Auburn Football's Roster Management

[GunsmithAU 383]

9 hours ago, Hank2020 said:

You cant call them more than recruits bc thats what they are. Even Bama recruits are only recruits. To call them more than that is only Crimson colored glasses.

You're attempt to call me a Bama fan aside, all recruits are not made equal. 

But sense you wanna go this route, if possible, Hardin would trade one of our recruits for theirs in a heartbeat. 

 

[woodford 3,655]

14 hours ago, fredst said:

Man, if we could somehow get the OL right after several years of scraping by with transfers and JUCO (looks like that’s our best chance for numbers again this year), we might finally see a balanced, well-managed roster

This is not based on data or anything just my gut. If Auburn’s OL can keep the offense moving, especially running the ball, then they will compete for the West. That’s just a certifiable fact. 
 

Auburn has skated by in the past simply because of their athleticism when they could have or should have lost due to poor scheme or planning. You take our composite roster skill and combine it with an OL that can open holes then they will beat all the teams they should beat and some they shouldn’t. 

[abw0004 10,109]

17 hours ago, TigerPAC said:

concerning the TEs....i really expected Frazier to come in with a bang, so far, not so

I thought he was supposed to be the best out of all of the tight ends so it confuses me as well.

[oracle79 3,569]

Weren't they trying Joko Willis out at Edge? Is he back at LB'er now? Just curious if anyone knows for sure.

[metafour 4,958]

16 hours ago, bigbird said:

I'm not happy with the number we have, but trying to discount the ones we do doesn't make any sense. We have a really high quality group of kids committed.

Bird, @GunsmithAUis correct here. We have 2, maybe 3 "top" recruits committed (Cobb, English, and maybe Love). The rest of the guys are extremely low 4-stars.

This needs to be talked about:

10-15 years ago there used to be ~250 (or less!) 4-star or better players ranked per class. As recruiting websites have become big business, that number continues to grow every single year. Now there are literally 412 players ranked as 4-stars or better on the 247 Composite. On3 has even more! 

What does this mean? It means that the baseline for becoming a "4-star" has become extremely watered down. Because it's been watered down, you can't just say "oh we have 4-stars, that means they're great". You now need to categorize the 4-stars even further into tiers than you would have before. The #400 player in the class is NOT a "blue chip" recruit, regardless of whether or not he has 4-stars beside his name. He just isn't.

And if you actually look at our own staff's behavior, they actually prove this. They could have easily landed Ashley Williams' commitment ~6 months ago, but they chose to back off of him. He committed to Nebraska without much interest from the schools in the SEC (and definitely no interest from instate LSU). Now that kid is ranked a "4-star", but if he were a "blue chip" talent, he never would have been committed to Nebraska in the first place, and we most certainly wouldn't have passed on him. Now, I'm happy to have the kid committed given our struggles with recruiting, but when you say "look at our commitments" as if the fact that he's a 4-star is supposed to mean something incredible, you need to apply a little more analysis and evaluation. Our staff recruited him as if he were a 3-star prospect, and in fact, as the #349 player on the 247 Composite, he would have been ranked a 3-star ~10 years ago. Wilky Denaud falls into the same category.

The issue with our recruiting is that ~2-3 actual "blue chip" players just isn't enough. It's not even close. When you look at our competition, the "4-stars" that they are pulling are MUCH higher ranked than the majority of ours. In the SEC, the thing to look at is how many BLUE CHIP recruits you are signing. That's the difference maker, and it's what creates contending teams.

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by metafour

[IronMan70 3,277]

18 hours ago, roe4christ said:

Edge is a concern for sure.  For this year, if Hall or Leota get hurt, we only have Brooks as a back-up.  Both are Seniors also, so only Brooks will be returning.  We have to add for next year and I think that is a focus right now.  Pray for no injuries in this position group this year.  

 I think they talked about using Joko Willis and Powell Gordon in an emergency like that. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

3 hours ago, IronMan70 said:

 I think they talked about using Joko Willis and Powell Gordon in an emergency like that. 

