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2018 4* DE Andres Fox


ellitor

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Mobile, AL (Mobile Christian School)

Ht 6-5 Wt 230

247 Profile

Likely won't be a 3* long. He is getting power offers left & right.

Offers include AU, Bama, FSU, UGA, LSU, ND, Penn St., Vols, & USC

Finished his junior season with 18 sacks in just eight games

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SECCountry Interview

 

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Coming into the day, Andres Fox had 25 offers — 16 from Power 5 schools — and he’s likely to add others. The weakside defensive end from Mobile (Ala.) was in constant contact with a dozen college coaching staffs across the country.

Fox needed some relief.

So Wednesday afternoon, he released his top six schools, which included Auburn, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Florida and Southern Cal.

“I got kinda tired of so many schools talking to me. I wanted to narrow it down a bit to make it easier,” Fox told SEC Country. “It was a lot. More than 15. It’s probably 90 percent (chance) that those are the top 6 only).”

 

 

 

As the fastest-rising prospect in the state of Alabama, it’s no surprise Auburn and Alabama both made the list for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound pass-rusher. Fox has attended Auburn more than any other program, and he grew up an Alabama fan, though it’s unlikely that fandom will cause Fox to make an emotional decision during his recruiting process.

Fox will be back in Auburn this weekend for junior day, which will be his second one of those on the Plains in 2017. His relationship with Auburn’s coaching staff runs deeper than it does with most staffs. Travis Williams is his primary recruiter, but it’s not just Auburn’s linebackers coach who is leading the charge with the recruitment.

“I have a great relationship with all three of the defensive coaches,” Fox said. “Coach (Rodney) Garner, coach T-Will and coach Kevin Steele. I met Gus one time in his office. I really just like all the atmosphere.”

The Alabama fan factor can’t be completely ignored, but that’s not the reason Fox would choose the Crimson Tide. That’s not to say he won’t choose them, but it will be for reasons much more complex than his childhood favorite.

Fox was in Tuscaloosa last weekend for Alabama’s junior day.

“It’s tradition, really. It’s the best program ever. That’s the reason why it’s there,” Fox said. “I talk to Jeremy Pruitt a lot. I’ve talked to Nick Saban maybe twice.”

It won’t be just an in-state battle, though.

Fox visited Florida State with a few other Mobile area prospects, including target Jalyn Armour-Davis, two weekends ago. He’s visited Georgia and Florida, as well, and has close relationships with both of those staffs. Fox plans to return to Florida in the near future.

The only school on the list he hasn’t visited yet is USC, but he is intrigued by the program out west, so he wanted to make sure coaches felt comfortable staying in contact.

Here are Fox’s brief reactions to those four schools.

  • On Florida State: “I really liked it when I was down there recently. They have my major. Engineering. That program, that’s a real tradition too.”
  • On Georgia: “Me and coach (Kevin) Sherrer went over a lot about outside linebackers. He had a big impact on a lot of those guys going to the league. I really like coach (Kirby) Smart and coach (Tray) Scott. We all have a really great relationship.”
  • On Florida: “I’ve visited Florida and like it a lot. They stay in contact with me. I’m going there again soon.”
  • On Southern Cal: “Just talking with their coaches, it’s a place I want to see at some point.”

The top 6 helped Fox narrow down his focus. Now he hopes to soon dwindle it down to fewer than that. He will continue to take visits to the convenient school. Auburn (223 miles), Alabama (196 miles), Florida State (243 miles), Florida (389 miles) and Georgia (394 miles) are all manageable trips from Mobile, and he expects to see them when possible before making his decision.

But that’s something that will likely happen sooner rather than later. Fox intends to make a summertime, or even pre-summertime, decision so he can help become a face and member of the 2018 class for whatever school he chooses.

“I’m going to commit before the season,” Fox said. “I just want to be able to be loyal to a school and stick to it.”

 

 

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3 hours ago, ScottsboroAuburnFan said:

This kid... Could be the best Buck/DE we have had IMO.

Why?

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2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Why?

I don't know if it will translate to his college play but 18 sacks in about a half a season as a Jr is pretty darn good.

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This kid is definitely not a LB. He is all DE/Buck. He looks like his potential is terrific... I think Lawson's film was better in HS as well as Lawson's competition was better. I would love to have him I O&B.

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It's odd he is a 3* given everything you guys have posted about him on this thread. Does he just play against weak competition?

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23 minutes ago, thaitopher said:

It's odd he is a 3* given everything you guys have posted about him on this thread. Does he just play against weak competition?

A lot of players have not been thoroughly evaluated. It all goes back to the number of available evaluators vs. the number of players...

You'll see a lot of movement in the rankings after this year's camps.

