AUght2win

Yes but I’m 100% honest when I say it would deter me as a recruit. USC is going to fly more mileage than any NFL team when they join BIG. Imagine 2 5+ hour flights every other weekend during the middle of a college semester. If all things are equal I’m going to a different school.

BIG wouldn’t be. Unless KJ likes the cold or long plane flights.

Recruiting is difficult to appraise in the moment. It’s like saying an NFL team just had the best draft class ever. You won’t know for a few years. I DO think in terms of star power it’s likely the best week ever. But don’t forget how huge some of the Chizik prospects were - Dyer, Trovon Reed, Cam. And everybody went nuts when we got *the* number 1 player in the country in Byron Cowart.

Anybody else physically convulse seeing a recruit post offer pics with Harsin in them? I SCREAMED for a moment thinking this was all a fever dream and Harsin was still here reeling in 2 Star long snappers from Nebraska.

What’s even crazier is that’s trooper Taylor’s kid he’s mossing.

GREAT DAY!!! Also puts to rest the “it’s gonna take results on the field first” argument. Not if you know how to recruit. And CHF knows how to recruit.

NEW. DAY.

We have gotten about 1 per class. And most of those have been busts - Nate Craig Myers, Byron Cowart, Kyle Davis, Roc Thomas, Calvin Ashley, etc. We have tended to get 5 stars that our competitors either weren’t crazy about or knew were risky projects. I’m looking for us to grab a player or two a year that eeeeeeeeeverybody wants.

I agree with most of what you wrote, but not this part. The big prospects are being claimed. We don’t have very good leads on any other 5 stars. Add to the fact that flipping is harder now because NIL deals are setting these commitments in stone. You can’t wait until December, that’s what we heard during Harsin’s tenure.

I have to completely disagree here. With the money poured into our program and that new building 5 stars absolutely must become the norm. We need to see more of them than we ever have. Especially with OU and Texas coming in. We’ve committed to becoming a powerhouse again and 5 stars are necessities. Can’t do it without them.

I’m not worried because I don’t control it. I’m just not banking on any results. We need recruiting to be better. Ready for 5 stars and winning major recruiting battles to be the norm again.

Nobody can worry too much after the last decade of Auburn recruiting. Almost nothing has gone our way. Pickens and Yeldon last second flips. Calloway and Kouandijo fiascos. Reuben Foster gets a f****** AU tattoo and flips. We reel in a #1 overall recruit in Byron Cowart - becomes biggest bust of a #1 likely EVER. Whiff on every single backyard star from Coleman, to the Montgomery duo from last year, to Justyn Ross. There is absolutely no grounds for faith in Auburn recruiting right now. It’s up to HF and the NIL money guys to restore it. It’s actually irrationally blind faith to say otherwise. So I don’t think you should chastise anybody who isn’t drinking the Kool-Aid. We suck at recruiting right now. Will we be good again one day? I think so. But it isn’t happening right now and I’m tired of being told it is when it isn’t.

This would have been hands down the highest rated prospect Harsin ever signed.

I’d be surprised if these don’t make kids sick. Cold air blowing on your face constantly while the rest of your body is in 100 degree heat?

First off, this isn’t talking about NIL. This is talking about divvying up football profits and giving some to players (which has been discussed for years). Secondly, there are all types of restrictions on ways you make money in America. That’s just plainly not true.

No. Not really. The sausage has never been “come play at Auburn for 6 months and make 500k”. It’s never been THAT weighted toward purely money. Like I said earlier, it used to be you had to like a place enough to commit to it for 3 years minimum. Now you can put in 6 months at a place and earn six figures. It IS different.

First off, that’s awesome DAG I’m guessing it wasn’t AU or we would already know that? What school? Wisky? Secondly, track is one of the sports entirely propped up by football/basketball money. I would think every bus ride, hotel room, meal, event, etc. you guys had was taken from the money made from the big 2. That’s been one argument I’ve had - if they start giving football/basketball players a large chunk of the pie from those sports’ revenue, all the less popular sports will go under overnight.