They did and I believe both would have some success, Even though we recruited Powell as an LB his skill set in HS looked like an Edge but biggest issue was he was not very heavy. He is up to 228 so that makes him an option. That said I would expect to see Willis before Powell at Edge and if we see both either they got a lot better or somebody got hurt,

[toddc 13,194]

Don’t sleep on this kid!

Bragg 'a really smart player' for Auburn pass rush

62 minutes ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Eku Leota got the first look at Auburn’s newest addition to the edge rusher room. And before he ever joined the Tigers on the field, Marcus Braggimpressed his new teammate.

Leota, one of two highly productive seniors for coach Roc Bellantoni pass-rushing unit, hosted Bragg during his visit to Auburn in mid-June. A Western Kentucky transfer, Bragg committed to the Tigers during the visit.

And less than two months later, he took the practice field, occupying an important role for what was previously a thin edge rushers room. Auburn had just three scholarship players at the position in the spring, and Bragg’s addition rounded that out to a clean two-and-two rotation — with preseason All-SEC pick Derick Hall and Leota at the top, followed by Bragg and redshirt freshman Dylan Brooks.

“He's a really smart player, works hard,” Leota said of Bragg Wednesday. “And it adds another veteran to the room. So it helps just bring that IQ up and he also leads by example, so that helps the edge room.”

A former JUCO product and the cousin of former Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis, Bragg played the past three seasons at WKU, recording 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks.

He made his presence felt rather quickly in Auburn’s preseason camp, snatching a scoop-and-score while receiving some first-team work during the first week of practices.

Clocking in at 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Bragg has also seen time in practice working with Jimmy Brumbaugh’s defensive line unit, at least during individual drills. Perhaps that’s what defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding meant when he referred Bragg as being a contributor on the “full front.”

"Marcus Bragg — when you talk about the full front, he's done a nice job, as well,” Schmedding said last week.

Bellantoni got even more depth this preseason, too, when former JUCO standout Joko Willis was shifted over from the linebacking corps to his room. After making some big hits on kick returns last year, Willis’ athleticism is being tested in blitz packages as almost a floating outside linebacker — at least over the past week-plus of practice.

“Joko’s doing really well,” Leota said. “He's in the meeting rooms, always asking questions. He's been moved around a little bit, so he's, this is his first year in the edge room, and I think he's starting to click with them, as well. But he plays hard, plays with a lot of effort.”

Auburn figures to have one of its best pass-rushes since the 2017 season, with Hall and Leota bringing back 16 combined sacks.

[roe4christ 940]

Thanks for the update on the Edge situation.  Feeling a lot better knowing that Bragg is coming along well and that Willis is moving over.

[GunsmithAU 383]

24 minutes ago, toddc said:

Don’t sleep on this kid!

Bragg 'a really smart player' for Auburn pass rush

62 minutes ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Eku Leota got the first look at Auburn’s newest addition to the edge rusher room. And before he ever joined the Tigers on the field, Marcus Braggimpressed his new teammate.

Leota, one of two highly productive seniors for coach Roc Bellantoni pass-rushing unit, hosted Bragg during his visit to Auburn in mid-June. A Western Kentucky transfer, Bragg committed to the Tigers during the visit.

And less than two months later, he took the practice field, occupying an important role for what was previously a thin edge rushers room. Auburn had just three scholarship players at the position in the spring, and Bragg’s addition rounded that out to a clean two-and-two rotation — with preseason All-SEC pick Derick Hall and Leota at the top, followed by Bragg and redshirt freshman Dylan Brooks.

“He's a really smart player, works hard,” Leota said of Bragg Wednesday. “And it adds another veteran to the room. So it helps just bring that IQ up and he also leads by example, so that helps the edge room.”

A former JUCO product and the cousin of former Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis, Bragg played the past three seasons at WKU, recording 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks.

He made his presence felt rather quickly in Auburn’s preseason camp, snatching a scoop-and-score while receiving some first-team work during the first week of practices.

Clocking in at 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Bragg has also seen time in practice working with Jimmy Brumbaugh’s defensive line unit, at least during individual drills. Perhaps that’s what defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding meant when he referred Bragg as being a contributor on the “full front.”

