aubiefifty

al.com Former Auburn WR Ja’Varrius Johnson reportedly commits to UCF Published: May. 14, 2024, 3:08 p.m. ~3 minutes Auburn wide receiver Ja'Varrius Johnson (6) grabs a pass and takes it in for a touchdown against Alabama during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)AP Former Auburn wide receiver Ja’Varrius Johnson committed to transfer to UCF, according to reports from On3. At UCF, Johnson will be reunited with former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn who originally recruited him to Auburn. Former Auburn staffer Trovon Reed now coaches the secondary at UCF, as well. It is Johnson’s final year of eligibility. Johnson entered the transfer portal in December after two consecutive seasons of having the most receiving yards among Auburn wide receivers. The Hewitt-Trussville product totaled over 1,110 receiving yards over 34 games in the last three seasons. At the time, he was the biggest name in a wide receiver exodus from Auburn with large changes impending. During the spring transfer window, Jay Fair — who was the only other wide receiver along with Johnson — also left Auburn and transferred to USC. Other receivers who transferred out of Auburn include Omari Kelly, Jyaire Shorter and Malcolm Johnson Jr. Auburn’s overall leading pass catcher, tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, will return to the team in 2024. Auburn overhauled its wide receiver room during the offseason bringing in the highest-rated group of high school receivers in program history led by five-star recruit Cam Coleman. It also added receivers out of the transfer portal including 2023 Penn State leading receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Georgia State receiver Robert Lewis and former Cal quarterback Sam Jackson V. Head coach Hugh Freeze is banking on the several new pass-catching faces making for a significant change to the SEC’s statistically worst passing offense in 2023. Quarterback Payton Thorne is on track to remain the starter in 2024. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

auburntigers.com Mary Meneely returns to Auburn equestrian coaching staff Auburn University Athletics 3–4 minutes AUBURN, Ala. – Mary Meneely will return to the Auburn equestrian coaching staff as associate head coach and will serve as Western coach once again, head coach Jessica Braswell announced. "I'm excited to welcome Coach Meneely back to the Plains," Braswell said. "Her success at the college level and in the industry speaks for itself. Coach Meneely has a passion to lead young women in and out of the arena. She has great familiarity with our roster and will be ready to hit the ground running. We have a goal of winning championships and Coach Meneely is going to help us continue that tradition." Meneely will replace Taylor Searles as the team's Western coach. Searles recently stepped down to pursue other opportunities. "Returning to Auburn and coaching collegiately feels like coming home," Meneely said. "Every moment is an opportunity to inspire and mold the next generation of athletes into champions both on and off the field. Auburn is an extraordinary community that only a select few have the privilege to encounter. I'm grateful to athletics director John Cohen, executive deputy athletics director Rich McGlynn, sport administrator McRae Clay, head coach Jessica Braswell and head coach emeritus Greg Williams for this opportunity and I'm eager to uphold our winning tradition! War Eagle!" Meneely was on the Auburn staff for seven seasons from 2015-16 through 2021-22. While at Auburn, she helped the Tigers win three national titles (2016, 2018, 2019) and five Southeastern Conference championships (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). Meneely coached her student-athletes to 31 NCEA All-America honors. She guided Searles to two NCEA Horsemanship Rider of the Year honors (2019, 2022) as well as Deanna Green to the same award in 2020. At the conference level, Meneely coached her riders to eight SEC Rider of the Year honors – five in Horsemanship and three in Reining. Her student-athletes totaled 15 All-SEC recognitions in Horsemanship and 11 in Reining and she had eight SEC Freshman Riders of the Year during her time on the Plains. In addition, Meneely was a part of the Auburn staff that led the team to two undefeated seasons – 2018-19 and 2019-20. During her two years away from the Plains, Meneely ran Coach Mary Meneely Consulting. The program provided mentoring and expert guidance to youth riders looking to compete in college by delivering top-tier coaching, clinics and lessons. Prior to her first stint with Auburn, she was a member of the Georgia equestrian coaching staff. She was first named assistant coach in 2010 and was promoted to associate head coach in March 2013. With the Bulldogs, she helped the program win two national championships and three reserve national championships.

