams was called "a lock" to AU right up until he signed with USC.

Those two are the most glaring but there have been a bushel basket full of others. Recruiting is a fluid situation and often the coaches themselves don't know what a kid will do until he signs. Recall the happy dances in the AU war room when Lemonier chose Auburn? They didn't have a clue how it was going until that moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with your conclusion. I tend to get aggravated when people act like lil nick is stealing players left and right from AU. It hasn't happened. In fact over the last 5 years, AU has actually gotten more players that it has offered that bama offered also. WDE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes but that was do to uga having been the leader the whole way and AU closing so fast at the end. Momentum was headed in AU's way. I still think the local heat swayed Ray at the end. It was a very close race, same as Lattimore. I will agree Williams was a lean early but I think USC got him before NSD. FWIW

PS Foster was a major flip from uat to AU. In the end he made an ultimatum because he thought he was all important and Gus let him go. I can assure you when he made the ultimatum he thought it would work. He lost, Gus and AU won.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cornelius Bennett. As late as 9PM on the night before signing day he assured some folks (including Pat Dye) he was AU bound. Next day, well you know the outcome!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Easily Yeldon.

Close second Lattimore. (he was a silent committ for months.....right up until he wasn't)

I have been impressed with the info our guys give us (don't want to get into a pissing contest but the AE guys were very close to exceptional) But all they are doing is giving the info these players are telling our coaches. Our coaches have zero idea what these 'cruits are telling other programs.

*I don't follow recruiting as close as some. I am not a smart man, but I am smart enough, and have followed recruiting enough, to have figured that part of it out.

(I put one on a tee for you Golf)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gabe Wright. He's here but I remember over half of the stuff people were saying about his recruiting process wasn't accurate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Richard Todd

Damn man, you must be almost as old as me! Yes, Todd was a major flip at the last minute but I don't think there were any insiders around back then to accuse of blowing the call. Todd publicly committed in the Mobile newspapers several weeks before signing day, then flipped one day before he signed. That was the same day his mom, who had been a working nurse in Mobile suddenly got a job as some sort of director at the UAT school of nursing. Big coincidence, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My best friend went to high school with Williams out in Daytona. Leonard Williams was coming to AU but we ****** up his recruitment. Either way insiders said, he was an AU lock up until he announced and they screwed up. He was going to USC after his OV and our insiders did t know or change their tune

Ray Drew was a crapshoot.

These are HS kids. What they tell coaches of a school can be anything from a straight up lie, confused thoughts or not understanding how to break hard news. Until the LOI comes it is all subject to change

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My best friend went to high school with Williams out in Daytona. Leonard Williams was coming to AU but we ****** up his recruitment. Either way insiders said, he was an AU lock up until he announced and they screwed up. He was going to USC after his OV and our insiders did t know or change their tune

Ray Drew was a crapshoot.

These are HS kids. What they tell coaches of a school can be anything from a straight up lie, confused thoughts or not understanding how to break hard news. Until the LOI comes it is all subject to change

All that's correct, but the subject is "biggest insider misses". Ray Drew and Leonard Williams were huge misses by insiders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My best friend went to high school with Williams out in Daytona. Leonard Williams was coming to AU but we ****** up his recruitment. Either way insiders said, he was an AU lock up until he announced and they screwed up. He was going to USC after his OV and our insiders did t know or change their tune

Ray Drew was a crapshoot.

These are HS kids. What they tell coaches of a school can be anything from a straight up lie, confused thoughts or not understanding how to break hard news. Until the LOI comes it is all subject to change

All that's correct, but the subject is "biggest insider misses". Ray Drew and Leonard Williams were huge misses by insiders.

What are these "misses" up to nowadays and WGA#?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd have to agree that the 3 biggest lately were Yeldon, Williams and Drew. With each one the insiders kept saying everything was okay, and each signed elsewhere. Insiders were especially confident about Yeldon sticking to his commitment, calling everyone who cited some of the rumors at the time, "chicken littles". It's actually exactly IDENTICAL to the overconfidence being expressed about how sure folks are that Evans will sign with AU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Foster had an Auburn tattoo and until a week before signing,most of this board in denial he was doing anything other than showboating by stringing Bama along. Name one other recruit in any sport that didn't sign with his tattoo college by his own choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Foster had an Auburn tattoo and until a week before signing,most of this board in denial he was doing anything other than showboating by stringing Bama along. Name one other recruit in any sport that didn't sign with his tattoo college by his own choice.

He stated that the tattoo was for his cousin a former player that was gunned down at a party in Auburn. It is on the internet...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Assuming all of the below has been declassified by now, the biggest bust I recall was the Dee Hart, last minute switch to EE at AU in Jan. I can't recall if he was going to bring Clinton-Dix with him or not, I know the latter was mentioned, but not sure if was from an insider or not..

Insider info is a lot like the weather forecasters, they miss on one little snow storm (or 5 star recruit) and people remember it forever: We often forget all the many times they are spot on and accurate. However, in spite of their occasional bust, we all still tune in (for free) every day anxiously awaiting for them to tell us what the weather is going to be on Tuesday. Why is that? Because like weathermen, the insiders have a pretty good track record overall (they just tend to err on the sunny side sometimes).

BTW, the biggest non-recruiting bust was the mysterious FBI raid at a Rival School with indictments pending, but that is a topic for another forum/time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Foster had an Auburn tattoo and until a week before signing,most of this board in denial he was doing anything other than showboating by stringing Bama along. Name one other recruit in any sport that didn't sign with his tattoo college by his own choice.

He stated that the tattoo was for his cousin a former player that was gunned down at a party in Auburn. It is on the internet...

Yep, I know he and Phillips were related. However, he got the AU tattoo after flipping to AU and didn't add the name til after flipping back to Bama

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2013/reuben-foster-tattoo-new-additions/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You wouldn't call this a miss as far as flipping at the last minute, but Demeco Ryans would have been an AU lock had he been offered a scholarship. He was a huge AU fan growing up. Tuberville was once quote as saying, "we obviously made a mistake on that one."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You wouldn't call this a miss as far as flipping at the last minute, but Demeco Ryans would have been an AU lock had he been offered a scholarship. He was a huge AU fan growing up. Tuberville was once quote as saying, "we obviously made a mistake on that one."

Funny thing about recruiting is that most schools make more mistakes on guys they actually sign up than on ones they could have gotten but missed on.

Just go back and check about any school's recruiting class from 4 years ago and see which players are still playing and making a major impact. Most coaches probably made mistakes on 30-40% or their recruits.....which is why I don't get charged up to much about the kids we don't pursue ....or the ones we fail to get after a good effort.

To me the best work a coaching staff can do is to keep and develop the guys that sign their "letters" and reduce the number of "mistakes" they make when they "offer".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roberson to UF

i remember this. something happened and talk here was that our coaches cut him off very late. i never knew what happened. the statute of limitations for confidentiality should have passed now so you can spill it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You wouldn't call this a miss as far as flipping at the last minute, but Demeco Ryans would have been an AU lock had he been offered a scholarship. He was a huge AU fan growing up. Tuberville was once quote as saying, "we obviously made a mistake on that one."

joe whitt too. i think when he retired he admitted his biggest mistake was not recruiting him.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...