Worst year for AU recruiting in state of AL in years?

[GwillMac6 20,666]

Just now, Mikey said:

Had you kept up with my recruiting thoughts for the past 40 years, you'd know that my angle has always been that we should come close to breaking even on in-state recruiting. A 40-60 split is about as good as we can expect to do over time and we'll have to accept that. Going 1 for the top 12 is the worst we've ever done. It's extremely disappointing to me, and how many we get from Georgia, Florida, Texas and California doesn't make up for getting  waxed in our own state.

Lol and how exactly would me or any of us keep up with your recruiting thoughts the past 40 years!? Is there a running journal that you write these things down in??? Hahaha.

[Mikey 16,577]

3 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

Lol and how exactly would me or any of us keep up with your recruiting thoughts the past 40 years!? Is there a running journal that you write these things down in??? Hahaha.

You couldn't, of course. But if you had....

[steeleagle 2,945]

15 minutes ago, Mikey said:

Had you kept up with my recruiting thoughts for the past 40 years, you'd know that my angle has always been that we should come close to breaking even on in-state recruiting. A 40-60 split is about as good as we can expect to do over time and we'll have to accept that. Going 1 for the top 12 is the worst we've ever done. It's extremely disappointing to me, and how many we get from Georgia, Florida, Texas and California doesn't make up for getting  waxed in our own state.

You guys know we have gone through these cycles w/ every coach(except maybe Pat Dye). We always go through periods that we have less than 50% alabama signees. And I can remember when Saban would not sign many Alabama kids, and we would get a higher % of Alabama players, and people would say it was a down year in Alabama. 

I will say that getting less than 40% can come back to bite us, mainly bc of the Alabama game. As Dye once said, Alabama kids grow up with it, and have a much better understanding of playing in the Iron Bowl. It just is going to mean more.

Going 1-12 is bad, but the key is not to make it a habit. If we so far are getting a higher % of top 10 kids for 2021(2 so far), then we need to hold onto them and get some more, just to even it out. If not, 2 years in a row of less than 40% is not good in the long run. (JMHO)

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

47 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I will say that getting less than 40% can come back to bite us, mainly bc of the Alabama game. As Dye once said, Alabama kids grow up with it, and have a much better understanding of playing in the Iron Bowl. It just is going to mean more.

Anytime we've beaten saban, it's mostly been because of Georgia and Florida kids. 

That game doesn't mean more to anybody than it meant to Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, Carl Lawson, Derek Brown or Shaun Shivers.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

It doesnt mean any less to them but getting taken to the woodshed in state is TERRIBLE. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

For years one of the knocks of Auburn recruiting was their inability to recruit well out of state. Personally I’m happy we’re recruiting so well nationally instead of settling for local low rated 3 stars like we have in the past 

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

13 hours ago, Mikey said:

I was going to start a thread on this earlier. Going by Rival's listing, UAT signed 8 of the top 12 in-state players. AU, Nebraska, Clemson and LSU signed one each. So we did as well as Nebraska with in-state players. This is hands down the worst showing we've ever had in-state, and I mean ever. I don't like it one bit.

You can say it's a great class overall, and it certainly could be but we got our clock cleaned on home-grown talent. I don't see how this can continue and AU still be competitive with the Tuskalosers.

 

Why do you think the state of Alabama has the only talented kids that matter? The nickster recruits from all over the U.S. and neither Tua, T-rent, Derrick Henry or Mark Ingram are from Alabama. 

In fact.....I remember moaning and whining on this board about how Auburn is not recruiting nationally like the nickster does. Now there's moaning about recruits not being local. 

Auburn just needs to recruit talent. Outside the state is fine.....no Yeldon type of drama and no REC stronghold. bammer will do what they do in recruiting......give entire families new homes, cars and careers. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

3 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Anytime we've beaten saban, it's mostly been because of Georgia and Florida kids. 

That game doesn't mean more to anybody than it meant to Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, Carl Lawson, Derek Brown or Shaun Shivers.

How do you know for sure? I wouldn't know if Newton, Lawson, Marshall Brown, or Shivers hates to lose to Alabama.

But if Alabama is in the top 4 in the polls, EVERY AU players wants to beat them bad..bc they have been so good for the last 10 years.

