2016 4* JUCO DE Paul James III (AU commit 11/22/15)

[Wareagle1092 0]

He is clearly aiming to shoot the man when he is down

No. He is trying to win at South Carolina. He recruited kids to Auburn because he thinks those kids will help him win football games, so he's going to try to recruit those same kids to South Carolina.

There are far fewer heroes and villains in coaching than our imaginations would have us believe.

Very true that is why I said it is a extremely competitive driven league, it is all gloves off in that business if you want to keep a job.

[McLoofus 35,182]

He is clearly aiming to shoot the man when he is down

No. He is trying to win at South Carolina. He recruited kids to Auburn because he thinks those kids will help him win football games, so he's going to try to recruit those same kids to South Carolina.

There are far fewer heroes and villains in coaching than our imaginations would have us believe.

Very true that is why I said it is a extremely competitive driven league, it is all gloves off in that business if you want to keep a job.

Ahh, gotcha.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

I loved his comment to Muschamp......"my heart is with Auburn"......classy response....

Agreed. Speaks well of how our program and school are presenting themselves to recruits, too.

So far Muschamp is 0 for ___ in flipping our recruits.

I previously voiced some embarrassingly alarmist opinions about the impact his departure would have on recruiting. I was thinking primarily about uncommitted guys who were considering us, but I also had concerns about our "less solid verbals". Our staff has really impressed me since then and I'm feeling better about things in general.

When unexpected bad things happen it is easy to initially take a negative view. Most of us do. What is refreshing is after the initial shock wears off and we see how coaches like Garner and Thompson, and Gus, etc have stepped into the breach and we see recruits responding we can let out a collective sigh of relief and realize the sky is not falling. This doesn't mean we are completely out of the woods we still need a good hire and we will still need to work with the recruits because other teams will try and use this to sway a commit or two or three.

[thaitopher 807]

I loved his comment to Muschamp......"my heart is with Auburn"......classy response....

Agreed. Speaks well of how our program and school are presenting themselves to recruits, too.

So far Muschamp is 0 for ___ in flipping our recruits.

I previously voiced some embarrassingly alarmist opinions about the impact his departure would have on recruiting. I was thinking primarily about uncommitted guys who were considering us, but I also had concerns about our "less solid verbals". Our staff has really impressed me since then and I'm feeling better about things in general.

When unexpected bad things happen it is easy to initially take a negative view. Most of us do. What is refreshing is after the initial shock wears off and we see how coaches like Garner and Thompson, and Gus, etc have stepped into the breach and we see recruits responding we can let out a collective sigh of relief and realize the sky is not falling. This doesn't mean we are completely out of the woods we still need a good hire and we will still need to work with the recruits because other teams will try and use this to sway a commit or two or three.

I didn't expect this either. I think I predicted Marlon Character decommitment, which he still might. But I have been extremely surprised at our ability to keep these guys in the fold, given that Muschamp and TRob were the lead recruiters for many of them.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

I didn't expect this either. I think I predicted Marlon Character decommitment, which he still might. But I have been extremely surprised at our ability to keep these guys in the fold, given that Muschamp and TRob were the lead recruiters for many of them.

Hopefully when anyone is recruiting for us, they are selling Auburn and not themselves. If they do that well, we shouldn't have a lot of trouble keeping them. Hopefully Will is classy enough not to trash us to recruits he wants at USC. I'm pretty sure T-Rob would never trash Auburn.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

I heard on the local radio that PJIII sent in his FAA papers. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Sorry no link

[au_bsci_04 407]

I heard on the local radio that PJIII sent in his FAA papers. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Sorry no link

Confirmed

[WarEagleAU 0]

He moves up to 4-star on scout. 4-star again on 247composite.

[AUEngineer2016 407]

FYI, the official Auburn twitter has listed Paul James III as a Linebacker. Link to tweet.

[thaitopher 807]

FYI, the official Auburn twitter has listed Paul James III as a Linebacker. Link to tweet.

FYI, the official Auburn twitter has listed Paul James III as a Linebacker. Link to tweet.

I saw that. Hey, if he can play LB, awesome! We need big LBs like that.

[War Knight 514]

If he is anything liks his cousin I'm down.