al.com Who are Auburn’s opponents for the 2024-25 SEC basketball season? Updated: May. 13, 2024, 2:13 p.m.|Published: May. 13, 2024, 2:08 p.m. 3–4 minutes Highlights from Auburn's 86-67 win over Florida to claim 2024 SEC Tournament title #wareagle #auburn Auburn men’s basketball will face SEC newcomers Texas and Oklahoma once each, as Auburn’s opponents for the 2024-25 basketball season were announced Monday by the SEC. Below is the full list of Auburn’s opponents: Home & Away: Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia Home: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi State Away: Kentucky, LSU, Vanderbilt, Texas, Texas A&M, South Carolina No dates for the games have been announced. Those will likely come closer to the fall. SEC play will begin on Jan. 4, 2025, and end on March 8. “Each SEC team plays the other 15 teams at least once during league play,” the SEC wrote in a press release. “Three teams will be played a second time during the schedule – two which are permanent opponents and one that will change each year. The continuation and renewal of historic rivalries was a point of emphasis when creating the schedule as the SEC welcomes Oklahoma and Texas as new members in 2024-25. Additionally, preexisting home-and-away rotations for single-play opponents were preserved.” In its history, Auburn has played the two SEC newcomers five total times. Auburn’s first faced Texas in 1911 in Auburn. Auburn won 45-27. Auburn lost to Texas in 1955, also played in Auburn. Auburn has faced Oklahoma three times and won twice. Auburn won 78-70 in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1978. It then lost to Oklahoma 107-87 in Atlanta in 1988 during the second round of that year’s NCAA Tournament. The two didn’t play again until 2022 when Auburn won 86-68 at Neville Arena. Jabari Smith led Auburn with 23 points and 12 rebounds in that game. Auburn has high expectations entering this season with the return of star center Johni Broome for his final year of eligibility. Auburn convinced him to return to Auburn in lieu of pursuing the NBA Draft. Auburn has also added JP Pegues, a transfer point guard from Furman and former All-SoCon player who scored more than 18 points per game last season. His arrival helps offset the transfer departures of Tre Donaldson, Aden Holloway and K.D. Johnson. Auburn also is adding incoming freshman five-star guard Tahaad Pettiford. It is still searching for another guard and another forward in the transfer portal to fill its remaining open scholarship spots. Last season, Auburn went 13-5 in the SEC and got the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. Auburn went on to win the SEC Tournament, its fourth overall SEC title under head coach Bruce Pearl. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

al.com Auburn roster update shows Carter Sobera not returning, newcomer numbers Updated: May. 14, 2024, 5:44 p.m.|Published: May. 14, 2024, 5:33 p.m. 3–4 minutes Carter Sobera during the game between the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers and the #15 Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2022. Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers An Auburn basketball online roster update showed former walk-on guard Carter Sobera who earned a scholarship last season will not return to Auburn for his final year of eligibility, as well as now displaying the jersey numbers for several newcomers and one number change. In the locker room after Auburn’s season-ending loss to Yale in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Sobera told AL.com that he had not yet decided if he would come back. Sobera has now completed his senior year after spending his three years as a walk-on and earning a scholarship in January during the 2023-24 season in a postgame locker room surprise. Sobera played in 15 games this season, but did not score. The Mountain Brook High School product was teammates in high school and college with guard Lior Berman, who exhausted his eligibility this year after also earning a scholarship as a former walk-on. In the transfer portal, Auburn is still trying to fill two scholarship spots. Sobera technically opens up a third, but precedent shows head coach Bruce Pearl isn’t certain to fill it. Auburn managed to bring back several key players who were making decisions including Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell and Chris Moore. Auburn lost three guards to the transfer portal: Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson and K.D. Johnson. It replaced two of them in incoming freshman Tahaad Pettiford and Furman transfer JP Pegues. The new numbers and number changes are as follows. Senior guard Denver Jones is changing from No. 12 to No. 2. Jones is the only returning player changing his number Freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford will wear No. 0 Furman transfer guard JP Pegues will wear No. 1 Freshman forward Jahki Howard will wear No. 3 Jaylin Williams previously wore No. 2 but departed Auburn after this season as he exhausted his eligibility. Williams is the all-time winningest player in Auburn’s history. K.D. Johnson wore No. 0 last season. Aden Holloway wore No. 1. Tre Donaldson wore No. 3. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