I only was referring to what Coach Dye used to say, and maybe that was for back then. The times were different. 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

How do you know for sure? I wouldn't know if Newton, Lawson, Marshall Brown, or Shivers hates to lose to Alabama.

But if Alabama is in the top 4 in the polls, EVERY AU players wants to beat them bad..bc they have been so good for the last 10 years.

I only was referring to what Coach Dye used to say, and maybe that was for back then. The times were different. 

You're right, I don't know for sure. I feel very confident about it based on the way the guys play, but you're right I don't know. But your second paragraph is really my point. Competitors want to win. There is value in getting in-state guys but I don't think they necessarily give any more in practice or on the field than guys from other states.

[fredst 9,064]

If they are worth having at Auburn they all want to win every damn game and are really mad when they don’t. I suspect (or hope)that is true for all of the kids we are signing. Have to wonder if this is a result of Saban making a conscious effort to really try to get Alabama kids. They’ve been criticized for not taking some AL kids over some outside talent, just like is being stated here that Kirby is losing traction in GA because he has been going national and leaving some of the in-state kids behind. Agree, we need to do better in-state, hope this is a one-off.

[Mikey 16,577]

9 hours ago, Tigerbelle said:

In fact.....I remember moaning and whining on this board about how Auburn is not recruiting nationally like the nickster does. Now there's moaning about recruits not being local. 

The current moaning is about getting embarrassed in-state. Getting one of the top 12 is not good. I don't care about nationally. There is enough top talent in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, our traditional recruiting areas, to win national championships but we do have to actually sign them. Three of UAT's top 8 signees were committed to AU at one time, then flipped to them. That's not a pretty picture.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

5 hours ago, Mikey said:

The current moaning is about getting embarrassed in-state. Getting one of the top 12 is not good. I don't care about nationally. There is enough top talent in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, our traditional recruiting areas, to win national championships but we do have to actually sign them. Three of UAT's top 8 signees were committed to AU at one time, then flipped to them. That's not a pretty picture.

That's nothing new.....Yeldon, Reuben Foster.....maybe Dee Liner IIRC. There have been others over the years who made that"business decision".....and there will probably be more in the future. 

There is top talent all over the U.S. What matters is filling needs with good athletes who want to play for Auburn no matter where they grew up. Fighting the REC for top recruits in state may not be the best use of recruiting time and resources when there are other options. 

Gus is pretty pragmatic about dealing with the bammer /REC recruiting machine, and it's just something he has to work around. He's looking at the bigger picture.

 

 

[Mikey 16,577]

4 hours ago, Tigerbelle said:

That's nothing new.....Yeldon, Reuben Foster.....maybe Dee Liner IIRC. There have been others over the years who made that"business decision".....and there will probably be more in the future. 

There is top talent all over the U.S. What matters is filling needs with good athletes who want to play for Auburn no matter where they grew up. Fighting the REC for top recruits in state may not be the best use of recruiting time and resources when there are other options. 

Gus is pretty pragmatic about dealing with the bammer /REC recruiting machine, and it's just something he has to work around. He's looking at the bigger picture.

 

 

It's nothing new, but the extent of it this cycle is extreme.

[McLoofus 35,182]

I would rather slide down a cheese grater than agree with Mikey, but he's not even stating an opinion here. These are very black-and-white numbers he is putting forth. Whether or not you think it matters, it is definitely unusual. 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

No one is complaining over the recruits not being local. 

No one is complaining about not signing the low rated in state 3* kid. 

 

But here are some examples... we took a QB in this class and were looking at a 2nd at one point... There we have Ashford from Hoover who is also an exceptional baseball player. We could of had him if we wanted him but we showed very little interest in him especially as of late. He ended up at Oregon. Then there is another 4* QB from Muscle Shoals who ended up at Nebraska. Two 4* DLs (a position of need this class) signed with out of state teams. And we have as much trouble signing kids from Phoenix City and Auburn as we do signing OTs. 

No one is complaining about missing out to Bama on in state players. That happens. But under no circumstances should we have let two highly rated DLs out of state when it was a position of need for this cycle. Under no circumstances should we have signed a low rated 3* QB from out of state when we had multiple in state 4* QBs... one of which we absolutely could of signed which would have also benefited the baseball team. 

