2023 Discussion Thread

[GwillMac6 20,666]

LB Jaiden Ausberry got 3 crystal balls the past couple of days coming in for Notre Dame.

Edited July 17, 2022 by GwillMac6

[mountaincorgi 8]

18 hours ago, Zeek said:

There are some names but they haven't really gotten enough traction yet. 

of all the ones mentioned, which ones do you feel we have the best chance with?

[W.E.D 11,070]

Just a stat, 64% of on3 4* kids have already committed. For anyone still claiming "it's only July"

We need 25 bodies, afraid it's gonna be likely 7/18 4*/3* split. Class low 20s again. 

Hope that new scouting director can find some diamonds for us

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Well… I have posted the same thing for the last five years.

We need offensive lineman…now more than ever  

Look at the roster. One junior, one sophomore, seven freshman including some walk Ons I have never heard of…

I am floored that we cannot recruit this position. I mean we can sell playing time like no other school in the SEC. Make your grades and you will probably start.

I really don’t even know what to say at this point. The recruiting under Gus was horrible for this position. It seems worse now. it is unreal!!!!

Edited July 17, 2022 by gr82b4au

[gr82b4au 5,568]

56 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Just a stat, 64% of on3 4* kids have already committed. For anyone still claiming "it's only July"

We need 25 bodies, afraid it's gonna be likely 7/18 4*/3* split. Class low 20s again. 

Hope that new scouting director can find some diamonds for us

[CR 2,442]

1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

LB Jaiden Ausberry got 3 crystal balls the past couple of days coming in for Notre Dame.

Were headed for a Sun Belt roster.

[keesler 5,924]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:40 AM, Zeek said:

There isn't enough leadership or clarity regarding NIL at Auburn. Some of them literally don't know where to go or how to handle it. Admin has to step up. 

 

Our NIL conglomerate has been an unorganized, disjointed mess.  First Rick Davidson kicks off NIL Auburn in December - then Benny Larosso with Friends of Auburn in April - in June our players announce Plains Club NIL set to launch this month.  Now rumors of On to Victory run by someone else entirely is being prepped to launch with new branding and a huge push for fundraising.  

That’s 4 different operations in 7-8 months folks, and we’re getting run over in the NIL wars. 

[dilligas 581]

5 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Just a stat, 64% of on3 4* kids have already committed. For anyone still claiming "it's only July"

We need 25 bodies, afraid it's gonna be likely 7/18 4*/3* split. Class low 20s again. 

Hope that new scouting director can find some diamonds for us

We’ll, there’s always talented players at the group of 5 level drafted highly into the NFL.  If he can find the best of those shunned 3* players and our coaches can reel them in, we might be able to make up some slack from our failure to compete with top schools for highly rated talent.

[Mikey 16,577]

13 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

It is obvious that we lost in quantity in the Portal but I and others would disagree with you on the quality. we picked up two QB's one of who will probably be our starter, NT Jayson Jones, CB DJ James, LB Asante, Safety McDonald, and two WR's who have been injured but if healthy could help a lot.  There were 2 or 3 we lost that will hurt but most had minimal PT at Auburn and did not look like they would have gotten much this year.

Basically we lost one D-line Pegeus and others that did not play that will hurt but we picked up Jones and a Juco Mba that will make D-Line better then last year. We lost a key WR Hudson that hurts but have to see if the two WR's we picked up overcomes that and we lost depth DB types but have replaced them with James and McDonald. Number wise we lost quality wise we gained.

Gained one QB who will probably be a starter, while we lost a 3-year starter at QB. Bad trade. The two injured WR's are grab-bags, who knows if they can ever play? Not a good trade for our #1 pass catcher. M'ba did not come from the transfer portal, he's a normal JUCO recruit. The safety from ISU is probably our best pickup, but it's questionable if he'll be as good as Tennison, who left AU for Ol' Miss.

I think we lost more than we gained through the portal, both quantity and quality.