al.com Goodman: It’s time for Major League Baseball to help right a wrong Updated: May. 15, 2024, 8:12 a.m.|Published: May. 15, 2024, 7:55 a.m. 6–7 minutes This is an opinion column. _____________________ Major League Baseball has a perfect opportunity to help right a wrong. Artie Wilson, one of the greatest baseball players in the history of Alabama, isn’t in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and it feels like a major oversight. Why is it so important that Major League Baseball is coming to Birmingham, Alabama, to honor the Negro Leagues? One of the reasons is because forgotten players like Wilson deserve to be properly recognized for contributions to the history of the game. Wilson’s story has been lost to time and it’s been an ongoing crusade of mine to help him reach Cooperstown. There isn’t a single player in the National Baseball Hall of Fame who’s primary team is the Birmingham Black Barons. Wilson should be the one. Most baseball fans have never heard of Artie Wilson and that’s a shame. During the 1940s, he was the best shortstop in the Negro Leagues. Wilson played for the Birmingham Black Barons from 1942 to 1948. Wilson’s career batting average with the Barons of .374 soars above the game. Ty Cobb, credited with the highest career average in baseball history, hit .366. Wilson’s career batting average in the Big Leagues is .367. After his prime years with the Black Barons, Wilson played sparingly during part of one season for the New York Giants, but he never truly received an opportunity to break through in MLB. But it’s not Artie’s fault that America was a segregated country during his playing days. Put Artie in the Hall. Major League Baseball is descending upon Birmingham this summer. The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are playing at Rickwood Field on June 20. For baseball, it’s going to be the signature moment of the season. Outside of Talladega, it’s arguably the biggest professional sporting event in the state of Alabama since the 1948 Negro League World Series. This is the perfect time for Major League Baseball to amplify Artie’s story and give him proper recognition all these years later. We haven’t talked enough about Birmingham’s Industrial Leagues leading up to MLB at Rickwood: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues. A hundred years ago, factories and mills in Birmingham had semi-pro baseball teams. There were dozens around town and they all served as a feeder system for the Negro Leagues. Willie Mays, Sr., played in the Industrial Leagues with Piper Davis, the future manager of the Birmingham Black Barons. It was Davis who gave 17-year-old Willie Mays, Jr., his big break in 1948. But Mays wasn’t the star of that famed Black Barons team that played in the final Negro League World Series. The superstar back then was Wilson. Let the record show that Ted Williams was not the last Major League Baseball player to hit over .400 in a season. Wilson hit .433 in 1948 for the Birmingham Black Barons. And yet he’s not in Cooperstown. It’s a high crime of American sporting history that Arthur Lee Wilson of Springville, Alabama, isn’t in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Life’s a Process: Nick Saban finds frisky business at the airport Goodman: What does Nick Saban really think about Alabama? Goodman: Inside the ‘insane’ offers for high-value transfers Life’s a Process: Nick Saban gets visit from neighborhood bandit Goodman: Will receiver Isaiah Bond regret leaving Alabama for Texas? Stunningly, Wilson isn’t even in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. It just goes to show how the Negro Leageus have been lost to time and how the selective preservation of American history is obscured by the complicated legacy of racial discrimination. An opposite-field hitter, Wilson hit left and threw right. He had a career batting average of .438 in the Industrial Leagues before signing with the Black Barons in 1943. He’s now recognized as the Negro Leagues rookie of the year for that season. Wilson was a seven-time All-Star in Negro Leagues, and back then being selected as an All-Star was the highest honor in the game. Hall of Famer Monte Irvin called Wilson a superstar before the term was invented. Most amazingly, Wilson had a Hall of Fame-worthy career despite losing part of his thumb in a factory accident when he was 19 years old. He still hit .398 in the Industrial League that season. Wilson played for ACIPCO, or American Cast Iron and Pipe Company. ACIPCO was the New York Yankees of the Industrial League. Wilson hit .559 in his final season for ACIPCO. Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. After the 1948 season, it seemed like Wilson was headed for Major League Baseball. The Cleveland Indians wanted Wilson badly but a contract dispute with the Yankees kept Wilson in the minor leagues. After winning the batting title in the Pacific Coast League, Wilson played with the New York Giants for part of the 1951 season. He was then 30 years old, and was never given a real chance. He was optioned back to the minors when his former Black Barons teammate, Willie Mays, was called up. There was an unspoken quota at the time in Major League Baseball. The Giants could only have four black players and Wilson made five. Wilson’s greatest years were in Birmingham, and it is as a Birmingham Black Baron he should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. SOUND OFF Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything. Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”