 

I'm not complaining about the class. It's an exceptional class. But there were in state kids we could have signed to make it an even better class.  I get that it's good to expand our recruiting grounds. I couldn't agree any more about that. But we have to keep our own house in order before we worry about expanding our territory. 

There is no way ANY of you can twist it, getting bent over in state is never a good thing.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

3 hours ago, Mikey said:

It's nothing new, but the extent of it this cycle is extreme.

All the public Gus bashing and booing, and calling for him to be fired probably had some effect on recruiting this cycle. It's a weapon that's quite effectively used against Gus. 

Auburn should be fine with this class, and if the team has a big year all the rest will take care of itself anyway. 

 

 

 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

29 minutes ago, Tigerbelle said:

All the public Gus bashing and booing, and calling for him to be fired probably had some effect on recruiting this cycle. It's a weapon that's quite effectively used against Gus. 

Well maybe Gus needs to quit sucking then.

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

1 hour ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

No one is complaining over the recruits not being local. 

No one is complaining about not signing the low rated in state 3* kid. 

 

But here are some examples... we took a QB in this class and were looking at a 2nd at one point... There we have Ashford from Hoover who is also an exceptional baseball player. We could of had him if we wanted him but we showed very little interest in him especially as of late. He ended up at Oregon. Then there is another 4* QB from Muscle Shoals who ended up at Nebraska. Two 4* DLs (a position of need this class) signed with out of state teams. And we have as much trouble signing kids from Phoenix City and Auburn as we do signing OTs. 

No one is complaining about missing out to Bama on in state players. That happens. But under no circumstances should we have let two highly rated DLs out of state when it was a position of need for this cycle. Under no circumstances should we have signed a low rated 3* QB from out of state when we had multiple in state 4* QBs... one of which we absolutely could of signed which would have also benefited the baseball team. 

 

I'm not complaining about the class. It's an exceptional class. But there were in state kids we could have signed to make it an even better class.  I get that it's good to expand our recruiting grounds. I couldn't agree any more about that. But we have to keep our own house in order before we worry about expanding our territory. 

There is no way ANY of you can twist it, getting bent over in state is never a good thing.

There’s a lot of factors that go into recruiting a kid. Coaches dont just go down the rivals rankings and pick the highest rated DL on the board, in state or not. If an in state kid didn’t get an offer from Auburn then the staff likely saw something on film that they didn’t like. 

[ChltteTiger 649]

On 2/1/2020 at 10:45 AM, Mikey said:

Cleaned up in Georgia? Do you really think getting three prospects that UGA really wanted is cleaning up? I don't. We've had a good year, got a good class coming in. That doesn't make it OK to get waxed in your home state. Three of those in-state guys were AU commits at one time and flipped. Who's to say we won't see a repeat in '21?

Money talks B.S. walks

[ChltteTiger 649]

17 hours ago, fredst said:

If they are worth having at Auburn they all want to win every damn game and are really mad when they don’t. I suspect (or hope)that is true for all of the kids we are signing. 

I distinctly recall watching AU get embarrassed on national TV against UT in 2018 and late in the game when a loss was inevitable our star QB seemed to be having a really good time of it on the sideline. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

2 hours ago, ChltteTiger said:

I distinctly recall watching AU get embarrassed on national TV against UT in 2018 and late in the game when a loss was inevitable our star QB seemed to be having a really good time of it on the sideline. 

I’ve seen players from Alabama have that same attitude. Some guys are just made differently I guess 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 hour ago, AuburnTiger4Life said:

I’ve seen players from Alabama have that same attitude. Some guys are just made differently I guess 

Boy, Roc Thomas sure showed up in that 2014 IB...

(Exactly.)

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Boy, Roc Thomas sure showed up in that 2014 IB...

(Exactly.)

There have been some downright terrible takes on this website today I swear 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Just now, ClaytonAU said:

There have been some downright terrible takes on this website today I swear 

Do tell.

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

Just now, McLoofus said:

Do tell.

I meant to post this in the Bro Jones thread. Oh well, still, just trash takes.