[Mikey 16,577]

17 minutes ago, dilligas said:

We’ll, there’s always talented players at the group of 5 level drafted highly into the NFL.  If he can find the best of those shunned 3* players and our coaches can reel them in, we might be able to make up some slack from our failure to compete with top schools for highly rated talent.

Sadly, it doesn't work that way. Recruit G-5 level prospects and you'll be competitive with G-5 teams on the field. But you can forget finishing in the top half of the SEC with G-5 talent.

[keesler 5,924]

57 minutes ago, dilligas said:

We’ll, there’s always talented players at the group of 5 level drafted highly into the NFL.  If he can find the best of those shunned 3* players and our coaches can reel them in, we might be able to make up some slack from our failure to compete with top schools for highly rated talent.

If we’ve leaned anything in the last 15-20 years it’s that it takes top talent to compete in this conference every week.  We already have the toughest schedule, we are at a major disadvantage if we don’t have the fire power to go to battle. 

[PoetTiger 1,896]

Ask yourself…would you come to Auburn now and play football? It would be tough for me…too much uncertainty and other schools seem like they are just more organized and unified.

[dilligas 581]

2 hours ago, Mikey said:

Sadly, it doesn't work that way. Recruit G-5 level prospects and you'll be competitive with G-5 teams on the field. But you can forget finishing in the top half of the SEC with G-5 talent.

The best of the G5 talent are high NFL draft picks that were either overlooked by power 5 schools or developed more than expected while in school.  If you don’t succeed in getting the top prospects you still need to sign the best players you can get and hope to develop them.  You still might not be competitive with the top half of the SEC, but you won’t without them either.

[keesler 5,924]

8 hours ago, dilligas said:

We’ll, there’s always talented players at the group of 5 level drafted highly into the NFL.  If he can find the best of those shunned 3* players and our coaches can reel them in, we might be able to make up some slack from our failure to compete with top schools for highly rated talent.

This staff isn’t heavily pursuing 3* guys right now, at least it doesn’t appear they are.  They’ve been after the higher ranked prospects and that’s not working out to Auburns advantage so far.  

[abw0004 10,110]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:50 AM, GwillMac6 said:

Oh well!? This ain’t the zeek we are familiar with!! Each mediocre recruiting class gets us further and further from  where we want to be. 

On the bright side, the transfer portal can get us on the right track in a hurry (using Michigan State as an example).  The only issue is we need more recruiters.  I only see three recruiters on the staff and our OC, DC, and HC are not one of those three which is important.

[W.E.D 11,070]

9 hours ago, dilligas said:

We’ll, there’s always talented players at the group of 5 level drafted highly into the NFL.  If he can find the best of those shunned 3* players and our coaches can reel them in, we might be able to make up some slack from our failure to compete with top schools for highly rated talent.

There are also like 4x more 3* kids than others.  Yes, there can be talent in the 3* field, but your hit rate is going to be really high, IDK who you are.

It's the same ppl that say "Brady was a 6th rounder".  Ok, he's one out of 400 6th round QBs and the other 399 didn't do anything..

It will also put us with more 3* kids than 4/5* kids eventually.   No team has ever won a NC with that mix.

[Sizzle 3,912]

29 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

On the bright side, the transfer portal can get us on the right track in a hurry (using Michigan State as an example).  The only issue is we need more recruiters.  I only see three recruiters on the staff and our OC, DC, and HC are not one of those three which is important.

Yeah and those are the most important coaching positions. Out of all 3 of them combined, how many recruits have they pulled in so far?

The assistant coaches do most of the work but the HC has to close the deal in recruiting. What are these guys doing?

[CameronCrazy 1,059]

My favorite sport is Recruiting, so this is absolutely killing me! We are swimming in talent in this state and it’s an absolute disaster. Cristobal would be killing it on the recruiting trail right now if we would’ve landed him instead of Harsin. 