"Marcus Bragg — when you talk about the full front, he's done a nice job, as well,” Schmedding said last week.

Bellantoni got even more depth this preseason, too, when former JUCO standout Joko Willis was shifted over from the linebacking corps to his room. After making some big hits on kick returns last year, Willis’ athleticism is being tested in blitz packages as almost a floating outside linebacker — at least over the past week-plus of practice.

“Joko’s doing really well,” Leota said. “He's in the meeting rooms, always asking questions. He's been moved around a little bit, so he's, this is his first year in the edge room, and I think he's starting to click with them, as well. But he plays hard, plays with a lot of effort.”

Auburn figures to have one of its best pass-rushes since the 2017 season, with Hall and Leota bringing back 16 combined sacks.

It's really hard to be thankful for a guy who only recorded 4.5 sacks at WKU in 3 years...

 

Is there more to this that the statline doesn't account for?

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

41 minutes ago, toddc said:

Don’t sleep on this kid!

Bragg 'a really smart player' for Auburn pass rush

62 minutes ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Eku Leota got the first look at Auburn’s newest addition to the edge rusher room. And before he ever joined the Tigers on the field, Marcus Braggimpressed his new teammate.

Leota, one of two highly productive seniors for coach Roc Bellantoni pass-rushing unit, hosted Bragg during his visit to Auburn in mid-June. A Western Kentucky transfer, Bragg committed to the Tigers during the visit.

And less than two months later, he took the practice field, occupying an important role for what was previously a thin edge rushers room. Auburn had just three scholarship players at the position in the spring, and Bragg’s addition rounded that out to a clean two-and-two rotation — with preseason All-SEC pick Derick Hall and Leota at the top, followed by Bragg and redshirt freshman Dylan Brooks.

“He's a really smart player, works hard,” Leota said of Bragg Wednesday. “And it adds another veteran to the room. So it helps just bring that IQ up and he also leads by example, so that helps the edge room.”

A former JUCO product and the cousin of former Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis, Bragg played the past three seasons at WKU, recording 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks.

He made his presence felt rather quickly in Auburn’s preseason camp, snatching a scoop-and-score while receiving some first-team work during the first week of practices.

Clocking in at 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Bragg has also seen time in practice working with Jimmy Brumbaugh’s defensive line unit, at least during individual drills. Perhaps that’s what defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding meant when he referred Bragg as being a contributor on the “full front.”

"Marcus Bragg — when you talk about the full front, he's done a nice job, as well,” Schmedding said last week.

Bellantoni got even more depth this preseason, too, when former JUCO standout Joko Willis was shifted over from the linebacking corps to his room. After making some big hits on kick returns last year, Willis’ athleticism is being tested in blitz packages as almost a floating outside linebacker — at least over the past week-plus of practice.

“Joko’s doing really well,” Leota said. “He's in the meeting rooms, always asking questions. He's been moved around a little bit, so he's, this is his first year in the edge room, and I think he's starting to click with them, as well. But he plays hard, plays with a lot of effort.”

Auburn figures to have one of its best pass-rushes since the 2017 season, with Hall and Leota bringing back 16 combined sacks.

I’m thankful for his addition to the team and it’s cool to see that some of his fellow players are noticing his potential.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Tiger Refuge

[toddc 13,194]

1 hour ago, GunsmithAU said:

It's really hard to be thankful for a guy who only recorded 4.5 sacks at WKU in 3 years...

 

Is there more to this that the statline doesn't account for?

Negative much? It sounds like he’s going to be an asset to the edge rotation and maybe you could be happy about that. 

[Randman5000 4,224]

Quote

“I am here for Harsin and stand by Harsin. I like him and think he is a very great coach. Him and the players on the team helped me make my decision to stay.”—WR Ja’Varrius Johnson on deciding to stay after entering the transfer portal

 

“He really knows the game. He’s been there and done it. Being able to have him come in and teach us the knowledge he gained is the biggest thing. He knows what he’s talking about. He teaches each one of us a lot. We have individual questions we ask in meetings and he’s been able to help us out a lot. … It’s easy to listen to him because he’s done it before. He’s coached in NFL, too.”—Johnson on WR coach Ike Hilliard

 

[Randman5000 4,224]

3 minutes ago, toddc said:

Negative much? It sounds like he’s going to be an asset to the edge rotation and maybe you could be happy about that. 

