I'll tell you if Chizik lands

[BoJtrueAUman 4]

a few of these big recruits I will be supremely happy and impressed. I was ok with the hire to begin with but man if he can really pull this class together I just think he will get higher and higher in my books. I am really looking forward to the future. WDE!!

[Duder 259]

I'm more excited about recruiting next season to be honest. If he pulls together a remotely solid class this year given all that has happened, imagine what he and his staff can do with a full year to recruit.

[BoJtrueAUman 4]

I'm more excited about recruiting next season to be honest. If he pulls together a remotely solid class this year given all that has happened, imagine what he and his staff can do with a full year to recruit.

Exactly he and this staff have worked harder in the last six weeks than anyone I have ever seen

[Justin5 20]

We are not Alabama. I am reserving my thoughts on him until I see him coach a game.

His effort so far has been superb, but if he can't coach then all is lost. Say what you want about xCTT's recruiting effort, but in big games there were few better.

Recruiting only gets you so far - and if you don't believe me, ask Coach O.

[Duder 259]

We are not Alabama. I am reserving my thoughts on him until I see him coach a game.

His effort so far has been superb, but if he can't coach then all is lost. Say what you want about xCTT's recruiting effort, but in big games there were few better.

Recruiting only gets you so far - and if you don't believe me, ask Coach O.

Agreed, please don't think I'm worshiping here. Just excited about his recruiting prowess and for now, that is all.

[PChamp119 96]

It's great they can bring in a few recruits, but it's a different story if they can actually get them to sign. Obviously you have a better chance than them not coming in at all. But I'll wait to see if they can sign these type of kids and actually get them to play first. We didn''t have great success with 5 star and a good amount of 4 star recruits under Tuberville.

[AUdothan 1]

If we can get the 4 or 5 star something tells me we will have better luck with this staff "coaching them up". CTT did a very good job early on coaching 3 stars up but that all went down hill after '04. Very few were coached up less he got the wrong 3 star.

[Mikey 16,781]

..... CTT did a very good job early on coaching 3 stars up but that all went down hill after '04. Very few were coached up less he got the wrong 3 star.

Or unless it was Marks, Powers, Etherage, Bosley, on and on and on and on....

[BoJtrueAUman 4]

Hey I am not counting the chickens or anything and I am not saying we can truly rely on the stars and recruits but if and this is a BIG if we were to land Randle he could make an immediate impact like Jones did at Bama this year and thats what we need. We need a freshman to step up BIG especially at the WR spot not saying Pierre Louise(sp) won't but wouldnt it be nice to have 2 guys making a big difference at WR.

[quietfan 233]

Here's the thing, to me, about this staff:

I too am impressed by how hard they're working the recruiting trail in such little time and expect even bigger results in the future. But I agree, if they can't perform on the field, recruiting excellence isn't enough. HOWEVER, I really think this staff shows ever indication of getting the job done on gamedays too. Certainly Malzahn and Roof have proven themselves as gameday coaches, and three years ago Chizik was the hottest name in rising head-coaches-to-be because of his product on the field. I'm not necessarily drinkin' the koolaid or building up pie-in-the-sky expectations, but I see no reason to expect these guys NOT to do well on Saturdays.

[AUman43 5]

I agree quietfan. Moreover, these men have worked their A$$eS off building relationships with the HS coaches and upcoming Junionrs and Seniors that will pay giant dividends down the road. Not everyone is so enamored by the little midget in Tuscaloosa or Myer or Richt that the kids won't give us an equal shot. A vastly improved year next year will also improve our chances to land some great players again.

[tiger88 934]

No one's being like bama here. All we have to go by so far is his recruiting and that outlook is promising so far.

[Points 2]

next year's class will tell us a lot. The staff will have a full year to recruit these kids.

[WarTim 3,565]

It's great they can bring in a few recruits, but it's a different story if they can actually get them to sign. Obviously you have a better chance than them not coming in at all. But I'll wait to see if they can sign these type of kids and actually get them to play first. We didn''t have great success with 5 star and a good amount of 4 star recruits under Tuberville.

pchump...Shouldn't you be concerned about YOUR "coach" satan and YOUR uat "team"?...What a redneck loser....

[BustemBigBlue 266]

a few of these big recruits I will be supremely happy and impressed. I was ok with the hire to begin with but man if he can really pull this class together I just think he will get higher and higher in my books. I am really looking forward to the future. WDE!!