The frustrating thing is that there is no end in sight. There’s no one that I see right now that would be willing to come in here and fix this mess. And I don’t have confidence in the leadership and vision of the people that make that decision  at Auburn University (whoever they may be) to go out and make a home run hire.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

10 hours ago, Mikey said:

Gained one QB who will probably be a starter, while we lost a 3-year starter at QB. Bad trade. The two injured WR's are grab-bags, who knows if they can ever play? Not a good trade for our #1 pass catcher. M'ba did not come from the transfer portal, he's a normal JUCO recruit. The safety from ISU is probably our best pickup, but it's questionable if he'll be as good as Tennison, who left AU for Ol' Miss.

I think we lost more than we gained through the portal, both quantity and quality.

I already mentioned the Mba was Juco in my original post. I mentioned Mba while not a Transfer but a Juco as he is an experienced college player coming in. You left out three key Players I mentioned James, Jones, and Asante two of those James and Jones are possible starters or at worse will get significant PT and Asante will get PT.  As for Calzada vs Bo statistics were similar last year where you would have thought a 3 year starter would have been superior so at worse that is a wash and if Calzada gets better then that is a gain.  I also mentioned in original post that losing the Hudson hurt but as he was our top WR but it is not like his numbers set the world on fire.  So I stand by my statement that we gained in quality.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

47 minutes ago, CameronCrazy said:

My favorite sport is Recruiting, so this is absolutely killing me! We are swimming in talent in this state and it’s an absolute disaster. Cristobal would be killing it on the recruiting trail right now if we would’ve landed him instead of Harsin. 

The frustrating thing is that there is no end in sight. There’s no one that I see right now that would be willing to come in here and fix this mess. And I don’t have confidence in the leadership and vision of the people that make that decision  at Auburn University (whoever they may be) to go out and make a home run hire.

I agree Cristobal would have been a great pickup from Recruiting standpoint as we can see at Miami but there is a reason he didn't come here in the 1st place and that is why Auburn never gets a big name coach and that is because of things like JetGate and what we are seeing on the NIL front with the lack of support.  The big money men may have gotten better since JetGate but remember when Gus left there was the theory he was pushed out so their hand picked man Steele would come in. There was even talk that some on coaching staff helped sabotage Gus. By the way I don't believe any of the coaches sabotaged Gus but the fact that the boosters were pushing for Steele while Gus was here and the rumors about the sabotage existed would have given any big name coach second, third, and fourth thoughts about coming here.

At this point it doesn't even matter if the Steele story and the coaches sabotage story was not true the fact that these type stories continue popping up at Auburn is the story then you add what happened to Harsin in February why would any big name coach want to come here.

Like Harsin or don't like Harsin we need him to win this year and hopefully force the boosters to back him on the NIL front. Because if he does win and boosters still don't back NIL no coach will want to come here. If he loses and we dump him after only two years and the word is out that we did not back him with NIL then same thing no coach will want to come here.

I think I read we are on our 4th different NIL program as we never really got it right on the 1st three and with the majority of the 4 and 5 * players gone it may be to late for this year even if the 4th Version of NIL finally gets it right. 

[GwillMac6 20,666]

5 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I agree Cristobal would have been a great pickup from Recruiting standpoint as we can see at Miami but there is a reason he didn't come here in the 1st place and that is why Auburn never gets a big name coach and that is because of things like JetGate and what we are seeing on the NIL front with the lack of support.  The big money men may have gotten better since JetGate but remember when Gus left there was the theory he was pushed out so their hand picked man Steele would come in. There was even talk that some on coaching staff helped sabotage Gus. By the way I don't believe any of the coaches sabotaged Gus but the fact that the boosters were pushing for Steele while Gus was here and the rumors about the sabotage existed would have given any big name coach second, third, and fourth thoughts about coming here.

At this point it doesn't even matter if the Steele story and the coaches sabotage story was not true the fact that these type stories continue popping up at Auburn is the story then you add what happened to Harsin in February why would any big name coach want to come here.

