2023 Recruiting Hot-Board

[bigbird 60,492]

Just now, gr82b4au said:

 

Well, that can't be right...

[Browning4AU 405]

59 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Well, that can't be right...

Blackerby also stated this on his podcast this evening. 

[Randman5000 4,226]

Demario Tolan. I want!

 

[Eagle-1 3,821]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

Well, that can't be right...

Wait, what?😁

[bigbird 60,492]

41 minutes ago, Browning4AU said:

Blackerby also stated this on his podcast this evening. 

 

[bigbird 60,492]

26 minutes ago, Eagle-1 said:

Wait, what?😁

I was torn. I first thought of this...

[toddc 13,194]

People keep saying CHF hasn’t been in the national discussion in a while and these kids don’t know who he is, but they all have Google and these transfers will do their homework. A wide receiver transfer who just visited said that’s exactly what he did. 
He also said CHF was really talking about Robbie Ashford and the confidence he had in bringing him around quickly. We are also killing it in the offensive line department and any transfer quarterback is going to see that and hopefully it will open up some options for us. We just need to be patient and let Freeze work his magic 🪄. I’m starting to actually let myself be excited about football again and I wasn’t sure that was even possible this year.

War Eagle 🦅 lets go baby!

[Shadow Tiger 1,291]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

Well, that can't be right...

Amazing what happens in recruiting when you actually give a d@%n (Harsin) and competent (Malzahn).

[DAG 33,976]

6 hours ago, toddc said:

People keep saying CHF hasn’t been in the national discussion in a while and these kids don’t know who he is, but they all have Google and these transfers will do their homework. A wide receiver transfer who just visited said that’s exactly what he did. 
He also said CHF was really talking about Robbie Ashford and the confidence he had in bringing him around quickly. We are also killing it in the offensive line department and any transfer quarterback is going to see that and hopefully it will open up some options for us. We just need to be patient and let Freeze work his magic 🪄. I’m starting to actually let myself be excited about football again and I wasn’t sure that was even possible this year.

War Eagle 🦅 lets go baby!

Great post. Patience is a virtue and many here do not have it. Also validates that this QB thing is a thorn on our side. As much as I trust CHF and doing this, I hope we can get either Sanders or the UVA QB to commit this weekend.

[HAPvsOA 283]

13 hours ago, toddc said:

People keep saying CHF hasn’t been in the national discussion in a while and these kids don’t know who he is, but they all have Google and these transfers will do their homework. A wide receiver transfer who just visited said that’s exactly what he did. 
He also said CHF was really talking about Robbie Ashford and the confidence he had in bringing him around quickly. We are also killing it in the offensive line department and any transfer quarterback is going to see that and hopefully it will open up some options for us. We just need to be patient and let Freeze work his magic 🪄. I’m starting to actually let myself be excited about football again and I wasn’t sure that was even possible this year.

War Eagle 🦅 lets go baby!

I want to get excited, but then see that our top transfer doesn't show up until no. 42 on this list and still wonder what is going on (given our need, potential for playing time, NIL war chest, facilities, etc.).  https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/TransferPortalTop/

I know we have a new staff, but I felt a lot of concern when Hugh Freeze was hired and wonder if some recruits and parents still feel the same. 

I think next year we will have a lot of growing pains, but hopefully this years class will provide the beginning of a foundation with next year being when things start to improve whether or not CHF is the long term answer or not. 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by HAPvsOA

[AUApostle 7,651]

14 minutes ago, HAPvsOA said:

I want to get excited, but then see that our top transfer doesn't show up until no. 42 on this list and still wonder what is going on (given our need, potential for playing time, NIL war chest, facilities, etc.).  https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/TransferPortalTop/

I know we have a new staff, but I felt a lot of concern when Hugh Freeze was hired and wonder if some recruits and parents still feel the same. 

I think next year we will have a lot of growing pains, but hopefully this years class will provide the beginning of a foundation with next year being when things start to improve whether or not CHF is the long term answer or not. 

 

I don't know how you begin to rank these guys...there's too many variables from experience, to previous HS ranking, to time left available, to team needs.  If you look at the rankings on that list alone...the point values assigned are generic and can range 30 ranking spots (a 0.91 athlete for example).  And then look at rankings between different sites and it appears a player can be trash on 247, but all conference caliber on On3.

