2019 Recruiting Thread

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

13 hours ago, ellitor said:

For the 4th time, no we don't unless they are quality. Jucos have a high miss rate.

Exactly. Folks fail to understand the folks we have are good prospects. They need good teachers. I like JB but I am not impressed with results this year. But also AU did not do a good job to put these guys in a favorable position either. Play calling has become to obvious especially when we are installing substitute packages of players for certain offensive plays. It like running into a brick wall. You can give good effort and not make much progress. But I do agree with comments of knowledgeable posters here that we are still lacking in fundamentals. Whether lack of teaching or lack of learning.

[AUsince72 11,084]

16 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

Sorry if it came off as an attack mode. Didn’t mean it that way and I do apologize. What I meant was Sean actually had ability as well as guts. He just failed to manage his off the field issues. Also as I stated I have a lot of faith in Bo and absolutely none in Gus. If anyone can screw up a sure thing, Gus would be  at the front of that line. So can Bo take us where we need to go ? Yes. Will Gus allow that? Probably not. Again I have tremendous respect for you and your respect for AU so forgive me if I insulted you in any way. War Eagle. I also hope your recovery goes well. My son went thru Chemo and radiation about 5 years ago and we took care of him so I’ve seen the pain close up. He is doing well now and I hope you will also, soon.

No harm, no foul!  No, I wasn't insulted, just caught off guard a bit.  But, I understand, most of us are VERY raw right now and this Admin/BOT stuff is just adding fuel to the fire.  We good!! 

I think that we agree that, with another coach (offensive system) Bo Nix can probably be a game changer.  Unfortunately, how would he be utilized in 2019?  Probably not to his main strengths and the running game, in particular, will continue to suffer.  However, if 2019 plays out the way many (most?) expect, perhaps AU will have a new regime who can take better advantage of the talent in house (& recruit) by '20.

Thanks for the kind words and understanding.  I'm so glad to hear your son is well...that is SO heartening to me!!! 

God bless & War Eagle!!

Edited December 7, 2018 by AUsince72

[ellitor 33,062]

New OT offer out. This could be one to watch. Will create a thread on him if things progress. He has gotten some good P5 offers lately.

 

[AUsince72 11,084]

On 12/7/2018 at 7:53 PM, ellitor said:

New OT offer out. This could be one to watch. Will create a thread on him if things progress. He has gotten some good P5 offers lately.

 

Not sure it will pan out.  Auburn University offered him instead of The University of Auburn.  😉😁😂🤣

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

In the last few days we seem to have a chance at a few really solid RB's and some O-Linemen including some OT's (Kennedy, Olaseni, Jones) are any of them going to be early signers or are we going to have to wait till later on them. Despite how bad this year has been we still have a chance to have a really good class including some O-Line talent that to be honest I had lost all hope for. 

[ellitor 33,062]

5 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

In the last few days we seem to have a chance at a few really solid RB's and some O-Linemen including some OT's (Kennedy, Olaseni, Jones) are any of them going to be early signers or are we going to have to wait till later on them

AU has not offered Kennedy & likely won't unless they find out Tega is turning pro. Regardless as a Grad Transfer he doesn't sign anything. He just picks hisschool and enrolls. Regardless he may ve a while deciding. I don't think he has taken any OVs yet.

On Bam-O, he has only taken 2 OVs so he likely will not sign til February.

Who is Jones? The only Jones I know is commit  Keiondre Jones. He's an OG not OT & been set to sign early.

At RB Cain & DJ plan to sign early. MAR & Griffin plan to sign in February.

[Zeek 16,615]

SIAP

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2018/12/mississippi-state-commit-charles-moore-auburn-has-a-chance.html

Quote

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com tgreen@al.com
Four-star defensive end Charles Moore is still committed to Mississippi State. For now.

Things could change for the 105th-best player in the 2019 recruiting class, however. At least, that’s how Moore made it seem following his official visit to Auburn, where one of his closest friends, Jared Handy, is committed.

“Oh yeah, we here,” Moore said. "We here. We might — I don’t want to just freak everybody out, but be looking for us to be beside each other in May or when the fall comes. Be looking for us to be beside each other.”