Like Harsin or don't like Harsin we need him to win this year and hopefully force the boosters to back him on the NIL front. Because if he does win and boosters still don't back NIL no coach will want to come here. If he loses and we dump him after only two years and the word is out that we did not back him with NIL then same thing no coach will want to come here.

I think I read we are on our 4th different NIL program as we never really got it right on the 1st three and with the majority of the 4 and 5 * players gone it may be to late for this year even if the 4th Version of NIL finally gets it right. 

To be fair Miami had their very own version of jet gate in how they got Mario. Difference is they didn’t care about the negative publicity once it got out to everyone and they pulled it off and got their guy in the end. They didn’t care about the few days of bad press that came with it. They got him for all the great recruiting buzz he has generated lately. No one is still talking about how they very publicly went after Mario even when they still hadn’t fired their current coach.

[dilligas 581]

5 hours ago, keesler said:

This staff isn’t heavily pursuing 3* guys right now, at least it doesn’t appear they are.  They’ve been after the higher ranked prospects and that’s not working out to Auburns advantage so far.  

Yes, it looks that way.  I trust their judgment as to whom they recruit.  We will see how it works out.

[Zeek 16,649]

On 10/12/2021 at 10:52 AM, Zeek said:

Quarterback (Need 1)

• 3* Jaxon Smolik | 6-2 200 | West Des Moines, IA | Tulane Commit
• 4* Rickie Collins | 6-2 190 | Baton Rouge, LA | Purdue Commit
• 4* JJ Kohl | 6-6 227 | Ankeny, IA | Iowa State Commit
• 4* Chris Parson | 6-0.5 200 | Brentwood, TN 
• 4* Emory Williams | 6-4.5 190 | Milton, FL | Miami Commit
• 4* Brock Glenn | 6-2 195 | Memphis, TN | FSU Lean

Running Back (1 Committed - Need 1 more)

• 4* Jeremiah Cobb | 5-11 190 | Manor, TX | Auburn Commit
• 4* Roderick Robinson II | 6-1 230 | San Diego, CA | UCLA Commit
• 3* Keyjuan Brown | 5-0 205 | Atlanta, GA | Purdue Commit
• 3* Sergio Snider | 5-10 185 | Arlington, TX | Nebraska Lean
• 3* Khalifa Keith | 6-2 217 | Birmingham, AL | Kentucky Commit

Wide Receiver (1 Committed - Need 2 more)

• 4* Karmello English | 5-11 175 | Phenix City, AL | Auburn Commit
• 3* Ja'Kobi Lane | 6-5 175 | Mesa, AZ 
• 4* William Fowles | 6-2 195 | Hialeah, FL
• 4* Daquayvious Sorey | 6-2 185 | Chipley, FL | Florida Lean
• 4* Malachi Riley | 6-2 178 | Corona, CA | Unclear who leads
• 3* Cayden Lee | 5-11 175 | Kennesaw, GA | Unclear who leads
• 3* Nakai Poole | 6-3 205 | Norcross, GA | Mississippi State Commit
• 3* Lamar Seymore | 6-0 175 | Miami, FL | Pitt Commit

Tight End (Need 1)

• 4* Jackson Bowers | 6-5 225 | Mesa, AZ | BYU Lean
• 3* Jackson Carver | 6-6 220 | Culver, IN | Miami Commit
• 3* Reid Mikeska | 6-5.5 233 | Cypress, TX | Miami Commit
• 3* Khamari Anderson | 6-4 225 | Detroit, MI | Cincinnati Commit
• 4* Brett Norfleet | 6-7 220 | Saint Charles, MO | Mizzou Commit
• 4* Jelani Thurman | 6-5 230 | Fairburn, GA | Ohio State Commit

Offensive Tackle (Need 2-3)

