2019 5* OT Wanya Morris (1/18/20 Transfers to OU)

[aujeff11 6,243]

44 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Was it because he was poorly prepared or because Grimes did well to turn him into a top 5 pick?

Yes. If the later is a win for Grimes in your mind ( in that he spray painted a pile of crap gold and fooled the NFL coaches) have at it. If anything we need to distance Grimes’ coaching from G-Robs NFL performance if we want the NFL to give Grime’s coaching some credibility. 

 

44 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Smith just went in the 2nd round.

To Grimes credit, he did recruit Smith. Which was impressive given the circumstances. Although that’s where the credit stops. You cannot use him as a comparison of putting players in the league against Nall’s McNeil, Dunlap, Kendall, and Grubbs. Lol

[ellitor 33,062]

15 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

To Grimes credit, he did recruit Smith. Which was impressive given the circumstances.

Calling a spade a spade here & no disrespect to you at all Jeff but it wasn't that hard for Grimes to get Braden. He was from Kansas which doesn't have a football power & his sister was already looking to come to AU to run track. Wasn't a hard get. Also Grimes had him pigeon holed & recruited him solely as a tackle when others pointed out he was better suited for Guard. If Grimes had stayed Braden would have likely been stuck & tackle & that likely would not have worked out best for him or AU.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Just now, ellitor said:

Calling a spade a spade here & no disrespect to you at all Jeff but it wasn't that hard for Grimes to get Braden.

What I mean is that he started recruiting Braden very late in the process. Didn’t know about his sister.  Now you got me defending Grimes as a recruiter. 

 

Braden Smith was God’s gift to us after Evans committed to Bama. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

54 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

  lol If that number of 6 is accurate?! do you not believe me???? 

Oh, I totally believe you. I was actually wanting to make sure the number isn't higher before claiming that Grimes is on pace to do better. 

We're absolutely on the same team my man. 

 

[ellitor 33,062]

18 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

Braden Smith was God’s gift to us after Evans committed to Bama

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

Calling a spade a spade here & no disrespect to you at all Jeff but it wasn't that hard for Grimes to get Braden. He was from Kansas which doesn't have a football power & his sister was already looking to come to AU to run track. Wasn't a hard get. Also Grimes had him pigeon holed & recruited him solely as a tackle when others pointed out he was better suited for Guard. If Grimes had stayed Braden would have likely been stuck & tackle & that likely would not have worked out best for him or AU.

While I'll totally agree that Kansas State isn't a football power, Braden had offers from pretty much every power football school in the country, a lot of which were FAR closer to Olathe, Kansas than Auburn.

I'd be intrigued to know why his sister was looking at Auburn for track. It's not like that's a high-point for us, but she ended up at TCU. She actually was considering Auburn back in 2010, because his dad mentioned in an interview that he got to see Cam play on her recruiting trip. Braden just gave Auburn a shot based on the fact that they liked their trip. 

Unfortunately, Braden's parents never connected with the local alumni group, so I never got to meet them and get the whole story, but I've read that Auburn, itself, is what sold Braden.  The story was pretty familiar, since it is how I felt when I visited, but they said he immediately felt at home when the visited.

[Mikey 16,550]

7 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

lol come on now. what are we doing here? Don't do that. LAWWWWWWWWd knows where we would be without T will these past couple years in crutin.

T-Will is a great recruiter, therefore he wins somewhere around 1/4 of his battles and loses 3/4. It's the nature of the game.

[au_bsci_04 407]

Not worried about this. Wanya will choose UT tomorrow. He is not a December grad though. So getting OP is the priority. That will give us 2 of Wayna’s teammates and 8 months to flip him. 

[ellitor 33,062]

7 hours ago, au_bsci_04 said:

Not worried about this. Wanya will choose UT tomorrow. He is not a December grad though. So getting OP is the priority. That will give us 2 of Wayna’s teammates and 8 months to flip him. 

Yeah but Wanya is ready to shut things down & is tired of the recruiting process so I think he is done after today.

[Mikey 16,550]

8 hours ago, au_bsci_04 said:

Not worried about this. Wanya will choose UT tomorrow. He is not a December grad though. So getting OP is the priority. That will give us 2 of Wayna’s teammates and 8 months to flip him. 

There are any number of 4* OT prospects out there so I'm not concerned about Morris's decision. He's been at Auburn enough times to have a clear picture of what AU is about. Apparently Auburn doesn't suit his tastes. It happens. He's moving on, we need to move on too.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

2 hours ago, Mikey said:

There are any number of 4* OT prospects out there so I'm not concerned about Morris's decision. He's been at Auburn enough times to have a clear picture of what AU is about. Apparently Auburn doesn't suit his tastes. It happens. He's moving on, we need to move on too.

I agree wholeheartedly.  Some visit once and know how special it is.  Others visit and are looking for something else or gel with a different coach better elsewhere.  Trust me, Pruitt is slimy.  I don't mean that in the sense of paying players, I just mean that as a person.  Hopefully we can get in on some other highly ranked kids early before we get too far behind on them and have to play catch up.