Remember when people were saying why were we taking a guy from Northwestern too. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Randman5000

[GunsmithAU 383]

56 minutes ago, Randman5000 said:

Remember when people were saying why were we taking a guy from Northwestern too. 

Leota produced more in 8 games durring covid year than Bragg has produced his entire career against lesser competition. 

This isn't an apple to apple comparison and doesn't work as the strong argument you think it does. 

[Randman5000 4,224]

59 minutes ago, GunsmithAU said:

Leota produced more in 8 games durring covid year than Bragg has produced his entire career against lesser competition. 

This isn't an apple to apple comparison and doesn't work as the strong argument you think it does. 

Yeah it does.. he had 6.5 total sacks 25 total tackles before he went to Auburn. He had 4 sacks and 10 tackles the last year at NW.  And people were complaining about a guy from a lame school like Northwestern.

https://nusports.com/sports/football/roster/eku-leota/8979

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Randman5000

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

In our defense there are two parts to being an Edge player one is rushing the QB and the other is holding the edge to prevent the RB from getting outside.  I have a feeling that will be Bragg's contribution any sacks he gets would be gravy. 

[tigerken 30]

I didn't see these 2 on the list Zeek. Tennison transferred to Ole Miss and Height transferred to USCwest.

[metafour 4,958]

10 hours ago, Randman5000 said:

Yeah it does.. he had 6.5 total sacks 25 total tackles before he went to Auburn. He had 4 sacks and 10 tackles the last year at NW.  And people were complaining about a guy from a lame school like Northwestern.

https://nusports.com/sports/football/roster/eku-leota/8979

 

You are making **** up.

Leota was young and was a backup player at Northwestern (due to him being behind older players). Despite being a rotational player, he was very productive for them and showed flashes of dominance. Also, Northwestern is very good at developing players an is a P5 school.

Marcus Bragg is old and was at WKU for several seasons (at a lower level of football) and was still not very productive from a pass-rushing perspective. We landed him as like Option G from the Portal after missing on a ton of Edge targets (Leota by comparison was the first transfer Harsin pulled and they were on him immediately).

These two players/situations really aren't even remotely alike. Bragg was brought in to basically fill a spot on the roster because we had no #3 Edge with any playing experience. He might be an OK depth piece for us, but you're expecting a lot if you think he's Eku Leota. Leota would have had a huge season at Northwestern last season had he stayed there.

[Mikey 16,553]

9 minutes ago, tigerken said:

I didn't see these 2 on the list Zeek. Tennison transferred to Ole Miss and Height transferred to USCwest.

Also, I didn't see J.J. Pegues to Ole' Miss.

[Randman5000 4,224]

1 hour ago, metafour said:

You are making **** up.

Leota was young and was a backup player at Northwestern (due to him being behind older players). Despite being a rotational player, he was very productive for them and showed flashes of dominance. Also, Northwestern is very good at developing players an is a P5 school.

Marcus Bragg is old and was at WKU for several seasons (at a lower level of football) and was still not very productive from a pass-rushing perspective. We landed him as like Option G from the Portal after missing on a ton of Edge targets (Leota by comparison was the first transfer Harsin pulled and they were on him immediately).

These two players/situations really aren't even remotely alike. Bragg was brought in to basically fill a spot on the roster because we had no #3 Edge with any playing experience. He might be an OK depth piece for us, but you're expecting a lot if you think he's Eku Leota. Leota would have had a huge season at Northwestern last season had he stayed there.

Why so mad? 

It's the same.. people being critical of a player with low stats coming from a school that they disrespect. You also missed the point,  my point was that I agree that Leota was a good player and needed an opportunity. others including people who think they know everything make assumptions on a player. As you are doing now. Players move for different reasons and a fellow Auburn player says Bragg is a good addition to the team.