• 4* Bo Hughley | 6-7 290 | Fairburn, GA | Georgia Commit
• 3* Vysen Lang | 6-5 330 | Pike Road, AL | Arkansas Lean
• 4* DJ Chester | 6-5 300 | McDonough, GA | Auburn vs LSU vs FSU
• 4* Kelton Smith | 6-5 310 | Columbus, GA | Georgia Lean
• 3* Jatavius Shivers | 6-6 290 | Villa Rica, GA | Decommitted from Vandy
• 3* TJ Johnson
• 4* Zalance Heard | 6-5 300 | Monroe, LA | LSU Lean
• 4* Stanton Ramil | 6-7 310 | Alabaster, AL | Tennessee Lean
• 3* Naquil Betrand | 6-7 310 | Philadelphia, PA | Unknown who leads
• 3* Ian Geffrard | 6-6 350 | Mableton, GA | Arkansas Commit

Inside Offensive Line (1 Committed - Need 2 or 3 more)

• 4* Bradyn Joiner | 6-1 330 | Auburn, AL | Auburn Commit
• 3* Gernorris Wilson | 6-4.5 280 | Lakeland, FL | Unknown who leads
• 4* Clay Wedin | 6-6 295 | Tampa, FL | Michigan State Commit
• 3* RyQueze McElderry | 6-3 340 | Anniston, AL | Alabama Commit
• 3* Connor Lew | 6-3 280 | Acworth, GA | UGA vs AU vs Miami vs Clemson

Edge (Need 2-3)

• 5* Jaquavious Russaw | 6-2 230 | Montgomery, AL | UGA & Bama Lead
• 4* Gabriel Harris | 6-4 237 | Valdosta, GA | UGA Commit
• 5* Chandavian Bradley | 6-4.5 220 | Platte City, MO | Tenn Leads
• 4* Keldric Faulk | 6-5 240 | Highland Home, AL | FSU Commit
• 4* Wilky Denaud | 6-4 245 | Fort Pierce, FL | FSU Lean
• 4* Tausili Akana | 6-4 225 | Lehi, UT | Oklahoma Commit
• 4* Gabriel Harris | 6-4 237 | Valdosta, GA | UGA Commit
• 4* Rico Walker | 6-3 233 | Hickory, NC | UNC Leads
• 3* Ashley Williams | 6-4 215 | Zachary, LA | Nebraska Commit

Defensive Line (Need 3+)

• 5* James Smith | 6-4 310 | Montgomery, AL | Alabama & Georgia Lead
• Transfer: Derick Hunter | 6-4 285 | Texas A&M
• 4* Jordan Renaud | 6-3 245 | Tyler, TX | Unknown leader
• 4* Hunter Osborne | 6-3 250 | Trussville, AL | Clemson Lock
• 4* Jordan Hall | 6-4.5 300 | Jacksonville, FL | FSU Lean
• 4* Daevin Hobbs | 6-4 262 | Concord, NC | UNC Lean
• 4* Jamaal Jarrett | 6-6 350 | Greensboro, NC | UGA Lean
• 4* Rueben Bain | 6-2 250 | Miami, FL | Miami Lean
• 4* Darron Reed | 6-4 270 | Columbus, GA | LSU Commit
• 3* Joshua Horton | 6-5 290 | Fairburn, GA | Unknown Leader

Linebacker (Need 2)

• 3* Marcellius Pulliam | 6-3 215 | Tyrone, GA | Georgia Tech Leads
• 4* Troy Bowles | 6-1 205 | Tampa, FL | UGA Lean
• 4* Jaiden Ausberry | 6-0 205 | Baton Rouge, LA | ND vs AU
• 4* CJ Allen | 6-1 217 | Barnesville, GA | UGA Commit
• 4* Lewis Carter | 6-0 200 | Tampa, FL | Oklahoma vs UNC vs AU vs UCF
• 4* Dee Crayton | 6-2 215 | Alpharetta, GA | Clemson Commit
• 4* Stanquan Clark | 6-2 215 | Miami, FL | Miami Lean
• 3* Phil Picciotti | 6-3 225 | Perkasie, PA | Oklahoma Commit
• 3* Ethan Crisp | 6-3 205 | Mount Juliet, TN | Vandy Commit
• 3* Eric Muse | 6-0 195 | Birmingham, AL | Unknown Leader