247sports.com Auburn mens golf in second heading into final day of regional play Jason Caldwell 10–13 minutes Auburn trails Virginia heading into the final round on Wednesday. On a day when The University Club course again played difficult, the No. 1 Auburn Tigers got a strong finish from Brendan Valdes to cap off a round of 289 (+1) as Nick Clinard's team is in second place after 36 holes at the Baton Rouge Regional. Virginia leads the way at -6 overall with Auburn in second at -1 overall. Making a birdie on his first hold, Valdes had bogeys on six and seven to make the turn at one-over par on Tuesday. The second nine was a different story as he made birdies on 11 and 12 to get back under par. Another birdie on 16 moved him to three-under for the day before giving a shot back on 17. Finishing things off in style, Valdes birdied the difficult 18th to get some momentum heading into the final round. Freshman Jackson Koivin had a round of 73 as did Carson Bacha, while freshman Josiah Gilbert's day was a tale of two nines. Playing well on the front nine, he made the turn at two-under but four-over on his final nine holes to finish the day with a 74. J.M. Butler's 77 rounded out the day for Auburn. Texas Tech is in third place, trailing Auburn by four shots following a round of 287 on Tuesday. Duke (+6), Ohio State (+7) LSU (+8) and Houston (+9) round out the top seven. Oregon and South Carolina are next at +15 with Lipscomb rounding out the top 10 at +16. The top five teams after 54 holes will advance to the NCAA Championships May 24-29 at the Omni La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California.