That bodes well for Auburn, as Handy -- a four-star defensive end out of Hattiesburg, Miss. -- is firmly committed to the Tigers. Handy has said that, so long as Gus Malzahn is the head coach, he plans to sign with the Tigers. Handy was also on his official visit to the Plains this weekend.

Handy said after his visit that he wasn’t going anywhere, and that he expects Moore to sign wherever he signs when the time comes. Moore plans to make a final decision ahead of February’s National Signing Day, adding that if he did flip from Mississippi State, he would give the Bulldogs' coaching staff at least a week’s notice so as not to leave them hanging or catch them off guard.

“I really do want to play with Stone (Handy), and I love this place — my parents, my brother, my sister, they love this place,” Moore said. "It’s not close to home, but it’s not too far away from home, so I feel like I need to venture out and grow a little bit. I don’t actually feel like I need to take a rock and throw it.”

Moore is from Louisville, Miss., though his dad previously worked in Opelika, the neighboring town to Auburn. Moore, a 6-foot-4, 268-pounder, is rated as the No. 9 strongside defensive end in the country as well as the No. 8 recruit in a talent-rich crop of players from Mississippi. Handy, who Moore described as his “brother,” is rated as the No. 96 player in the country, the No. 8 strongside defensive end and the No. 6 player in Mississippi.

“He really ain’t too much push it on me," Moore said. "Our relationship is just us being brothers. We don’t always see eye to eye on certain things, but that’s brothers for you.”

Moore still has four official visits left, with three already set. He will visit LSU, Florida and Tennessee in January, adding that he will “possibly” take an official to Mississippi State, the program he has been committed to since Aug. 19, 2017. Handy will be with him on each of those visits.

Still, he said Auburn definitely has a chance to flip him. While Handy’s presence on the Plains will be critical to Moore’s decision, he also discussed the other factors that draw him to Auburn.

“I feel at home,” Moore said. "It’s about the life after football. Good, honest coaches. What you see is what you get. They ain’t trying to spice it all up and send me a Disneyland picture or whatever. I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work when I get here; going to have to be 10 toes down and come here ready to work. I also like the expect — they let me know that from the door and they didn’t even sell me a recruiting pitch or anything. I actually didn’t even feel like Auburn recruited me. I kind of feel like they said, if this is the place for you and you feel like this is where you fit, then come, but if not, we want you to be successful wherever you go.

"The relationship I have with these coaches, I feel like if I didn’t come to Auburn, I would still talk to Coach Woodson, still talk to Coach Gardner, Coach Steele. Those are the type of people that are up here, and these are the type of people I want to surround myself with.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

 

[ellitor 33,062]

@Zeek Posted in the OV thread yesterday & will post more interviews as free ones come out.

[Zeek 16,615]

Just now, ellitor said:

@Zeek Posted in the OV thread yesterday & will post more interviews as free ones come out.

You're the man E!

Wrestling season has started so I'm going to be rather behind on a few things lol.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

AU has not offered Kennedy & likely won't unless they find out Tega is turning pro. Regardless as a Grad Transfer he doesn't sign anything. He just picks hisschool and enrolls. Regardless he may ve a while deciding. I don't think he has taken any OVs yet.

On Bam-O, he has only taken 2 OVs so he likely will not sign til February.

Who is Jones? The only Jones I know is commit  Keiondre Jones. He's an OG not OT & been set to sign early.

At RB Cain & DJ plan to sign early. MAR & Griffin plan to sign in February.

Dawand Jones I thought I had read somewhere we just recently offered him.

[ellitor 33,062]

5 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Dawand Jones I thought I had read somewhere we just recently offered him.

Oh yeah. We don't want him signing in December because it wouldn't be AU as of now. He still has 4 OVs to take as well.

[wde1968 262]

Is Gus going to go after Grad Transfer QB Deondre Johnson? Former FSU qb with 2 years of eligibility left. He went the Last Chance U route but couldn't start at FAU.

Edited December 11, 2018 by ellitor
Added player's name to post

[ellitor 33,062]

5 minutes ago, wde1968 said:

Is Gus going to go after Grad Transfer QB Deondre Johnson? Former FSU qb with 2 years of eligibility left. He went the Last Chance U route but couldn't start at FAU.