Hugh has gotten 4 portal guys so far, plus encouraging 2 or 3 current AU players to stay.  We're limited with what NIL funds are available but have over a dozen spots left to fill.  There's a long way to go over the next few months...best to hold off judging him until the summer.

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

On 1/5/2023 at 11:33 AM, W.E.D said:

There is a dead period for transfer players from the 9th until the 13th, which eliminates the next weekend.

This is the last weekend to get kids on campus before they have to enroll.  Only work around is if we can stretch the academic deadline of 1/18 and get kids here that week of MLK and enrolled quickly after.  Probably unlikely 

Ok well the 18th is the deadline.  The portal closes on the 18th and won't open until sometime in Spring.  Doesn't matter about work arounds, etc.  The portal will be closed. Once that happens then transfers are off until it opens back up.  Doesn't matter what AU can do or not due past the 18th.  The person has to commit and start the transfer on or before the 18th.

[HAPvsOA 283]

1 minute ago, AUDevil said:

I don't know how you begin to rank these guys...there's too many variables from experience, to previous HS ranking, to time left available, to team needs.  If you look at the rankings on that list alone...the point values assigned are generic and can range 30 ranking spots (a 0.91 athlete for example).  And then look at rankings between different sites and it appears a player can be trash on 247, but all conference caliber on On3.

Hugh has gotten 4 portal guys so far, plus encouraging 2 or 3 current AU players to stay.  We're limited with what NIL funds are available but have over a dozen spots left to fill.  There's a long way to go over the next few months...best to hold off judging him until the summer.

That's fair on the rankings and I am excited about many of our commitments. We're rebuilding with a decent foundation, which is great. But let's keep things in perspective. Many our top transfer targets (QB, RB, OT, Edge and RB) have committed elsewhere with several going to lower tier programs. Obviously CHF is doing way better than CBH, but we're not a top choice even with our playing time, "offensive guru coach", facilities, NIL war chest, etc. So I don't understand how excited everyone is getting based on what has happened thus far. It's just that CBH was horrendous as a recruiter, so anything looks good compared to that.  

[TexasTiger 12,829]

26 minutes ago, HAPvsOA said:

I want to get excited, but then see that our top transfer doesn't show up until no. 42 on this list and still wonder what is going on (given our need, potential for playing time, NIL war chest, facilities, etc.).  https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/TransferPortalTop/

I know we have a new staff, but I felt a lot of concern when Hugh Freeze was hired and wonder if some recruits and parents still feel the same. 

I think next year we will have a lot of growing pains, but hopefully this years class will provide the beginning of a foundation with next year being when things start to improve whether or not CHF is the long term answer or not. 

 

Yeah, I don’t get the notion that he’s somehow put to rest any concern about top recruits wanting to play for him. He’s hustled and had a great save on what was looking to be a crappy recruiting class, but the portal rankings thus far are hardly stellar. He may yet knock it out of the park next year and sign some more guys in positions of need this year, but whether he can recruit the players necessary to play for championships is still unknown.

[AUApostle 7,651]

2 minutes ago, HAPvsOA said:

That's fair on the rankings and I am excited about many of our commitments. We're rebuilding with a decent foundation, which is great. But let's keep things in perspective. Many our top transfer targets (QB, RB, OT, Edge and RB) have committed elsewhere with several going to lower tier programs. Obviously CHF is doing way better than CBH, but we're not a top choice even with our playing time, "offensive guru coach", facilities, NIL war chest, etc. So I don't understand how excited everyone is getting based on what has happened thus far. It's just that CBH was horrendous as a recruiter, so anything looks good compared to that.  

What's getting revealed is that the NIL war chest isn't as deep as what we believed...a big part of that is we have to bring in a lot of bodies, so that money (and time) is spread thin.  I think we'll make some big progress this weekend, and then I expect some progress after the Spring game generates some excitement (might get more donations flowing in too).

[DAG 33,976]

You just can't make people happy in here it seems. WE ARE IN A REBUILD. The fact that we went from 50s to 20s in a three week period disprove some of the notion above. You are not going to get caliber championship players on the roster until you get on the field and prove their is a change. To think in a two month period, you are going to have this 180 in terms of championship caliber recruits is just silly.