247sports.com For Freezes rosterbuilding retention is as important as recruiting Nathan King 5–6 minutes This past December was arguably the biggest month of Hugh Freeze's Auburn tenure thus far, as he and his staff inked a top-10 recruiting class and set an elite foundation to what Freeze believes can be a successful roster rebuild. Around that same time of year in 2024, though, will be just as important. The Tigers get their first look at a number of highly anticipated freshmen this fall, and their introductions to the program figure to be exciting for a team that could use some added juice — especially on offense. As exciting as those players could be in their first seasons, Freeze wants to make sure he has them for a second, third and maybe fourth season, too. "This following December, when all those top guys I signed get all those calls, do relationships still matter?" Freeze said on The Paul Finebaum Show. "Will it stand the test of the storm when it comes? I don't know the answer to that yet." Those calls, of course, come from the transfer portal, where tampering is at an all-time high in college football. It's on display wherever you look, with a player hitting the portal, and within minutes, reporters immediately sharing the most likely landing spots. Contact outside of the transfer portal is prohibited for coaches, of course, but third-party channels such as family members, friends and "NIL agents" run rampant and unregulated. And there's no way to avoid it. A flashy 2024 campaign for, say, 5-star receiver Cam Coleman or 5-star defensive lineman Amaris Williams will bring eyeballs from across the country, and other programs will speculate what they could do with that kind of talent, too. And if a freshman doesn't play much in Year 1, the pitch is that he could do so at another school. When Freeze talks about his shiny 2024, he isn't just envisioning their freshman seasons. He sees Coleman or quarterback-of-the-future Walker White winning an SEC title in a few years. However, Auburn's success this fall could depend heavily on the impact from that freshman class. Freeze took over a depleted roster and has restocked it over the past 17 months, and a large chunk of that talent hails from the 2024 class. Finding that fine line between pressure and development is key, but the fact that so many of those youngsters got practice reps in the spring as early enrollees is big. "We had 18 of those guys on campus in spring ball," Freeze said. "I'm really excited about their future. Now, how quick can they translate into this league as freshmen? I don't know, we'll see. But I know we've made ourselves better." Freeze has maintained from the start of his Auburn tenure that his roster-building tactics were going to lean a bit more traditional — in that he'd prefer not to go portal-heavy every single offseason. Still, the Tigers have signed 14 transfers this cycle, after 20 last year. Freeze would like those numbers to dwindle as he remakes the roster to his liking, but the portal isn't going away anytime soon. Building from the high-school level, though, is Freeze's vision for Auburn to return to SEC contention by way of a strong talent base. Retooling a roster through the portal isn't a faulty method, either, as shown by the recent success of programs like Ole Miss. "Does my way work?" Freeze said. "I was very vocal: I'm going to recruit high-school kids. Obviously you've got to go to the portal some. But I didn't chase a lot of portal guys in December." But for Freeze and his vision, retention is almost just as important as recruiting. Stacking talented classes — still with the majority of their parts intact — is key. Auburn's recruiting talent was lacking under Bryan Harsin, but it was just three years ago that the Tigers' 2021 class had an abysmal retention rate, with only one signee (running back Jarquez Hunter) remaining from that entire group. Auburn's improvement on the recruiting front is what Freeze can latch onto this offseason. How many wins that will translate into for 2024 remains to be seen. Freeze knows there needs to be improvement, especially after a sour finish to last season's 6-7 campaign. But in his conversations with Auburn's main movers and shakers, he shared there is strong optimism about the program's direction. "Our administration knows where we were," Freeze said. "They know and see what we've done and are doing. We're already recruiting really well in the '25 cycle. But it takes time to build." *** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more *** *** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***

si.com Auburn Is In Position For Another Great Defensive Line Recruiting Class Brian Smith 2–3 minutes Auburn’s 2025 recruiting class holds three verbal commitments from top defensive line recruits. Among them are defensive end Jakaleb Faulk from Highland Home (Ala.) High School, defensive tackle Malik Autry from Opelika (Ala.) High School, and defensive tackle Jourdin Crawford from Birmingham (Ala.) Parker. Looking at Rivals’ national recruiting rankings, all four of them are 4-star recruits. There’s more good news for the Tigers and their fans. Each of these young men hails from inside the Yellowhammer State. That means beating out Alabama for top defensive line targets, arguably as tough as it gets in the college football recruiting world. There’s also stacking back-to-back top defensive line classes. Auburn’s 2024 recruiting haul is quite impressive along the defensive trenches, so adding at least three more top-notch players would be a coup for Hugh Freeze and the Tigers. There’s still more. It’s just May 13. With top recruits like Enterprise (Ala.) edge defender Zion Grady, Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson defensive end Jared Smith, Warner Robins (Ga.) High School edge defender Isaiah Gibson, Manchester (Ga.) High School defensive lineman Justus Terry, Savannah (Ga.) edge defender Herbert Scroggins, Savannah (Ga.) Calvary Day defensive tackle Walter Mathis, and Saraland (Ala.) defensive tackle Antonio Coleman are all in the mix with the Tigers, among others. This group could aid Auburn’s 2025 defensive line haul to become top-five nationally. The key here would be the official visits. Several of these recruits will trek to Auburn for their official visits between May 31 and June 21. One should expect college decisions to be made before June concludes and if not then by early July, for most of these prospects. If the Tigers can win just one or two more defensive line recruiting battles, the days of playing catch up to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and the like with defensive line recruiting will soon be over. That would be huge for the Tigers as they rebuild their roster to compete for SEC titles and more.