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1 hour ago, thaitopher said:

It's odd he is a 3* given everything you guys have posted about him on this thread. Does he just play against weak competition?

He only played half a season due to injury. Barely evalled by recruiting sites so far. Much like Tony Clayton was a couple of years ago in terms of offers came much faster than site rankings.

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  • 2 weeks later...

AU, Bama, LSU top 3

 

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Andres Fox restructures top list

On the first of the month, Andres Fox chopped down the list of schools recruiting him. The 6-foot-5 defensive end from Mobile (Ala.) released a list of six schools that included Auburn, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Florida and Southern Cal.

He hinted others were still recruiting him, but that he wanted to begin to focus solely on the aforementioned six.

Then LSU, who hadn’t recruited Fox much, emerged as another contender. Fox took a day trip to Baton Rouge, which earned him an offer.

It also realigned Fox’s top list of schools, something for Auburn — a potential favorite — to keep an eye on.

“LSU was a little late, but they’re in there … They’re in the top 3 with Alabama and Auburn,” Fox told SEC Country’s Sam Spiegelman at the Nike Opening camp in New Orleans.

Fox isn’t likely to leave the state of Alabama.

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Auburn DE target Andres Fox (Sam Spiegelman/SEC Country)

The Tigers and the Crimson Tide are both chasing the pass rusher. He’s near the top of both teams’ recruiting boards. Auburn became the first to initiate serious contact, and that relationship has only grown since the end of the 2016 season when communication started picking up with regularity.

But the LSU visit made those Tigers a new factor for Auburn to worry about.

“I just talked with Coach O (Ed Orgeron) and (defensive line coach) Pete Jenkins. They introduced me to the whole staff,” Fox said. “He showed me that he works with a lot of great players. I feel like he’d make me a first rounder.”

Aside from that wrinkle in the top group, everything else remains the same for Fox.

Auburn and Alabama are still the most likely destinations. In fact, according to multiple sources close to Fox’s recruitment, Auburn is in the safest place because of how long it’s recruited him. That first-in-the-boat relationship has given the Tigers a slight edge over even the Crimson Tide, who Fox grew up rooting for.

Fox admits as much.

“They’re the first ones. They watched me play after the state championship when I played in their stadium, too, and we started building a great relationship,” Fox said.

Fox remains one of the more underrated prospects in the nation, but his offer sheet — and the efforts of the recruiting schools — show he’s one of the hottest defensive end commodities in the Southeast.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very nice. I'm very intrigued in a lot of guys on our list as DE/LB types, but to my eye, this is the dude. It's going to be a fist fight with Bama to land him, but I think he's the Dude among our targets at that spot.

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4 minutes ago, mcgufcm said:

Very nice. I'm very intrigued in a lot of guys on our list as DE/LB types, but to my eye, this is the dude. It's going to be a fist fight with Bama to land him, but I think he's the Dude among our targets at that spot.

If it's down to a fist fight I feel good about our chances - I think Gus would take Saban on that. Just imaging both of them in the scene from Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones was fighting that big guy in front of the airplane propeller.

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28 minutes ago, mcgufcm said:

Only instead of a big guy, he's fighting a little person. 

Saban is so short, if he were that character in the movie the propellers probably would go over his head and kill Indiana Jones.

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7 hours ago, thaitopher said:

If it's down to a fist fight I feel good about our chances - I think Gus would take Saban on that. Just imaging both of them in the scene from Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones was fighting that big guy in front of the airplane propeller.

Saban wouldn't fight. He would pay...I mean recruit, someone to fight for him.

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  • 3 weeks later...

AU may be team to beat

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3-star defensive end/outside linebacker, Mobile Christian

Andres Fox-LSU-LSU football
3-star DE target Andres Fox (Sam Spiegelman/SEC Country)

Kirschner: Fox is a man of very few words when it comes to his recruitment, but if you ask him about his teammates at Mobile Christian, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound prospect just lights up. I think this is a case of Fox being too humble and not wanting to talk about himself. When he did talk about his recruitment, Fox maintained that his top 3 of Alabama, Auburn and LSU remains in place. Just on the outside looking in are Georgia and Oregon. Auburn has an advantage in Fox’s recruitment because the Tigers were the first SEC team to offer him a scholarship. Once Auburn offered, other SEC schools got into the mix after that. He’s been to Auburn more than any other school and is closest with that coaching staff. Though he maintains that no school has an edge over the next, with what we learned from him and his coach, the Tigers seem like the team to beat here.

