What do we need to do to

[AUman43 5]

I realize that Chizik and his staff only had a matter of months to build relationships with Mama's and Papa's and the kids but hey, we got our proverbial a$$e$ handed to us in-state. Not only that, six of the other SEC Schools outrecruited us and this cannot continue. I would hope that Chizik can reverse this trend next year or we are indeed in trouble. We lost recruits to Southern Miss, Ole Piss, and even South Florida. When has that happened? First, we need to win again; second, we need to work harder in-state, and thirdly, we need to expand our recruiting territory; and finally, we need to build relationships. That's my take.

[TitanTiger 22,262]

I realize that Chizik and his staff only had a matter of months to build relationships with Mama's and Papa's and the kids

You answered you own question in the first part of the first sentence. The rest was just a lot of needless words. You can't judge their ability to recruit in-state based on 6-8 weeks worth of building relationships.

BTW though, even during our best recruiting classes under Tubs (and against Shula, Fran and Dubose), Auburn averaged only about 30% of its signees coming from in-state while bammer typically averaged about 65%. That's not going to change no matter who is in here.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

I think that this staff is much more aggressive than the old "soft-sell" style Tuberville used. I think that's the biggest reason I think we'll look to improve next year. We'll probably never be able to get much better than 50%, which is as good as Tuberville ever did, but I think those guys on the other side of the state are gonna have their work cut out for them next year, and the year after, etc.

[PChamp119 96]

I realize that Chizik and his staff only had a matter of months to build relationships with Mama's and Papa's and the kids

You answered you own question in the first part of the first sentence. The rest was just a lot of needless words. You can't judge their ability to recruit in-state based on 6-8 weeks worth of building relationships.

BTW though, even during our best recruiting classes under Tubs (and against Shula, Fran and Dubose), Auburn averaged only about 30% of its signees coming from in-state while bammer typically averaged about 65%. That's not going to change no matter who is in here.

This has happened two years in a row, and even when Tubs was still here, we had none of the Alabama kids this year. So I don't buy the crap just because Chizik was only here a few weeks.

Saban has recruited the #1 class two years in a row now. We better get used to it.

UA, sorry to say, is the poster college of this state.

[jared52 4,358]

I don't understand the fascination with in-state recruiting. Certainly we need to get the best kids to play for Auburn but does it matter what abbreviation comes after the comma? I don't care if they are from Sweden, if they are the best kids for our program, will help us win and represent Auburn with class, that's all that matters.

This was an anomaly year considering all that has happened. Did Chizik do a good job recruiting this year? We won't know that for a year or two. Stars mean very little next to heart. If these kids have it, they will succeed for the duration of their career and their prospective school. I always felt xCTT saw the kids with heart and went after them, sometimes to his detriment, but his players played hard and at times above their abilities. The ones that didn't were either not the player they could have been due to coaching or simply didn't have the desire to be the best every time they stepped on the field.

[metafour 5,777]

What exactly is your definition of "compete?" If it is the general definition then I will outright say: NEVER. Never have, never will.

[TigerDevil 3]

We just need to work harder. Nick Saban, as much as i dislike him, works his butt off in recruiting. I read last year where recruits came to visit him at his home and he had 6 wheeled gators for them all to ride all over his prperty and his wife cooked them all dinner. He goes above and beyond to really reel these kids in. But I think our staff is going make giant strides between this year and next.

[PChamp119 96]

I don't understand the fascination with in-state recruiting. Certainly we need to get the best kids to play for Auburn but does it matter what abbreviation comes after the comma? I don't care if they are from Sweden, if they are the best kids for our program, will help us win and represent Auburn with class, that's all that matters.

This was an anomaly year considering all that has happened. Did Chizik do a good job recruiting this year? We won't know that for a year or two. Stars mean very little next to heart. If these kids have it, they will succeed for the duration of their career and their prospective school. I always felt xCTT saw the kids with heart and went after them, sometimes to his detriment, but his players played hard and at times above their abilities. The ones that didn't were either not the player they could have been due to coaching or simply didn't have the desire to be the best every time they stepped on the field.

In-state competition is very important. Coaches come and go. In-state connections are very important. Perhaps many areas in Alabama are linked to UA because of those connections and constantly sending kids to UA.

Plus, think about when AU and UA play each other. If AU has 10% of their players from Alabama and UA has 70% of their players from Alabama, which players do you think will play harder in the Iron Bowl? If the "best" talent in Alabama are attending UA and when the players get on the field with all of the in-state emotions, do the math on the likelihood of the outcome.

Then there is just the perception "not even the best players in Alabama want to go to Auburn. Why would you?"

I agree out-of-state recruiting is good. But Alabama is beating us out-of-state and getting better prospects in general.