guys i am not looking for sympathy. yesterday i posted an article in the wrong place and i did not have a buzz. so i expect to miss some and i just want you guys to understand.

if he is a crook then lock him up! i have no respect for crooked dems either.lets take up donations to buy him some vaseline because he might need it.

we are badass..............just think how much better we would be with golf coaching.

cullmantribune.com Auburn men’s golf sweeps SEC yearly awards - The Cullman Tribune Nick Griffin 6–7 minutes Auburn’s Men’s Golf Team swept this season’s major SEC awards. (Todd Drexler/AU Athletics) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After a record-smashing regular season that culminated in the program’s fifth Southeastern Conference Championship, No. 1 Auburn men’s golf was recognized by the league with nine yearly SEC honors, including a sweep of the three major awards. Tigers head coach Nick Clinard was voted SEC Coach of the Year while rookie Jackson Koivun captured both SEC Freshman of the Year and SEC Player of the Year. Koivun and junior Brendan Valdes earned nods on the All-SEC First Team while senior J.M. Butler made the second team. Koivun and fellow rookie Josiah Gilbert also made the conference’s All-Freshman squad. Junior Ryan Eshleman was rewarded for his involvement and high character with an appearance on the SEC Community Service Team. For Clinard, it’s his second coach of the year title and first since 2018. He joins Sonny Dragoin (1976, 1981) and Mike Griffin (1995, 1997, 2001, 2002) as the third head coach in program history to win the award on multiple occasions. Koivun becomes the sixth Auburn man to win SEC Freshman of the Year and the second to win SEC Player of the Year. He is the first Tiger to win both in the same season, a feat previously accomplished just twice in the league’s history. Alabama’s Justin Thomas and Robby Shelton swept the awards in 2012 and 2014, respectively. It is the program’s first overall player of the year winner in nearly 30 seasons. Iain Steel (1994-95) was the initial Tiger to don the crown in 1995. Prior freshmen of the year include Hiroshi Matsuo (1988), Jimmy Green (1989), Shane Supple (1990), Ben Schlottman (2015) and Brandon Mancheno (2018). In his first season as a collegiate golfer, Koivun has amassed a 69.15 scoring average, two wins, nine top-five finishes, 24 subpar rounds and is ranked fourth in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Joining Koivun as one of the eight players named to the league’s first team is Valdes. The Orlando, Florida product was a force to be reckoned with this season after collecting a win of his own alongside eight top-10 finishes, 22 subpar rounds and a 70.12 scoring average. Valdes is the third-highest SEC player in the most recent Scoreboard/Clippd rankings. It is the second consecutive season with an appearance on the league’s first team for Valdes. On the All-SEC Second Team, Butler was an undeniable pick after closing the season on a hot streak. He picked up two wins in his final four tournaments and secured the match-clinching point for the Tigers in their SEC Quarterfinal match against No. 9 Alabama. On the year, the Louisville, Kentucky native owns five top-10 finishes, 15 subpar rounds and a 71.63 scoring average. Butler officially closes his Auburn career as a four-time All-SEC player, joining Bill Bergin (1978-81) as the only two men in program history with all-conference honors every season of their career. Two of the league’s top newbies, Koivun and Gilbert represent Auburn’s seventh and eighth recognitions as the duo was voted to the seven-man all-freshman team. It marks the fifth consecutive season the Tigers have been represented with a rookie on the list. In just his second start of the season, Gilbert was instrumental in the Tigers’ success at the 2024 SEC Championship as he went 3-0 in his match play, including a dominant performance in the title-clinching match versus the 2023 SEC Player of the Year, Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent. Gilbert posted a 71.86 scoring average in his first season on The Plains bolstered by five top-10 outings and 14 subpar rounds. Finally, Eshleman was Auburn’s representative on the SEC Community Service Team for the second year in a row. He serves as the Community Engagement Chair of Auburn’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has partnered with the Jason Dufner Foundation, the Auburn Food Bank and Toys for Tots. All SEC yearly awards are determined by a vote from the league’s 14 head coaches. No. 1 Auburn looks to continue is white-hot play at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, May 13-15, at LSU’s University Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The top five teams from the regional will earn a ticket to the 2024 NCAA Championship slated for May 24-29 at the Omni La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California. PLAYER OF THE YEAR Jackson Koivun, Auburn FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Jackson Koivun, Auburn COACH OF THE YEAR Nick Clinard, Auburn FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC Jackson Koivun, Auburn Michael La Sasso, Ole Miss Jack Lundin, Missouri Brendan Valdes, Auburn Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt Matthew Riedel, Vanderbilt Jacob Skov Olesen, Arkansas Cole Sherwood, Vanderbilt SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M Jake Hall, Tennessee Bryce Lewis, Tennessee Alex Goff, Kentucky Ian Gilligan, Florida J.M. Butler, Auburn Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt Ben van Wyk, Georgia ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM Jackson Koivun, Auburn Jack Turner, Florida Josiah Gilbert, Auburn Camden Smith, Georgia Jay Mendell, LSU Thomas Curry, Arkansas Bruce Murphy, Tennessee COMMUNITY SERVICE TEAM Thomas Ponder, Alabama Kaelen Dulany, Arkansas Ryan Eshleman, Auburn Rylan Shim, Florida Caleb Manuel, Georgia Tanner Parks, Kentucky Connor Gaunt, LSU Tom Fischer, Ole Miss Jack Lundin, Missouri Rafe Reynolds, South Carolina Vishnu Sadagopan, Texas A&M Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt

al.com Why did Auburn AD John Cohen sign an extension: ‘I don’t want to live anywhere else.’ Updated: May. 14, 2024, 8:19 a.m.|Published: May. 14, 2024, 6:34 a.m. 4–5 minutes Athletics Director John Cohen during the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL on Sunday, Apr 23, 2023. Jamie Holt/Auburn TigersJamie Holt/Auburn Tigers John Cohen will remain in Auburn at least through 2029, according to a contract extension signed on May 2 and obtained by AL.com through a public records request. Cohen has full intentions of being at Auburn for the long term after leaving the athletic director position at Mississippi State, his alma mater, in late 2022. Cohen’s wife Nelle previously said the two Tuscaloosa natives had talked about retiring in Auburn long before Cohen became the athletic director here. “When I turned 50 years old, Nelle and I are like, ‘Okay, we’re both from Tuscaloosa. When it’s all said and done, and hopefully it’s a long time from now, where would we retire,’” Cohen said in an interview with AL.com. “And I really thought about it, and I said, ‘How about Auburn?’ And she said, ‘Why Auburn?’ And I said, ‘Well the Atlanta airport is right there. The Gulf of Mexico is three-and-a-half hours away. It’s an easy drive. It’s a great town. It’s a great golfing community. They have a remarkable public school system, even when our kids are grown. It has always just stuck out to me as a wonderful place. We had talked about Auburn well before this opportunity to come available.” Cohen added, “I don’t want to live anywhere else.” Retirement is far off in the future. Cohen is just 57 years old now. But it’s a contract and commitment to Auburn about 18 months in the job. In that time, Cohen has hired a new football head coach and women’s tennis head coach. He has overseen and directed a previously approved baseball stadium renovation while putting his own touches on it. He has made some of the most significant steps toward replacing the north endzone scoreboard at Jordan-Hare Stadium and helped negotiate Auburn’s new apparel deal with Nike. Cohen described his first year at Auburn has if he were a freshman trying to figure out his way around town and what the school needed in his view. Now, he understandably feels to have a much stronger handle. “I have had the great privilege of living in a lot of SEC cities, and I think Auburn is certainly at the at the very top,” Cohen said. Long term goals Cohen still has included the expansion of premium seating options across Auburn’s athletic venues including a complete renovation of the Jordan-Hare Stadium north endzone stands into an expanded and enhanced mezzanine. Throughout his first year at Auburn and into the beginning of his second, Cohen described the second year and beyond as being progressively more productive as he finds greater comfort with the framework of Auburn. He’ll have time now. He isn’t going anywhere. “I feel extremely privileged to be a part of Auburn,” Cohen said. “Very grateful for the for the embrace that I’ve gotten from all the stakeholders involved. And you know, we have a lot of work to do, fully aware of that, but excited about the direction.” Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