[Mikey 16,544]

FYI, the official Auburn twitter has listed Paul James III as a Linebacker. Link to tweet.

Shell game to cover the obvious swings and misses at real LB's?

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

[thaitopher 807]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

I thought Steele ran a 3-4?

[War Knight 514]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

I thought Steele ran a 3-4?

Yes but we face a lot of 4 receiver sets which we will switch to 2 lbs for

[Mikey 16,544]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

We'll just have to disagree on that. Eight solid LB's would be fine. What we've got is ONE solid LB in Tre Williams and a bunch of hopefuls. Look around the SEC and it's hard to find another team in the poor shape that AU is in at linebacker.

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

I thought Steele ran a 3-4?

Yes but we face a lot of 4 receiver sets which we will switch to 2 lbs for

Beat me to it.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

Mikeys point is we only have one proven LB out of the 8. So even in the 2 LB set we have issues. Now if some of the others show up this year that will change things. I have high hopes for Holland. There will be times that we need 4 LB's also. If we are truly weak at LB then the other team might run sets that force us to play the 3-4.

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

"*James was one of the top JUCO defensive ends, but Auburn lists him as a linebacker in their tweet. That's an interesting footnote; particularly given Auburn only signing one true linebacker in this class."

Don't know if it means anything (could've been a typing error) but could be interesting.

edit: didn't see the post above addressing this. Just saw the article on it.

[Randman5000 4,223]

We need to get some playmaker s at Linebacker for next year's class. Need a home run Coach Steele and Coach Williams

[AUEngineer2016 407]

Listing James as a LB gets interesting, because it could be a sign of how multiple our defense could be next year. For example:

Defense comes out showing a 4-2-5 Nickel look. Before the snap, the FS (Ford) shifts to a cover 1 look as the SS (Matthews) creeps to the line showing blitz. After the snap, the DE (James) shifts back into a LB role and suddenly we're a 3-3-5 defense with a blitzing safety. All of that motion could be confusing to the defense, but it would be more confusing to the offense.

This shifting becomes even more effective when defenses start accounting for it and playing off of it. For example, assume we take the same pre-snap alignment and shifts, but instead of the SS (Matthews) coming on the blitz, this time it's the Nickel on the other side and James stays in as a DE. Once you start doing things like this, it makes the OTs have to read and react, which can cause mistakes and sacks.

[trout54 55]

CKS does like larger, but still very athletic linebackers, s o this may not be so perplexing. I hope I am not restating what others have. If so, my apologies.

[PastorChris 0]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

I thought Steele ran a 3-4?

Yes but we face a lot of 4 receiver sets which we will switch to 2 lbs for

Yes, but it is not the 4 receiver teams that we have been losing to every time recently. The teams that we HAVE to start winning against are LSU, Georgia and bama. And they are running wild over us.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

Listing James as a LB gets interesting, because it could be a sign of how multiple our defense could be next year. For example:

Defense comes out showing a 4-2-5 Nickel look. Before the snap, the FS (Ford) shifts to a cover 1 look as the SS (Matthews) creeps to the line showing blitz. After the snap, the DE (James) shifts back into a LB role and suddenly we're a 3-3-5 defense with a blitzing safety. All of that motion could be confusing to the defense, but it would be more confusing to the offense.

This shifting becomes even more effective when defenses start accounting for it and playing off of it. For example, assume we take the same pre-snap alignment and shifts, but instead of the SS (Matthews) coming on the blitz, this time it's the Nickel on the other side and James stays in as a DE. Once you start doing things like this, it makes the OTs have to read and react, which can cause mistakes and sacks.

This all sounds great but for the last several years we have constantly heard from our DC that they have had to "dumb down" the defensive schemes. And here we are with yet another new DC with another new scheme. Why would we suddenly be able to implement something this complex?

[McLoofus 35,182]

Y'all realize we're going to be running a lot of two LB sets next year? Having 8 on roster is solid.

I thought Steele ran a 3-4?

Yes but we face a lot of 4 receiver sets which we will switch to 2 lbs for

Yes, but it is not the 4 receiver teams that we have been losing to every time recently. The teams that we HAVE to start winning against are LSU, Georgia and bama. And they are running wild over us.

Please post more, PastorChris. I've read several great posts from you already this morning.