[e808 3,025]

Just now, DAG said:

You just can't make people happy in here it seems. WE ARE IN A REBUILD. The fact that we went from 50s to 20s in a three week period disprove some of the notion above. You are not going to get caliber championship players on the roster until you get on the field and prove their is a change. To think in a two month period, you are going to have this 180 in terms of championship caliber recruits is just silly.

U took the words right out of my mouth. Auburn has had back to back losing seasons and are competing with teams that have done much better as of late. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

17 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

What's getting revealed is that the NIL war chest isn't as deep as what we believed...a big part of that is we have to bring in a lot of bodies, so that money (and time) is spread thin.  I think we'll make some big progress this weekend, and then I expect some progress after the Spring game generates some excitement (might get more donations flowing in too).

On early signing day a reporter asked Freeze how much NIL and our new football facility was helping in recruiting. He said fans need to realize that every school has NIL and that the top programs in the SEC and other conferences are VERY organized and have figured NIL out quicker than other schools. In a roundabout way he says that our NIL isn't on par yet and that Auburn didn't get ahead in the game like Texas A&M, Texas and others have. Schools like Ole Miss ponied up the money as soon as Kiffin told them that their NIL program wasn't cutting it. I'm not sure what it is now but when we were talking to Kiffin, Ole Miss got their NIL funds on par to ours.

Freeze also stated that our new football facility really doesn't help recruiting for this year because it was opened so late into the recruiting cycle but he said next year and beyond will really tell us if the facility will help recruiting. I feel that it puts us on par with other schools but really not a big boost to recruiting like many think it will. We have been behind for years on our facilities and its hurt us in recruiting. The facility is awesome and each school has to have them now but I don't think it puts us in a league of our own. It just puts us on an even playing field as far as the facility is concerned. Like everything else, if Auburn wins games then the recruits will follow. 

[HAPvsOA 283]

31 minutes ago, DAG said:

You just can't make people happy in here it seems. WE ARE IN A REBUILD. The fact that we went from 50s to 20s in a three week period disprove some of the notion above. You are not going to get caliber championship players on the roster until you get on the field and prove their is a change. To think in a two month period, you are going to have this 180 in terms of championship caliber recruits is just silly.

If this is directed at my comments, then you misunderstood what I was trying to say. My point, which was probably communicated better in other threads, was exactly that "WE ARE IN A REBUILD." I was not suggesting that we would or should get a 180 type season quickly, just that it's going to be rough next year if we don't bring in some of the top transfer targets and most of them are already committed elsewhere. Sure, things are on the upswing, but I don't understand the excitement of getting commits from players that wouldn't start on 3/4's of the other SEC teams. Sure it's better than Harsin and it's commendable given the circumstances that our current staff is having to maneuver. But it's not high level recruiting yet either that will create a "180 type season." Mainly I am just trying to temper my own expectations by processing it in this forum, I suppose. 

Note: Although, AU is actually traveling near to where I live this year, so I am totally going to go watch them play and will totally be excited by then I'm sure. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by HAPvsOA

[DAG 33,976]

1 minute ago, HAPvsOA said:

If this is directed at my comments, then you misunderstood what I was trying to say. My point, which was probably communicated better in other threads, was exactly that "WE ARE IN A REBUILD." I was not suggesting that we would get a 180 quickly, just that it's going to be rough next year if we don't bring in some of the top transfer targets and most of them are already committed elsewhere. Sure, things are on the upswing, but I don't understand the excitement of getting commits from players that wouldn't start on 3/4's of the other SEC teams. Sure it's better than Harsin and it was amazing given the circumstances that our current staff had to maneuver. But it's not high level recruiting yet either that will create a "180 type season." Mainly I am just trying to temper my own expectations by processing it in their forum, I suppose. 

Note: Although, AU is actually traveling near to where I live this year, so I am totally going to go watch them play and will totally be excited by then I'm sure. 

I don't think it is going to be a "rough" year. I also don't think it is going to be some lighting in a bottle type of year either. And the excitement stems from some positivity that we had zero of last year, particularly towards the very end. Have your opinion, I am all for it. I just disagree.

