2022 4* RB Damari Alston Commits to Auburn!!!

[SumterAubie 3,031]

12 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Someone had a wedding anniversary tonight!!!! Thank you for that play by play Sumter! 

 

TMI

[AUBwins 10,074]

14 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Someone had a wedding anniversary tonight!!!! Thank you for that play by play Sumter! 

 

@GwillMac6, put the doll away.  We getting 4* RBs!

[WFE12 9,191]

Alston: ‘I feel like this class is going to rise up’

Bryan Matthews • AuburnSports

Senior Editor

AUBURN | 

Not long after Damari Alston made his commitment to Auburn public Sunday, the 4-star running back was already working to bring in more talent to the Tigers’ 2022 class.

 

“I feel like this class is going to rise up,” Alston said. “We’re pretty low right now but we’re going to keep coming. We’ve got some pretty good guys coming in soon. So I’m locked in and ready.

“I’m a recruiter now. You might as well call me a coach. I feel like my commitment shot a spark in some people

 

Auburn, with seven commitments, moved up 13 spots to No. 66 nationally in the Rivals team recruiting rankings after Alston’s commit. The Tigers are 26th in average star, which doesn’t take into account the number of commits.

Alston, 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds, actually announced his decision during Auburn’s Big Cat recruiting event, turning his commitment into a recruiting pitch of its own.

“Today felt good, man. It was a stress reliever,” he said. “Just coming here and seeing all the guys, speaking in front of everybody, committing in front of everybody, it was a good deal. I feel like I brought some attention to some of the recruits.

"It was a family atmosphere. All the coaches sat down and talked to my family and my mom, and that’s what we look for. Thats one of the reasons I committed."

Alston narrowed down more than 50 offers to Auburn, LSU and Northwestern before picking the Tigers. 

“I’m not really into big names or anything like that. I’m not into Georgia or Alabama,” he said. “I want to beat those guys. I want to be at the top of the SEC.”

Alston should join a talented running back group a year from now that will include Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter.

“I feel like Jarquez and Tank can show me the path because they’re a little older than me and they’ll probably be going to the league,” Alston said. “When it’s my turn to step onto the field, I’m going to take care of business.”

[Beaker 2,457]

21 minutes ago, WFE12 said:

Alston: ‘I feel like this class is going to rise up’

Bryan Matthews • AuburnSports

Senior Editor

AUBURN | 

Not long after Damari Alston made his commitment to Auburn public Sunday, the 4-star running back was already working to bring in more talent to the Tigers’ 2022 class.

 

“I feel like this class is going to rise up,” Alston said. “We’re pretty low right now but we’re going to keep coming. We’ve got some pretty good guys coming in soon. So I’m locked in and ready.

“I’m a recruiter now. You might as well call me a coach. I feel like my commitment shot a spark in some people

 

Auburn, with seven commitments, moved up 13 spots to No. 66 nationally in the Rivals team recruiting rankings after Alston’s commit. The Tigers are 26th in average star, which doesn’t take into account the number of commits.

Alston, 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds, actually announced his decision during Auburn’s Big Cat recruiting event, turning his commitment into a recruiting pitch of its own.

“Today felt good, man. It was a stress reliever,” he said. “Just coming here and seeing all the guys, speaking in front of everybody, committing in front of everybody, it was a good deal. I feel like I brought some attention to some of the recruits.

"It was a family atmosphere. All the coaches sat down and talked to my family and my mom, and that’s what we look for. Thats one of the reasons I committed."

Alston narrowed down more than 50 offers to Auburn, LSU and Northwestern before picking the Tigers. 

“I’m not really into big names or anything like that. I’m not into Georgia or Alabama,” he said. “I want to beat those guys. I want to be at the top of the SEC.”

Alston should join a talented running back group a year from now that will include Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter.

“I feel like Jarquez and Tank can show me the path because they’re a little older than me and they’ll probably be going to the league,” Alston said. “When it’s my turn to step onto the field, I’m going to take care of business.”

Nice read, thanks!

I think Mari could be special.   I am not saying he can fill Tank's shoes, but it's possible.   

[Mikey 16,575]

16 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

True - our very experienced, mediocre O line returns. 

What you and some others fail to realize is that the O-line was jelling very nicely early last season before a rash of injuries hit. Every single starter missed multiple games because of injury. That's not likely to happen again. I think our '21 O-line will be an above average SEC line.

[Hank2020 3,199]

9 hours ago, Mikey said:

What you and some others fail to realize is that the O-line was jelling very nicely early last season before a rash of injuries hit. Every single starter missed multiple games because of injury. That's not likely to happen again. I think our '21 O-line will be an above average SEC line.

With don’t know enough one way or the other, but I’m sure pulling for whoever we line up. 

[AUGoo 2,659]

9 hours ago, Mikey said:

What you and some others fail to realize is that the O-line was jelling very nicely early last season before a rash of injuries hit. Every single starter missed multiple games because of injury. That's not likely to happen again. I think our '21 O-line will be an above average SEC line.

Man, I hope your right!

[oracle79 3,569]

12 hours ago, Mikey said:

I think our '21 O-line will be an above average SEC line.

Heck, if it's even just average, we'll surprise a lot of people.

[AuburnNTexas 7,138]

13 hours ago, Mikey said:

What you and some others fail to realize is that the O-line was jelling very nicely early last season before a rash of injuries hit. Every single starter missed multiple games because of injury. That's not likely to happen again. I think our '21 O-line will be an above average SEC line.