gplf we need you expert opinion.........

come at me boys........grins

if this is in the wrong place i hope a mod will tell me where it goes?

al.com ..... each to Auburn women’s athletics and HS for Black girls Updated: May. 13, 2024, 8:44 p.m.|Published: May. 13, 2024, 4:39 p.m. 4–5 minutes Charles Barkley poses for photographers with a statue honoring him at the Philadelphia 76ers training facility on Friday, Sept. 13, 2009, in Camden, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)AP Photo/Matt Rourke By Roy S. Johnson | rjohnson@al.com Charles Barkley never misses “60 Minutes.” Two Sundays ago, the venerable CBS news magazine show aired a segment on St. Mary’s Academy, a 157-year-old, high-achieving Catholic school for young Black women in New Orleans featuring two former students who independently achieved something thought to be impossible. Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, now college students, used trigonometry to prove the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean Theorem, something math experts universally believed could not be done. Their achievement did not surprise Pamela Rogers, principal at St. Mary’s Academy, which educates girls from kindergarten through the 12th grade. “Our students can do anything, and that’s what we tell them,” she told 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker. “We teach young women to give service, to empower themselves, [and] to be in the community. We teach them to grow spiritually, intellectually…to be good people and give to one another.” The segment moved Barkley to pledge a donation of $1 million to St. Mary’s. “These beautiful Black women, man, they’re just the high achievers,” Barkley said in a conversation Monday. “A lot is demanded of everybody at the school—high excellence. And these two young Black women did something in mathematics that was incredible. It just inspired me.” Barkley also said he will donate $1 million to women’s athletics at Auburn, his alma mater. “I just want to make sure I always take care of the women at Auburn because I worry about them more than anything during this NIL movement,” he said. “Everybody’s worried about football and basketball. I just want to make sure the women know I’ve got a lot of love and appreciation for them.” St. Mary’s was founded based on the vision of Henriette Delille, the great-great-granddaughter of an enslaved West African woman. Delille, born in New Orleans in 1812, was a Creole nun whose mother was a free Black woman and father a white Frenchman. She taught enslaved and free Blacks, though it was illegal to educate them in Louisiana. She founded Sisters of Holy the Family, the nation’s second-oldest surviving Black Catholic sisterhoods. The sisters created St. Mary’s in 1867, five years after Delille’s death. Delille is one of six African Americans in the process towards sainthood. She is in the final stages of canonization; there are no African American saints recognized by the Catholic church. Barkley previously donated $1 million each to: ALS research in Alabama in the name of former Auburn teammate Gary Godfrey, who was diagnosed with the disease in January 2019; his alma mater Auburn; the Wounded Warrior Project; and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) including Spellman, Tuskegee, Miles College, Morehouse, Alabama A&M, Clark Atlanta, Bethune-Cookman, and Jackson State. Last June, Barkley shared he was changing his will, redesignating the $5 million he will leave to Auburn to be used for scholarships for low-income Black students. “That’s just my way of trying to make sure Auburn stays diverse,” he said at the time. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privac

i cannot stand tubs anymore. what a freaking liar. he thinks people believe his crap as well.

um dollar tree was a dollar for many years and they went up whjen trump was in office for the record but nice try salty. you gonna bang trump now or give him a pass?