Rednilla

There were some highlights of him making hook shots later on, and there was one 3-pointer in there (stats say he was a 25% shooter from 3, though he didn't shoot that far away much). A lot of those dunks were putbacks, too, so he gets a board and a bucket.

Love to see the confidence out of him. Love that he's most looking forward to playing whoever has the best guards in the SEC so he can prove he's better.

I don't know, I think he looks at least adequate for the role we brought him in to play.

And he started 28 of 31 games? Was he the jump man on the tip-off and then play sparingly after? LOL, yeah, I think something is off with his minutes played.

Hopefully, we'll have a team full of shooters like those Harper/Brown years, too, and it certainly looks like we will. I think 23-24 is going to be a fun season of basketball for us.

You mean CHF and AU, right?

No, I was typing earlier and changed my mind, then decided to say it anyway, so I had to reform my thoughts.

This is another one of those moments when our head-to-head win resounded with such a THUNK! that the rest of college football was forced to pay attention. Latching onto a recruit of this magnitude in our own backyard and not letting the two-time reigning national champions have him puts everyone on notice that we won't be pushed around anymore. I haven't been keeping up as closely this cycle as I have some others in the past, but by my count, this is the second such ground-shaking recruiting moment we've had, along with Walker White.

Which point is proven? That high school kids change their minds? Unless you have actual evidence of Kirby orchestrating these things ahead of time, there is no proof of anything.

Oh, I can absolutely buy both Cain being the best player on the field at the camp *and* Freeze jumping on him right away. But 3.95 is laughable. To be clear, however, the shot wasn't intended for you, it was for whomever put out that number originally.

I'm just hoping he stays "1000% COMMITTED"...

If he ran a legitimate 3.95 40-yard dash then he would be running track for Team USA next summer. I don't believe that for a second. Don't believe anyone has ever run lower than a 4.2 on a laser. Unless they did like this one kid I went to high school with and ran a 50-yard dash but only timed the last 40 yards of it. He was surprised when I didn't just buy into his sub-4 second 40 time.

Well, it would have to be promotional for Auburn, of course, but headlines can get away with being corny as long as it's eye-catching. It might be groan-worthy, but again, that's almost to be expected in headlines sometimes.

You should do newspaper headlines. That's great!

Something tells me he's going to shoot up the recruiting boards before too long. Either that or we get a diamond in the rough. Only playing for a year? 4.40 speed? Top notch acceleration out of his cuts? Yes please!

The expectation he's given me, based on his time at Auburn, is that his recruiting classes usually have a likely NBA player coming from high school and key transfers (be they portal or JUCO). This year, Bruce shifted tactics because of the dynamics of the transfer portal and the likelihood that a freshman who isn't getting to play as much as he thinks he should is going to leave after that season. But he still got that likely NBA player out of high school in Aden Holloway and filled out the roster with shooters--something we've been short on the last couple of years (outside of Jabari, of course)--from the portal. He left off the developmental players from high school because of the aforementioned portal dynamics and instead filled out with a bunch of BruceBall prototypes who have already gotten post-high school experience. And just as important is that he still brought back a core of guys who have been here and been through the fires for continuity's sake. I admittedly wear orange and blue shades, but this really feels like it's shaping up to be a really, really good team.

Not getting nothing but flashy recruits isn't the same as settling. I think maybe we've gotten a wee bit spoiled by the success of the basketball program. I'm excited as hell about the lineup Bruce has put together.

Well he's not coming from the portal, exactly, he's coming from JUCO. And I'm not particularly concerned about it. At this point in the cycle, good rebounding/defense for a backup who probably won't even be the primary backup is fine. Especially considering how well he put the rest of the team together, I'm fine trusting that Bruce knows what he's doing and being excited that we finished filling out the roster.

I'd be more surprised if Holloway doesn't take over the starting position/minutes at some point this season than if he does. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the starter from the word go, though I don't really expect him to be. I do think Tre will begin the season as the starter and get at least half the minutes, I just don't know how long he'll maintain that position.

You put that way too mildly. Needs more longing, like this: Too much? (Sorry, I'm feeling silly today.)

I remember another tall, athletic receiver from the state of Alabama who was at the top of the recruiting rankings. He chose a coach who was just starting his tenure at a state institution, too. How sweet would it be for Cam Coleman to be our Julio Jones?

I've got Burton a lot higher than you do. And I'm with Bird on Battie needing to be higher, too; he's already proven he can take a beating as the primary RB. Can't argue with who you've got on top (the OL included), though, and it befuddles me that Thorne is rated as a 3-star transfer same as it does you. Guy threw for nearly 6,000 yards in the B1G over the last two seasons, one of which he was playing hurt. With Cam Brown, Burton, and Fairweather (with Mardner and Shorter as wildcards), we should have some pass catchers for him to throw to. I am constantly amazed at how quickly Freeze has assembled the pieces to be a solid football team. I still maintain that if we win 8 regular season games, call it a win, but I do think we're a dark horse contender for the West already.

With the recent pickup of Shorter, I realized I'd never actually come in and said anything about Burton, but this is my sleeper pick for the biggest portal addition other than Payton Thorne. I've got a sneaking suspicion he's going to make his mark at Auburn over the next couple of years. It might take him a few games to get his legs under him, but I really think he'll be a valuable weapon added to the arsenal by the end of the season. As of right now, I think it'll be between him and Cam Brown for the biggest WR threat, or perhaps the most consistent WR threat, considering Shorter looks geared up to be the big play guy.

My father is class of '72, though he did it in 6 years since he took every other quarter off to make money to pay for school (Dad was dirt poor growing up, but never took a loan for his education). Mom was given a PhT along with Dad's undergrad... Pushed husband Through. LOL Dad has told me some stories about Sullivan and Beasley. As great as they were, it's pretty sad that we haven't had several guys eclipsing their numbers since then, given the way football has been going. But, as someone mentioned, that's just the price you pay when you're in competition for being Running Back University. Then again, USC is on that list, too, and they've had some prolific passers in their history. Maybe CHF can bring our passing game into modern times without sacrificing our claim to being RBU.

That was really just another way to say 50/50...