Like you I saw some good things on the O-line last year but I also saw miscommunication that led to missed assignments. Possibly the miscommunication and missed assignments was because of of all the changes due to Injury or to bad coaching or to players not picking up what was being taught. 

This year we have a new OC and a new O-line coach and hopefully with better coaching, experience gained in playing last year, and a better offensive package where D does not know what next play will be this O-line will show out. There is also the possibility that some of our starters are just not top notch SEC Players..  The 1st two games will be against lesser opponents but should give us an idea of how well the line communicates and knows who to block on each play which was not always the case last year. If this is a typical Penn State team we will find out in 3rd game whether we have a true SEC O-Line. If Penn State plays like last year we might have to wait to LSU or Georgia game to get a true idea of what type O-Line we have.  

Mikey I am hoping you are right but to be honest at best I am 50/50 on whether we will have a good O-Line this year.

[au302 2,669]

Mikey let me say that I really hope you are right as well. I think coaching and scheme will make us look closer to average in pass pro. Should pretty good in run blocking again since we got some maulers. It's just tough for me to expect our pass pro to go from terrible to good when we have so many question marks at tackle due to guys with injury history, guards playing tackle, and talent. We should hopefully stop giving up so many busts up the middle with better center play.

The coaches know we are weak in pass pro, and I think we'll see our tackles get more help this year with more chipping, max protect, TE help, etc. There's posters on here that know way more about the specifics of that than I do, but I do remember seeing the TE's help out Hamm in A-day. Use Hamm as basically a 3rd guard and have the TE's help. All in all, this group should help us with our run-first identity of clearing way for Tank. Question is can they just look respectable with pass pro. Bobo needs to get the ball out of Bo's hands quickly this year until we upgrade the talent at tackle

[WFE12 9,191]

He’s really gonna be a fan favorite 

 

[WFE12 9,191]

 

[Win4AU 4,052]

Dukes was alluding to recruiting going better.  The coaches have changed their approach and it’s starting to have an impact per Dukes.  Also heard JTate say that Friend is more of a coach and not a recruiter.  That was a little disappointing since Auburn needs bodies more than anything right now.

[Gowebb11 9,314]

48 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Also heard JTate say that Friend is more of a coach and not a recruiter.

This is strange. I’ve heard Friend be referred to as a top notch recruiter for years now. 

[Win4AU 4,052]

2 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

This is strange. I’ve heard Friend be referred to as a top notch recruiter for years now. 

I guess the proof is in the pudding or however that saying goes.  I don’t follow Auburn recruiting super close but as far as I know Auburn doesn’t have many OL men on their hot list.  The only one I’ve seen repeatedly is Bobo's kid and I bet he ends up at UGA unless they don’t offer him.  I’d rather go play for someone other than my dad in college too so can’t blame him.  I’d figure Friend would already have established relationships from being at UT and USCe that would translate to Auburn.  Guess not

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,659]

6 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

This is strange. I’ve heard Friend be referred to as a top notch recruiter for years now. 

That was actually the primary value I heard of even getting the guy. People gave him alot of flack for how horrid UTk was with the talent they had, and the spin was "just keep feeding the OL unit talent and they'll figure it out" 

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

12 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

This is strange. I’ve heard Friend be referred to as a top notch recruiter for years now. 

I thought so as well. 

Three 5 stars and seven 4 star OL. That is not shabby especially considering the guys he got at UT during a dumpster fire.

[bigbird 60,473]

1 hour ago, Tigerpro2a said:

I thought so as well. 

Three 5 stars and seven 4 star OL. That is not shabby especially considering the guys he got at UT during a dumpster fire.

Recruiting is easy when you blatantly buy players without fear of any reprisal

[Gowebb11 9,314]

40 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Recruiting is easy when you blatantly buy players without fear of any reprisal

That’s a slippery slope in my opinion. If that’s his reputation, what does it say about AU and Harsin for hiring him?  

[bigbird 60,473]

46 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

That’s a slippery slope in my opinion. If that’s his reputation, what does it say about AU and Harsin for hiring him?  

Didn't mean to imply him personally, but rather the reputation of the schools he was so successful at.

[Sizzle 3,909]

On 7/27/2021 at 1:54 PM, WFE12 said:

He’s really gonna be a fan favorite 

 

Tell him to recruit some oline men. Seems like nobody else on staff wants to do it

[milehighfan 1,240]

On 7/15/2021 at 1:48 PM, gravejd said:

NorthWestern has a great football program right now. Anyone who scoffs at them has not been paying attention recently to the state of the NW football program compared to AU. 

Who did Auburn lose to last year in its bowl game? Oh that's right, Northwestern.

[Paladin 3,305]

Need all five, but if two of the three are Hood and Clemons, I'll be a happy camper.

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Paladin

[Mike4AU 1,739]

I like this cat!

[AuburnNTexas 7,138]

I am greedy come on Damari reel all 5 of them in. I already think we are ahead for Caden Story and Jacobi Albert, Drew Bobo the two crystal balls point to Auburn but not high confidence so the two Damari really needs to work on are Jacob Hood as we need OT's desperately, and Darius Clemmons as he is a difference maker at WR.

All 5 would go a long way to helping the 2021 recruiting class as all are high 3*'s or 4*'s which helps our ranking but more importantly they fit our needs. 2 O-Line one an OT Hood and the other more interior but might be able to play OT Bobo,  Caden Story a strong D-Line recruit, Clemmons a difference make at WR and Albert an athlete who could play WR or DB.

Edited July 30, 2021 by AuburnNTexas