Corner Back (Need 2)

• 3* Jacorious Hart | 6-2 175 | Auburn, AL | Auburn Lean
• 4* Ethan Nation | 5-11.5 165 | Roswell, GA | Unknown Leader
• 4* Ja'Keem Jackson | 6-1 180 | Kissimmee, FL | Florida Lean

Safety (Need 2)

• 4* Terrance Love | 6-3 195 | Fairburn, GA | Auburn Commit
• 4* Jaremiah Anglin Jr. | 6-1 184 | Lake Wales, FL | FSU Lean
• 4* Sylvester Smith | 5-11 195 | Munford, AL | Tennessee Commit
• 4* Cedrick Hawkins | 6-0 175 | Titusville, FL | Ohio State Commit
• 4* DaKaari Nelson | 6-3 203 | Selma, AL | Penn State Commit

 

Zeek's thoughts:

QB - Smolik is the guy right now. After a huge performance at the Elite 11 he is now a hot commodity.

RB - Cobb + someone else... still not clear who

WR - English + at least one more person... still not clear who

TE - we have four fallback plans all of which are committed elsewhere. It's going to be hard.

OL - Hughley, Joiner, Chester, Shivers, Johnson, Lang, and Wilson are the targets. We would take all the above at this point.

DL/Edge - I don't know why anyone is getting paid to recruit this position. Absolutely horrendous how much talent we have missed on...  no idea what the plan is here

LB - CRob is a good recruiter but he is getting absolutely waxed right now. We are losing all of our options here.

DB - Zac Etheridge gets a lot of love but he isn't doing great either... he is about to miss on Jackson and we have no other safety remotely interested. JC Hart SHOULD be a slam dunk...

 

Update... not a lot of nice things to say right now

[CR 2,442]

11 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Update... not a lot of nice things to say right now

I need a Jeffrey Lee/Pinkston update to remind me of all this momentum Harsin had in recruiting.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

It has been mentioned multiple times on this board teams that recruiting stars count. Teams that are top recruiters based on stars tend to be the teams in the top of the polls at the end of the season. Yes we have 3* and 2* star players in the pro's .  There are various reasons player was very skillful in HS but was to small then had a late growth spurt,  Player played a different Position in HS QB, WR was a good athlete with good height and wingspan but was not really fast enough for college WR or was a good HS QB but did not have the arm for College QB got to college and filled out their frame and became a LB or edge rusher.  

There is no way when scouting you can know which kid will have the growth spurt or be able to add weight and muscle and switch to a different position. There are also kids who didn't hit camps and played at small schools so didn't get exposure.  Better scouting might help you find a few more diamond in the rough types but won't get you enough to compete with the big boys.  

If you follow any of my posts it is pretty obvious I like Harsin and think he has been screwed a bit but I am also a realist and while I think he will do a great job developing players there are a lot of top teams that also will do a great job of developing players and there is no doubt that you can't develop any player beyond his physical and mental limits. By that I mean a 4* or 5* player usually is faster and bigger for the position he plays so can be developed to a higher limit then a slower smaller player. Also players who have show Football IQ in HS will get better in that aspect under proper coaching.

If we don't win games we are not expected to win this year we won't even be in top 30 in this class when all is said and done. Without better talent we will drop lower and lower in the SEC. Even if Harsin and coaching team are best developers in all of college ball.  They are good but not the best. We win 9 games this year we could end up between 15-20 in recruiting this year assuming we can get at least decent NIL support but should have a great 2024 class as it would he hard for the money guys through their businesses not find a way to help Auburn's NIL.