[WarTiger 4,120]

I realize that Chizik and his staff only had a matter of months to build relationships with Mama's and Papa's and the kids

You answered you own question in the first part of the first sentence. The rest was just a lot of needless words. You can't judge their ability to recruit in-state based on 6-8 weeks worth of building relationships.

BTW though, even during our best recruiting classes under Tubs (and against Shula, Fran and Dubose), Auburn averaged only about 30% of its signees coming from in-state while bammer typically averaged about 65%. That's not going to change no matter who is in here.

This has happened two years in a row, and even when Tubs was still here, we had none of the Alabama kids this year. So I don't buy the crap just because Chizik was only here a few weeks.

Saban has recruited the #1 class two years in a row now. We better get used to it.

UA, sorry to say, is the poster college of this state.

Obviously you didn't bother to read titans entire post and are just doing your typical bobo honking of uat. Here, let me highlight the part that you should re-read.

We also had a coaching change and still jumped up close to 15 spots in the recruiting rankings in a very short period of time.

Now, the other issue is: who cares who wins the state of alabama? Sorry to disappoint some of you, but the state of alabama isn't even in the top 5 and may barely make the top 10 of states in the country for high school football players. Its a cold hard fact. Are there some good players in alabama, of course. There are some of those that we wanted at Auburn too, but there are better players at most every position outside the state of alabama. It doesn't matter who the coach is at uat or what the budget is of the REC for the given year, we aren't going to out recruit uat in state. period.

Good post as well jared....

[cadillacattack 0]

With the right leadership, Auburn can organize its supporters and create a more favorable media environment within the state. Until we implement a solution to this problem, the public perception (and the rewards that go with it) will continue to be largely controlled by SPUAT.

[PChamp119 96]

I realize that Chizik and his staff only had a matter of months to build relationships with Mama's and Papa's and the kids

You answered you own question in the first part of the first sentence. The rest was just a lot of needless words. You can't judge their ability to recruit in-state based on 6-8 weeks worth of building relationships.

BTW though, even during our best recruiting classes under Tubs (and against Shula, Fran and Dubose), Auburn averaged only about 30% of its signees coming from in-state while bammer typically averaged about 65%. That's not going to change no matter who is in here.

This has happened two years in a row, and even when Tubs was still here, we had none of the Alabama kids this year. So I don't buy the crap just because Chizik was only here a few weeks.

Saban has recruited the #1 class two years in a row now. We better get used to it.

UA, sorry to say, is the poster college of this state.

Obviously you didn't bother to read titans entire post and are just doing your typical bobo honking of uat. Here, let me highlight the part that you should re-read.

We also had a coaching change and still jumped up close to 15 spots in the recruiting rankings in a very short period of time.

Now, the other issue is: who cares who wins the state of alabama? Sorry to disappoint some of you, but the state of alabama isn't even in the top 5 and may barely make the top 10 of states in the country for high school football players. Its a cold hard fact. Are there some good players in alabama, of course. There are some of those that we wanted at Auburn too, but there are better players at most every position outside the state of alabama. It doesn't matter who the coach is at uat or what the budget is of the REC for the given year, we aren't going to out recruit uat in state. period.

Good post as well jared....

I did read the entire thing. I saw the part about Tubs only getting 35% or whatever. My point is - why were we only getting 35% in the first place (point of the thread). And on top of that - we had Tuberville last year and he got like nobody last year. Then this past year we had Tuberville as well and we still got nobody. It's not like we had some committed with Tuberville, even 35%, and then they left after he was fired.

So perhaps you should read what I write jack.

[TitanTiger 22,262]

This has happened two years in a row, and even when Tubs was still here, we had none of the Alabama kids this year. So I don't buy the crap just because Chizik was only here a few weeks.

AS I SAID, Oh One That Fails To Read English Properly, I did the research. Auburn averaged around 30% of its signees coming from in-state no matter who was coaching in West Vance and even when Tubs had some of his best signing classes. We have always, even back to the Pat Dye era, had more of a mix of kids from AL, FL, GA and MS.

But I do think we will do a little better than the last year or two once this staff has a chance to build relationships because I think they are recruiting more aggressively than xCTTs staff did toward the end. I think if they can come in here and get guys who weren't even considering us like Benton, Blake, Aycock, Eguae and Rollison to sign, I like their chances with more time.

Saban has recruited the #1 class two years in a row now. We better get used to it.

UA, sorry to say, is the poster college of this state.

And you're the poster douchebag of this site.

[TitanTiger 22,262]

I did read the entire thing. I saw the part about Tubs only getting 35% or whatever. My point is - why were we only getting 35% in the first place (point of the thread).