[aucom96 1,618]

2 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

On early signing day a reporter asked Freeze how much NIL and our new football facility was helping in recruiting. He said fans need to realize that every school has NIL and that the top programs in the SEC and other conferences are VERY organized and have figured NIL out quicker than other schools. In a roundabout way he says that our NIL isn't on par yet and that Auburn didn't get ahead in the game like Texas A&M, Texas and others have. Schools like Ole Miss ponied up the money as soon as Kiffin told them that their NIL program wasn't cutting it. I'm not sure what it is now but when we were talking to Kiffin, Ole Miss got their NIL funds on par to ours.

It's all about NIL and getting to the pros. NIL is going to quickly separate the wealthy programs from the rest. I worry we may be "the rest". It's one of many reasons I despise NIL and suspect it will result in a significant diminishment of college football. As far as the pros, Auburn's track record there has been pretty abysmal since Gus was hired as HC. Throw in that we've fired two coaches in three years and our current coach was considered practically untouchable in the P5 before we hired him and Freeze has some pretty large challenges in front of him. I think he's doing much better than I expected so far, but I still think this upcoming season is going to be rough.  

[TeamZero77 1,784]

41 minutes ago, e808 said:

U took the words right out of my mouth. Auburn has had back to back losing seasons and are competing with teams that have done much better as of late. 

Totally agree!!! Auburn hasn't won more than 6 games in a season in 4 years. To be where we are currently, with a brand new staff, is VERY promising.

Just to compare where we are, go look at signing day and where Auburn ended up compared to other schools that hired new coaches and staffs. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, Colorado, Louisville, Purdue. We not only finished ahead of those schools, we killed those schools in recruiting. That's really all we have to measure against so far is the Power 5 schools that were hiring new staffs. Also, Nebraska and Wisconsin named their coaches before we did. 

To expect us to be top 5 or top 10 is setting yourself up for disappointment. Go check where Florida or LSU wound up on last years early signing day as well because they had also just hired new staffs. Or where Tennessee wound up when Heupel was first hired. By next month's signing day we have an excellent chance to finish top 15 in the national rankings and if we're all being honest, we would've taken that everyday of the week and twice on sunday when Freeze was hired. WDE

Edited January 6, 2023 by TeamZero77

[DAG 33,976]

2 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

Totally agree!!! Auburn hasn't won more than 6 games in a season in 4 years. To be where we are currently, with a brand new staff, is VERY promising.

Just to compare where we are, go look at signing day and where Auburn ended up compared to other schools that hired new coaches and staffs. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, Colorado, Louisville, Purdue. We not only finished ahead of those schools, we killed those schools in recruiting. That's really all we have to measure against so far is the Power 5 schools that were hiring new staffs. Also, Nebraska and Wisconsin named their coaches before we did. 

To expect us to be top 5 or top 10 is setting yourself up for disappointment. Go check where Florida, Tennessee or LSU wound up on last years early signing day as well because they had also just hired new staffs. By next month's signing day we have an excellent chance to finish top 15 in the national rankings and if we're all being honest, we would've taken that everyday of the week and twice on sunday when Freeze was hired. WDE

The key is baby steps. Perspective: Just a few months ago, we thought it was mystical to get a offensive line recruit, particularly in HS. Now we have seen an uptick in that and we have even potentially more after the weekend. But now that is not good enough, because we need guys that other SEC schools covet.

It is like what NS was saying last year..before he got to Bama, they just wanted to win football games consistently. Now if they don't win a NC every year, they are upset. Some fans just will not be content, even for the slightest of moments. Let's wait till after this weekend before we start overly criticizing. Things have yet to fully play out.

[TigerVII 108]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

Let's wait till after this weekend before we start overly criticizing. Things have yet to fully play out.

Things are trending in the right direction after five years of being lost in the wilderness.  The 2019 Iron Bowl is the only consolation from that period.  I believe we'll have a lot more "positive" posts on this board by Monday.

[AEAugirl 9,632]

Nice little podcast if you need to be brought up to speed on the recent portal visitors and where Auburn stands with them.  Sounds like we are in a really good place with Tolan right now. 

Sounds like he is going to do this pretty often at least when there is something going on regarding recruiting.  

https://247sports.com/college/auburn/Article/auburn-football-transfers-offensive-line-202245195/