[IronMan70 3,277]

Pertinent to the Bragg discussion. 

Bragg 'a really smart player' for Auburn pass rush

ByNATHAN KING 16 hours ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Eku Leota got the first look at Auburn’s newest addition to the edge rusher room. And before he ever joined the Tigers on the field, Marcus Bragg impressed his new teammate.

Leota, one of two highly productive seniors for coach Roc Bellantoni pass-rushing unit, hosted Bragg during his visit to Auburn in mid-June. A Western Kentucky transfer, Bragg committed to the Tigers during the visit.

And less than two months later, he took the practice field, occupying an important role for what was previously a thin edge rushers room. Auburn had just three scholarship players at the position in the spring, and Bragg’s addition rounded that out to a clean two-and-two rotation — with preseason All-SEC pick Derick Hall and Leota at the top, followed by Bragg and redshirt freshman Dylan Brooks. 

“He's a really smart player, works hard,” Leota said of Bragg Wednesday. “And it adds another veteran to the room. So it helps just bring that IQ up and he also leads by example, so that helps the edge room.”

A former JUCO product and the cousin of former Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis, Bragg played the past three seasons at WKU, recording 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. He made his presence felt rather quickly in Auburn’s preseason camp, snatching a scoop-and-score while receiving some first-team work during the first week of practices.                                                                                                 

                                                                                     

Clocking in at 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Bragg has also seen time in practice working with Jimmy Brumbaugh’s defensive line unit, at least during individual drills. Perhaps that’s what defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding meant when he referred Bragg as being a contributor on the “full front.” 

"Marcus Bragg — when you talk about the full front, he's done a nice job, as well,” Schmedding said last week.

Bellantoni got even more depth this preseason, too, when former JUCO standout Joko Willis was shifted over from the linebacking corps to his room. After making some big hits on kick returns last year, Willis’ athleticism is being tested in blitz packages as almost a floating outside linebacker — at least over the past week-plus of practice.

“Joko’s doing really well,” Leota said. “He's in the meeting rooms, always asking questions. He's been moved around a little bit, so he's, this is his first year in the edge room, and I think he's starting to click with them, as well. But he plays hard, plays with a lot of effort.”

Auburn figures to have one of its best pass-rushes since the 2017 season, with Hall and Leota bringing back 16 combined sacks.

Bragg 'a really smart player' for Auburn pass rush (247sports.com)

[metafour 4,958]

1 hour ago, Randman5000 said:

Why so mad? 

It's the same.. people being critical of a player with low stats coming from a school that they disrespect. You also missed the point,  my point was that I agree that Leota was a good player and needed an opportunity. others including people who think they know everything make assumptions on a player. As you are doing now. Players move for different reasons and a fellow Auburn player says Bragg is a good addition to the team.

 

The two situations are not even remotely comparable, but you are using Leota as some sort of "proof" that Bragg is as impressive an addition as Leota was. That is the issue with your post/comparison. Leota was considerably more productive than Bragg was, so I'm not even sure how you managed to suggest that their scenarios were similar. Here is the actual comparison:

Leota's first 2 playing seasons at Northwestern: 6.5 sacks, 10 TFL

Bragg's first 2 playing seasons at WKU: 0 sacks, 0 TFL

Even if you combine all three of Bragg's seasons at WKU, you get the following: 3 sacks, 3 TFL.

Bragg also played in 2 seasons at JUCO before coming to WKU, and he amassed a whopping 2 sacks over those 2 seasons.

So the major difference here is that at no point in time has Bragg shown to be much of a weapon as a pass-rusher, and this is over ~5 seasons between JUCO and NCAA. He is a Senior addition that was brought in to basically plug a spot on the depth-chart. When Eku Leota was brought in, he was NOT just a "random" addition.

[Zeek 16,617]

Bragg is a great emergency option or a guy to hold the line while someone catches their breath. I agree he's not a big impact guy but we honestly don't need him to be. We have a very solid DL. Just need to get edges in for the next season.