My biggest question, and I may have bad info here, is why we were so late to the party with him compared to UT?  We knew it was a necessity position.  I just don't want it to be like last year where we were trying to get anyone and everyone at the very last minute and striking out.  We need to get some locked up early. 

[ellitor 33,062]

4 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

My biggest question, and I may have bad info here, is why we were so late to the party with him compared to UT?

Herb Hand.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

Just now, ellitor said:

Herb Hand.

Damn that man!  The gift that just keeps on giving.  

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

17 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

Damn that man!  The gift that just keeps on giving.  

Texas A&M says thank you because we gave Hand to Texas and A&M fans like Texas the same as we like that other school in Tuscklooser

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

Just now, AuburnNTexas said:

Texas A&M says thank you because we gave Hand to Texas and A&M fans like Texas the same as we like that other school in Tuscklooser

Yeah that was a huge victory for Jimbo for sure

[McLoofus 35,182]

25 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

My biggest question, and I may have bad info here, is why we were so late to the party with him compared to UT?  

 

20 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Herb Hand.

I was looking at his timeline on 247, and we initially offered Morris in January of last year. UT didn't offer him until mid-December, 4 days after Pruitt was announced. Dude was at DSOR and the IB in Auburn. He saw those wins. Yet UT was pretty much his immediate leader as soon as they offered him a month later. We had a year head start, and in that year we couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, but it basically took UT a week, and it wasn't anything that TWill and Grimes could overcome. 

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

 

I was looking at his timeline on 247, and we initially offered Morris in January of last year. UT didn't offer him until mid-December, 4 days after Pruitt was announced. Dude was at DSOR and the IB in Auburn. He saw those wins. Yet UT was pretty much his immediate leader as soon as they offered him a month later. We had a year head start, and in that year we couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, but it basically took UT a week, and it wasn't anything that TWill and Grimes could overcome. 

Wow.  I guess in this instance he pretty much had his mind made up with the UT offer.  If you sat in the stands for either of those games and could not get excited about being a part of it then there isn't much else to do.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

Pruitt is a slimy dude, but Will Friend is a good guy. I graduated with his sister and have known his family for a long time (and him from a distance because he's older than me). Will can coach, and I can definitely see recruits connecting with him. 

[Zeek 16,617]

6 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

 

I was looking at his timeline on 247, and we initially offered Morris in January of last year. UT didn't offer him until mid-December, 4 days after Pruitt was announced. Dude was at DSOR and the IB in Auburn. He saw those wins. Yet UT was pretty much his immediate leader as soon as they offered him a month later. We had a year head start, and in that year we couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, but it basically took UT a week, and it wasn't anything that TWill and Grimes could overcome. 

[ellitor 33,062]

9 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I was looking at his timeline on 247, and we initially offered Morris in January of last year. UT didn't offer him until mid-December, 4 days after Pruitt was announced. Dude was at DSOR and the IB in Auburn. He saw those wins. Yet UT was pretty much his immediate leader as soon as they offered him a month later. We had a year head start, and in that year we couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, but it basically took UT a week, and it wasn't anything that TWill and Grimes could overcome. 

We didn't make him a priority til Hand left. Offers don't = high priority necessarily. And it was too much for T-Will & Grimes to over come. They pulled out all the stops but will finish 2nd.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

4 hours ago, ellitor said:

Yeah but Wanya is ready to shut things down & is tired of the recruiting process so I think he is done after today.

It will be interesting to see if that holds 6 months from now when a lot of other elite players are still having fun on Universities' dimes. You can bet if we land Pappoe that he and Clarke are going to be in Wanya's ear. Imagine the chaos in Knoxville if they talked him into coming to Big Cat with them.

[Zeek 16,617]

10 minutes ago, ellitor said:

We didn't make him a priority til Hand left. Offers don't = high priority necessarily. And it was too much for T-Will & Grimes to over come. They pulled out all the stops but will finish 2nd.

Makes sense E.

If we land Owen Pappoe, then do you think maybe that increases our chance for a flip? I saw that you said he wants to shut it down but a teammate staying on his case is a little different than coaches bugging him. I know there are different linemen we can go after but I do like him and I think having both would really sky rocket our appeal for a few others. I'm greedy I know.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

It will be interesting to see if that holds 6 months from now when a lot of other elite players are still having fun on Universities' dimes. You can bet if we land Pappoe that he and Clarke are going to be in Wanya's ear. Imagine the chaos in Knoxville if they talked him into coming to Big Cat with them.

What's interesting is that one of the initial prevailing thoughts in this thread was that we were recruiting Morris to help with Pappoe. Turns out we get Pappoe and another guy whose coach says is better than Morris. Maybe true, maybe not, but we might be okay as others have said if we go after some other, uncommitted big fish. 

 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

What's interesting is that one of the initial prevailing thoughts in this thread was that we were recruiting Morris to help with Pappoe. Turns out we get Pappoe and another guy whose coach says is better than Morris. Maybe true, maybe not, but we might be okay as others have said if we go after some other, uncommitted big fish. 

 

Personally, I want Webb, just because everyone says we can't have him.

[Zeek 16,617]

3 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Personally, I want Webb, just because everyone says we can't have him.

Anytime we can flip the bird to the Bummers I'm down. Webb would be a historic flip at this point.