Well it looks like we landed 5* rb/cb Demond Washington. I doubt this guy would have even been recruited under the old staff. He run's a 4.29 forty!

[mcgufcm 4,109]

I'm excited about the enthusiasm this staff has right now. We needed some positive vibes and are getting them. I'll wait to see if Chizik proves me wrong on the field. BUT I like the effort in recruiting.

As for Washington, I'm excited about the guy, but I don't believe that 40 time for one second. There are about 3 guys in the SEC that can run that time: Jeff Demps, Tridon Holliday, and possibly Pierre-Louis. Harvin could too. But that's pretty much the list. That said, I'm excited to see him play. You don't need a sub-4.3 forty to be a great corner.

[SouthLink02 8]

Having looked over who has already committed to AU, I don't understand why an AU fan would be remotely "mad" at your class this year. It looks to be very solid.

I see a lot of 3-4 star guys. If your coaching comes through, you won't be lacking and you will continue to have a chance at the SEC.

As I say ALL THE TIME, the actual talent difference between AU, UA, LSU, UF, UGA, and UT is never as big as the recruiting services say.

[mcgufcm 4,109]

Slink, I completely agree. The old staff was putting together a very good class, and this staff, despite coming in under far far far from ideal circumstances, held most of that group together. Then they went out and put their stamp on it with a few key guys from Texas and Junior College (and a couple other commits). They've done a great job. This class is no more or less talented than any Auburn has brought in over the last 4 years. It's a good group.

I also completely agree about the talent gap (although I do think there is an upper tier/middle tier). There just isn't that big a gap between a NUMBER ONE CLASS!!!! and a number fifteen class. The results of either comes down to: 1) a crap shoot and 2) developing the guys that actually turn out to have talent. So the gap between teams that have put up solid groups of guys and pulled legit SEC caliber players each year (regardless of stars) is minimal, no matter how many stars those teams accumulated in the process.

The funniest thing I've seen during this whole year (the disaster season/coaching change) is that somehow Auburn is no longer an elite team, talent-wise (and even more laughable that Bama somehow is all the sudden... I'll accept the argument that they always were uber-talented/poorly coached OR the argument that this was a blip on the radar but they didn't shift from one to the other in two years. That's absurd). Auburn's talent level is right up there with anyone else in the conference. So there's really no excuse from a personnel standpoint for this coaching staff. There are excuses (it takes a while to put in a new system, etc.), but talent isn't one of them.

Ziemba and Pugh hit "The Wall" as sophomores. It happens. They didn't become bums. Money says they'll look great this year (and would have under Nall as well). The defense didn't get slow all the sudden. They got hurt. There is a difference. Money says our defensive speed takes a number of non-Auburn people by surprise at the start of next season (and would have under Rhoads as well).

In the end, we suffered an insane number of injuries last year, wasted a year on an in-over-his-head, glorified high school coach, and played more Fr/So than anyone in the SEC. The dysfunction, injuries, and youth (in that order) killed us. But we didn't lose for a lack of talent, and we won't lose next year for that reason. Florida just won a national title. Despite that, I'd take a number of our guys at the same position as their guys at the same spot going into next season... that should tell you something (Ex. Antonio Coleman over any Gator End OR the Fannin/Tate combo over UF's backs: Demps/Rainey/Moody).

I'm impressed by this staff thus far. I like what they've done. They have assured no drop in talent during the transition, and even gone out to find a few guys that should help next season. Given that, the one excuse they won't have if we don't win is a lack of talent. We've got personnel good enough to win the West.

[SouthLink02 8]

Right. I am not saying Vandy has the same amount of talent as UF and I do admit that having a higher ranked class can lead to great things if studs work out (see UF with 5-Star Percy/Tebow)

But, on the whole...I think classes are so over-exaggerated and over-analyzed.

UGA has had Top 5-10 classes the last few years yet whenever Rivals "re-visits" them years later we always seem to end up in the #15-#20 range with dropouts, injuries, etc....

Would I like UGA to finish Top 5 every year? Of course as we got 4-Star Moreno/5-Star Stafford to lead us to 0 SEC titles. But, I would not get depressed if UGA finished #12-#14 with less dropouts/injury-prone players