Doubt it.

[GwillMac6 20,607]

 

[DAG 33,955]

5 hours ago, wde1968 said:

Is Gus going to go after Grad Transfer QB Deondre Johnson? Former FSU qb with 2 years of eligibility left. He went the Last Chance U route but couldn't start at FAU.

Hopefully not. 

[abw0004 10,104]

Richie Petitbon is transferring from Alabama.  Do we have a shot?  #62 recruit from the 2015 class and is a OG, although he played everywhere for Alabama.  Redshirted his freshmen year so he has 2 years left.

Edited December 12, 2018 by abw0004

[ellitor 33,062]

3 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

Richie Petitbon is transferring from Alabama.  Do we have a shot?  #62 recruit from the 2015 class and is a OG, although he played everywhere for Alabama.  

Haven't heard a word about him. He's from Maryland so my guess is he goes closer to home.

Edited December 12, 2018 by ellitor

[GwillMac6 20,607]

 

[aujeff11 6,243]

247 Composite 

https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/

All SEC in top 4

[bigbird 60,368]

10 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

247 Composite 

https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/

All SEC in top 4

All 4 on our schedule too

[aubiefifty 16,705]

montgomeryadvertiser.com

Recruiting visits paint positive picture of feeling inside Auburn football program

Josh Vitale, Montgomery Advertiser

7-8 minutes

AUBURN — The picture that had been painted from outside the Auburn football program in the two weeks since a 52-21 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl was not a particularly positive one.

There were rampant rumors about Gus Malzahn’s future as head coach, despite the seven-year, $49-million contract he signed earlier this year. Athletics director Allen Greene acknowledged them in a letter penned to fans on Monday, writing: “those rumors and speculation have not served the Auburn Family well."

But it wasn’t just that. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey left for the same job at Kansas, and Malzahn’s first two targets in the search to replace him — friend Hugh Freeze and former analyst Bobby Bentley — chose instead to go to Liberty and stay at South Carolina, respectively.

MORE: Auburn hires Memphis' Kenny Dillingham as offensive coordinator

This past Tuesday, former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant chose to sign with Missouri just two days after finishing an official visit to Auburn, which ranked prominently among his finalists. On Saturday, running back Asa Martin — a former four-star recruit and the reigning Alabama Mr. Football — announced his decision to leave the Tigers after a puzzling true freshman season that may have included a mismanagement of his redshirt.

But in talking to some of the 10 Class of 2019 recruits who finished official visits to campus on Sunday — both committed and uncommitted — one didn’t get the sense that negativity outside the program had penetrated the walls of the Auburn Athletic Complex.

“I feel at home,” four-star Louisville, Miss., defensive end Charles Moore said. “It’s about the life after football. Good, honest coaches. What you see is what you get. They ain’t trying to spice it all up and send me a Disneyland picture or whatever. I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work when I get here; going to have to be 10 toes down and come here ready to work.

“They didn’t even sell me a recruiting pitch or anything. I actually didn’t even feel like Auburn recruited me. I kind of feel like they said, if this is the place for you and you feel like this is where you fit, then come, but if not, we want you to be successful wherever you go. The relationship I have with these coaches, I feel like if I didn’t come to Auburn, I would still talk to Coach (Marcus) Woodson, still talk to Coach (Rodney) Gardner, Coach (Kevin) Steele. Those are the type of people that are up here, and these are the type of people I want to surround myself with.”

Moore isn’t one of the 16 players committed to an Auburn class that ranks 12th nationally and fifth in the SEC with less than two weeks to go before the early signing period begins on Dec. 19. He’s actually pledged to Mississippi State. But he visited this weekend with close friend and four-star Auburn defensive end commit Jaren Handy, and while he remains committed to the Bulldogs, it’s clear the Tigers made some inroads with him.

“I don’t want to just freak everybody out, but be looking for us to be beside each other in May or when the fall comes,” Moore said of him and Handy. “I really do want to play with Stone, and I love this place. My parents, my brother, my sister, they love this place.”