Okay but explain “everyone was getting rich”. Explain that part. Who? And how? WED just stated above that Georgia freaking Tech, a major athletics program, is in the red as an athletic department. In fact, the yearly reports say all that about a dozen colleges are in the red athletically. So who’s getting rich and how? CFB isn’t like a publicly traded stock. Jimmy Rane doesn’t “invest” in the program and then make money off it. Colleges use football money to prop up other sports (like gymnastics which makes nothing and costs a ton) and spend money internally on whatever need-be. Now maybe that spending is exorbitant at some places. We did, after all, just build a 90 freaking million dollar FOF. So if you want to constrict spending, no argument here. But let’s get it straight, no singular person is “getting rich” off college football players. The only argument for exploitation would be the TV networks. They make millions - but also PAY millions to the schools for broadcast rights. So idk. But y’all need to stop talking about it like the school president is taking half of the gate of the Iron Bowl or something.

They went from “give the kids nothing” to “literally don’t refuse them anything”. I’ve always said I don’t think society’s best and brightest are involved in college athletics.

You can say that all you want but my consumption of CFB as a whole has dropped by 90%. I don’t watch *any* other games now besides AU, and I used to be a guy who would get up to watch Gameday every week. If the disconnect grows deep enough to the point where I truly don’t feel like the players represent Auburn, I will have no reason to watch.

Keyword there. I know you didn’t mean it literally, but I’ll use to illustrate the differences the new system has brought. We are getting into territory now where guys are there for 6 months. That’s what Thorne will do. There is just utterly no connection to Auburn and no representation of the school with a bunch of guys who very plainly not interested in it at all. Like you, I want to see AUBURN win. But it’s feeling less and less like I’m watching Auburn. It’s basically just a pro team with no affiliation. Might as well have a draft.

First off, yes JHS would. We have a fanbase like Tennessee or Nebraska. They show up regardless. Secondly, you still don’t understand the argument. The argument is that if college football AS A WHOLE was filled with walk-ons, people would still watch. That’s why player skill isn’t what is propelling its popularity. People don’t go to CFB games primarily for the thrill of seeing elite athleticism. That’s for pro sports. People WILL buy tickets to see Lebron or Jordan or Brady or Manning pull off incredible feats. But nobody went to Auburn-Florida in 2019 “because I have to see Bo Nix and Kyle Trask play!” Nobody went to the A&M game because they just couldn’t pass up the chance to watch Tank play. It really doesn’t matter who is wearing the AU - AS LONG as they’re wearing the AU. The players are benefiting from and participating in something, they are not offering irreplaceable value to it.

That is such a bad argument. What is the point of naming a less popular school? Are you intimating college football isn’t popular? Or that it’d popular at GT with more money? Or…? Yes, some schools have more popular football programs than others. Incredible stuff.

I have no real beef with players making money. But I don’t like the current model. Personally, I think it should be like a union pension and players (at every school) get the same amount depending on how many years you play (like being vested). Because like I said in the previous post, people showing up to Texas games back then wasn’t dependent on Kevin Durant. They were showing up to support their school. KD obviously generated MORE excitement, aiding the program, but he didn’t make or break it. That should at least be taken into account when discussing how much value individual players truly bring to college sports.

I don’t understand the notion of looking at the game from the sole perspective of what’s best for the players. It’s disingenuous to say college football revolves are the players. The NFL and NBA are leagues where many people show up for the name on the back of the jersey, CFB is based on the name on the front. The reality is CFB players are participating in something MUCH larger than them. The narrative from some is that it’s virtually slave labor to give kids a full college scholarship for playing a game. That CFB is like the NFL, and without these kids’ elite skill level, college football venues would be empty on Saturdays. Basically: talented kids power CFB and are what make it truly popular. Of course that isn’t the dynamic for anybody familiar with what college football really is. The actual dynamic is that college affiliation powers CFB, and is AIDED by skilled players. Fans show up and tune in to root for their school. No specific player or talent level is what draws fans to the stadium. It’s an affinity for the school and the idea that these kids are true representatives of our school. Don’t believe me? Look at a football model where it’s purely about watching elite athletes play - the XFL and USFL. Every XFL or USFL team would manhandle 99% of college teams. It’s a higher level of play. But despite having better players, their stadiums aren’t packed and their brand isn’t a 100th of what CFB is. We need to stop acting like if it wasn’t for the 5 star players, that CFB would fold. Most CFB fans would still root for their school if every team was compromised or walk-ons.