Because, dumbass, Auburn's natural recruiting mix has always been more evenly distributed between AL, FL and GA with some MS, TN and LA guys thrown in. Bama has always more heavily relied on in-state talent. It's just the way things tend to be (all else being equal) when there's a big "state" school to go to.

[PChamp119 96]

This has happened two years in a row, and even when Tubs was still here, we had none of the Alabama kids this year. So I don't buy the crap just because Chizik was only here a few weeks.

AS I SAID, Oh One That Fails To Read English Properly, I did the research. Auburn averaged around 30% of its signees coming from in-state no matter who was coaching in West Vance and even when Tubs had some of his best signing classes. We have always, even back to the Pat Dye era, had more of a mix of kids from AL, FL, GA and MS.

But I do think we will do a little better than the last year or two once this staff has a chance to build relationships because I think they are recruiting more aggressively than xCTTs staff did toward the end. I think if they can come in here and get guys who weren't even considering us like Benton, Blake, Aycock, Eguae and Rollison to sign, I like their chances with more time.

R-E-A-D what I wrote.

I acknowledged that 35% thing. I was stating that we got like NOBODY! And the fact of 30-35% - you didn't state that those numbers were consisting of the lower-level talent. When I read 30-35%, I think that means we get 30-35% of the top talent as well. UA has gotten the top 9 guys or so from the last two years.

[mugz 0]

I will agree UAT recruits better in st but I think with the coaching staff we have that the field can even out at least. I also agree that we do not have to win in-st if we get great recruits from other states. We got our first two TX commits so that is huge.

I think Auburn should also do weekend camp that is sponsored by Underarmor or someone. It is good PR and could bring some big time recruits on campus. If I remember correctly AU just has summer camps along with a SR camp but it is not sponsored by no one.

[AUman43 5]

We just need to work harder. Nick Saban, as much as i dislike him, works his butt off in recruiting. I read last year where recruits came to visit him at his home and he had 6 wheeled gators for them all to ride all over his prperty and his wife cooked them all dinner. He goes above and beyond to really reel these kids in. But I think our staff is going make giant strides between this year and next."

I totally agree. After all, these are 18 year old kids and the "extras" play a role in their choices. We need to get much more aggressive and inventive in this recruiting game. I hope Chizik will do that.

[WarTim 3,565]

To answer the question....AU COULD do what uat does, but, I had rather let them catch the D E A T H penalty while we conduct ourselves in the RIGHT way....IF you know what I mean......

[TitanTiger 22,262]

I get that. And I think we'll do better. But the point is, I think Bama has some built-in advantages in-state that won't go away no matter who is there. I think the new staff did a good job of holding on/getting guys like:

Terrance Coleman

Dee Ford

Harris Gaston

Anthony Gulley

Jamar Travis

Those are really good players. But frankly, while it would be nice to pick off a few of the "top-rated" guys, what difference does it make what WR they got in-state if we got DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake for instance? I just want good players, regardless of whether they are from here, Florida, Georgia or anywhere else. Hell, I'm excited about making some forays into Texas this year. That state oozes talent.

So in the end, as long as we get ours, I don't care whether we win the in-state battle.

[autigeremt 7,551]

Titan hit this one squarely!!!!!

Auburn needs to be national, not just in-state or tri-state. We need to be out there in Texas, look at kids from California, go after a couple from the upper midwest, and take one-three from the northeast along with Georgia, Florida, LA, Miss., TN, S.C., N.C., Arkansas.

[LegalEagle 22]

Just curious - were any of the Bammer 6 in state commits from the ESPN 150 raised an AU fan?

[PChamp119 96]

To answer the question....AU COULD do what uat does, but, I had rather let them catch the D E A T H penalty while we conduct ourselves in the RIGHT way....IF you know what I mean......

Keep making stuff up.

Do you have any evidence or reason to believe otherwise? Sounds like sour grapes.

Bama is not going to get the Death Penalty. You just want it to happen (as do I), but there is no reason to believe otherwise.

[autigeremt 7,551]

No reason not too, with all the rumblings from up that way. At the end of the day....who cares?

Auburn is more than the State of Alabama.

[IndyTiger 3]

I will agree UAT recruits better in st but I think with the coaching staff we have that the field can even out at least. I also agree that we do not have to win in-st if we get great recruits from other states. We got our first two TX commits so that is huge.

I think Auburn should also do weekend camp that is sponsored by Underarmor or someone. It is good PR and could bring some big time recruits on campus. If I remember correctly AU just has summer camps along with a SR camp but it is not sponsored by no one.

I'm pretty sure we hosted an Under Armor Camp.

[AFTiger 282]

At one time, Auburn used to compete with UAT for in-state recruits

Read what happened.

[92AUGRAD 4]

PChump = Bammer