Handy feels the same way. The Hattiesburg, Miss., native told reporters his commitment to Auburn is “more solid” after his latest visit and he may even decide to sign later this month. He “ain’t going nowhere,” and he’s trying to bring Moore (who won’t sign anywhere until February) with him.

Four-star running back target Mark-Antony Richards also doesn’t plan to sign or even announce his decision until February, but it was clear after his latest visit that Auburn is very much near the top of his list.

“I really got the chance to hang out with some of the commits and some of the players, like Jarrett Stidham, Will Hastings and Bo Nix, some of the other guys — Tyler Fromm, too,” he said. “I think that was something I didn’t do at any other school, was hang out with some of the other guys. Really, it just felt like I was already here, to be honest.

“It’s always good every time I come here. I’ve been coming since I was in like eighth grade, so it really hasn’t … I haven’t had a negative side of it.”

So maybe some of the perceived issues over the past two weeks have been overblown. Malzahn announced Sunday night that he had hired “rising star” Kenny Dillingham, formerly of Memphis, to be the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Greene wrote Monday that the Tigers’ head coach is “dedicated to this program and he has my support as we work together to move forward.”

MORE: Gus Malzahn will call plays for Auburn's offense

Even before that, the offensive recruits who visited Auburn over the weekend didn’t seem particularly concerned about the team not having an offensive coordinator.

“I’m not worried,” Richards said with a smile.

“I trust him, and he's going to make things work,” said Nix, a four-star recruit ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the class.

MORE: Patrick Nix, Bo Nix write memorable script at Jordan-Hare Stadium

“I’m not really sure who it is right now, but we’ll figure it out,” three-star wide receiver commit Ja’Varrius Johnson said. “I’m just always a confident person. I think everything is good.”

Johnson, out of Hewitt-Trussville, is so confident that he plans to sign later this month after previously being unsure about whether he would or not. He also expressed optimism that the Tigers would hang onto their high-profile commitment from four-star Hoover wide receiver George Pickens, who also took an official visit to the Plains this weekend and spent a lot of time with Johnson and Nix.

Pickens, who does not plan to sign until February and is still being pursued heavily by a bevy of schools including Alabama, Florida State, Georgia and LSU, did not speak to reporters Sunday.

“I’ve always felt confident with him, because I personally know him really good. We played little league together,” Johnson said. “I just feel like… I know I have a feeling he’s going to stay.”

Everyone has since the regular season ended a little more than two weeks. The last player to decommit from the Tigers’ 2019 class was three-star center Jakai Clark, and that was way back on Sept. 3. He flipped to Illinois in November, then to Miami on Monday.

The top-rated member of Auburn's class, five-star Loganville, Ga., linebacker Owen Pappoe, reaffirmed his pledge to the Tigers last week, tweeting, “Let me clear things up…I am 100% committed.”

Pappoe is on track to enroll early, as are Nix, four-star guard Keiondre Jones, four-star defensive end Colby Wooden, four-star defensive backs Zion Puckett and Cam’Ron Kelly, and three-star tight ends Luke Deal and Tyler Fromm.

It doesn’t appear that the negativity projected outside the program has had much of an effect on the players Malzahn and his staff are trying to build Auburn’s future around.

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

All 4 on our schedule too

Yep. Our schedule is so unfair it’s crap. 

I feel like a fricking sky screamer rn. 

[GwillMac6 20,607]

9 minutes ago, bigbird said:

All 4 on our schedule too

This was probaly going to be Malzahns best class while Head Coach at AU the way it started if the season did not go down the way it did. 

[ellitor 33,062]

39 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

247 Composite 

https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/

All SEC in top 4

Not given enough of a look normally but look at the average rating per recruit. AU is 4th in the nation only behind Bama, UGA & FSU.

[ellitor 33,062]

19 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

This was probaly going to be Malzahns best class while Head Coach at AU the way it started if the season did not go down the way it did. 

Believe it or not it still may end up the best numerically on paper. At .9180 this is by far the best class numerically Gus has had in his tenure. Need some bumps on some guys & gotta finish on guys like MAR & Putnam.