Wolk: As Kirschner pointed out, Fox is as humble as the come. When it comes to his own recruitment or play, he’s relatively timid in his responses. When talking about his Mobile Christian teammates, Fox perks up to rave about their impressive skill sets, which he hopes will help the squad make another state championship run. The two coaches who stand out to Fox most are both from Auburn — Rodney Garner and Travis Williams. Of all the schools recruiting him, LSU, Auburn and Alabama still standout, but it’s Auburn who has made its plan for Fox most clear. Fox grew up an Alabama fan, and his parents are both Alabama fans, but that will have zero impact whatsoever on his recruitment. Auburn wants Fox as its Buck defensive lineman in the class, and he feels like Kevin Steele’s clear-cut explanation for how he’ll fit at Auburn has given the Tigers a slight advantage over the others right now. It should be noted: after I left Mobile Christian, I put in a Crystal Ball prediction for Fox to Auburn.

 

 

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Auburn sitting pretty for Mobile-area DE

MOBILE, Ala. — Aside from terrorizing offensive linemen, Andres Fox is a pretty mellow guy.

He doesn’t like to talk about himself much. He’d rather talk about his teammates, which is what he does when coaches or reporters ask him about Mobile Christian. When it comes to his own play and recruitment, he’d rather let the film do the talking, as it did last fall when his state championship tape led Auburn to offer, followed by virtually everyone else.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound pass rusher gets asked about himself a lot nowadays. That’s what happens when Auburn, LSU and Alabama make you a top priority.

His high school coach, Ronnie Cottrell, marvels at Fox’s maturity and composure with the process.

“When we first met with Andres when all this started, he made the statement to me that he wanted to have a team in place or at least commit before the football season. He said he wanted to worry about this team,” Cottrell said. “I thought that was one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard a kid say.”

Fox confirmed Thursday that he expects to have a decision shortly before the 2017 football season.

When it happens, all the other suitors will be out of it: “When I commit, I’ll stay dedicated to that school,” Fox said.

The underrated 3-star defensive end from Mobile has started to condense his options. With programs all over the country — Stanford, USC, Penn State, among others — coming to the small school on the Gulf Coast to recruit him, it became somewhat overwhelming, so he narrowed his top list of schools.

Fox has labeled that top group as Auburn, Alabama and LSU for more than a month now, but said Oregon, Florida and Notre Dame are programs that could be factors. My opinion here: The 3 he lists as his top group are really the only programs with a shot.

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Auburn DE target Andres Fox is considering Auburn, Alabama and LSU among his top schools. (Chris Kirschner/SEC Country)

When talking about his top 3, Fox gave an unsolicited endorsement of one program in particular.

“I just really like Auburn’s defense,” Fox said. “I feel like I fit in real well. I fit into the defense really well. … Plus, they have a great engineering program. I want to study mechanical engineering.”

One factor is family. Fox admits his parents are both Alabama fans, as he was in his pre-high school days. But — and let this be very clear — none of that will play a factor in Fox’s recruitment.

Reading between the lines, Fox has become infatuated with Auburn more than any other program, which stems from a few things. First, the Tigers offered the night of the state championship game in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Second, Fox’s relationship with Auburn’s coaching staff runs deeper than with any others.

“I’m closest with T-Will [Travis Williams]. He’s just fun and cool to be around. And Rodney Garner,” Fox said.

Cottrell doubled down on his star defensive lineman’s comments.

“Auburn, since the very beginning, it’s been a team effort. I’ve heard from all those guys,” Cottrell said. “Kevin Steele has been very specific with the position and what they wanted him to play, exactly where he fit in. He’s a key guy for them because of the position he plays. But T-Williams recruits our schools, does a great job. The best relationship he has with all the coaches is Rodney Garner. They’ve got a good relationship as far as position coaches.”

Here’s some subjective commentary on my part.

After I left my visit at Mobile Christian, I put in a Crystal Ball prediction for Fox to Auburn. It really didn’t take much hesitation. Yes, Fox’s family likes Alabama, and that has likely played a small role in why he hasn’t committed to any program yet. But even though Alabama and LSU consider Fox their top guy, Auburn has been most clear about exactly how it plans to use Fox in the Buck defensive lineman spot.

He will continue to check things out throughout the spring and summer, but when the 2017 season approaches, I firmly expect Fox will commit to the Auburn class.

 

 

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On 3/31/2017 at 11:10 PM, ellitor said:

Saban wouldn't fight. He would pay...I mean recruit, someone to fight for him.

BOOM, Post of the year. WDE

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  • 1 month later...
3 hours ago, ellitor said:

A nugget to pass on here. Fox told Keith LSU is recruiting him the hardest right now FWIW.

Maybe we like other people better at this point. I hope our staff realizes they can't relax recruiting against Coach O though- dude is a recruiting machine (I'm sure they do).

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