Scarbinsky: When is the last time Auburn's talent search has been this much fun?

[AUSportTalk 4]

In the beginning was the Tiger Prowl.

Then came the Big Cat Weekend.

What's next in Auburn football recruiting?

Actual verbal commitments? Secondary rules violations?

Whatever it is, it promises not to be dull.

Say this for the aim-high approach of new head coach Gene Chizik and his never-stand-still staff: In the high-risk, high-reward world of SEC talent searching, it's better to push the envelope than mail it in.

And these guys are pushing into uncharted territory.

Look at the biggest of the big cats who visited Auburn over the weekend. Rivals.com ranks running back Lache Seastrunk, running back Marcus Lattimore and wide receiver Trovon Reed as the Nos. 2, 4 and 15 players in the nation in the class of 2010.

If just one of them inks with Auburn next February, he'll be ranked higher than any recruit who signed during the entire Tommy Tuberville era.

That distinction right now belongs to 2005 signee and wasted talent Tray Blackmon, who clocked in at No. 17 that year.

That's right. According to Rivals, Tuberville didn't sign a single top-10 national player in his 10 years on the Plain.

Meanwhile, in the last two years alone, Alabama signed No. 4 Julio Jones in 2008 and No. 3 D.J. Fluker and No. 6 Trent Richardson in 2009.

OK. Time for the disclaimer.

Recruiting rankings are always subjective and sometimes flat-out wrong, and all recruiting services aren't created equal. Rivals considered Carnell Williams the No. 24 best prospect in America in 2001, and clearly he was the most significant Tuberville ever got, so Rivals is not without peer.

But if the Big Cat Weekend proves anything -- beyond the fact that the standards for rolling Toomer's Corner have been loosened considerably -- it's the major shift in recruiting philosophy from the old staff to the new one.

Tuberville's mantra: We'll coach up our three-stars and make your five-stars fear the thumb plus one.

Chizik's credo: Better to fight five-stars with five-stars.

Watch the video that shows Seastrunk at Toomer's Corner as a crowd just happened to be there with extra rolls of Charmin at the ready, and it's obvious at least one of the recruits is looking for a good fight.

The Texas tailback called out Nick Saban, by name, not once but twice.

Auburn fans will tell you Seastrunk's comments -- especially his ''wait till we get here" line -- mean he's not-so-silently committed to the Tigers.

Alabama fans will tell you Seastrunk's remarks mean he should be committed closer to Tuscaloosa -- at Bryce.

Either way, Auburn football continues to find creative ways to put itself in the minds of recruits and on the lips of the general public.

Is it possible that the Tigers, without even playing a game, have got their swagger back?

It wouldn't be unprecedented. Pat Dye showed his swagger from the start. Asked by a starving search committee how long it would take to beat Alabama, he snapped, ''Sixty minutes."

Terry Bowden showed his swagger with catch-phrases Auburn fans could pin their hopes on and, as a bonus, on their lapels.

The AU-dacity.

Tommy Tuberville showed his swagger with his fingers after one Iron Bowl victory after another.

Somewhere along the way, each of those coaches lost his swagger, or had it slapped out of him, because quips, slogans and gimmicks have to be backed up with results game after game and year after year.

No one knows when this current limo ride will end, but right now, there's no debate. Auburn football is fun again. Whether you're laughing with the Tigers, at them or near them.

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

That's about as positive as you are gonna get out of the media in this state.  Journalism is a joke in Alabama as a whole.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

This is one of the few times I agree with any wrighter of the paper.