Published December 31, 2010 - 4:28am
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As with every SEC team, Auburn recruits mostly for need first, and then for best available players. Sometimes people misunderstand recruiting, and will assume that a certain player chose one school over another, when in fact only one of the the schools ever made an offer. In Alabama alone, there may not be more than five or six players that both Alabama and Auburn are recruiting heavily.
If a school has 5-6 QBs on scholarship, it’s doubtful they’re going to spend time and effort trying to sign another. So, when you hear a recruit state that he chose this school over that school, because that school didn’t show much interest in him, he’s being truthful. There are exceptions to recruiting for need. Auburn didn’t have a need for a QB in 2010, and had no plans to sign one, but Cam Newton had enough ability and upside to make it worthwhile to pursue him.
This is the current recruiting needs for Auburn in 2011, and current commitments at the position.
Offense (number sought)
QB (1) – Kiehl Frazier – 6′ 3″, 212 – Springdale, Arkansas
RB (2) -
ATH (1 or 2) – C. J. Uzomah – 6′ 5″, 230 – Suwanee, Georgia
WR (3) – Sammie Coates – 6′ 3″, 179 – Leroy, Alabama; Jaylon Denson, 6′ 3″, 190, Hoover, Alabama
TE (1) -
OL (4-5) – Reese Dismukes – 6′ 4″, 287 – Spanish Fort, Alabama; Thomas O’Reilly – 6′ 3″, 313 – Marietta, Georgia; Greg Robinson – 6′ 5″, 296 – Thibodaux, Louisiana
Defense (number sought)
DT (4 or 5) – Angelo Blackson – 6′ 5″, 290 – Bear, Delaware; Jabrian Niles – 6′ 2″, 270 – Mobile, Alabama
DE (3 or 4) – Kemiya Harrell – 6′ 5″, 235 – Plantersville, Alabama
LB (2) – Justin Garrett – 6′ 2″. 185 – Tucker, Georgia; Chris Landrum – 6′ 2″, 215 – Sweet Water, Alabama
CB (3 or 4) – Jonathan Rose – 6′ 2″, 170 – Leeds, Alabama;
Safety (2) – Anthony Swain – 6′ 3″, 215 – Gadsden, Alabama
With only 14 commitments, you might worry that Auburn is going to have trouble filling these needs, especially with Auburn’s recruiting being hampered next week by their participation in the BCS Championship. While other teams are out recruiting next week, Auburn will be in Glendale, Arizona, preparing for their BCS Championship game with Oregon.
Auburn is actually in a lot better shape than the numbers here would indicate. Auburn pretty much knows the names of most of the players that will finish out their chart. Some of the names that the Auburn staff is high on, and feels good about include; Tre Mason, Jeremy Hill and Savon Huggins at RB, Quan Bray at WR, Brandon Fulse at TE, Devaunte Sigler and Gabriel Wright at DT, Marcus Roberson and Robenson Therezie at CB, and Erique Florence at Safety.
There are several others that are currently leaning to Auburn, but are also just as likely to go elsewhere. I don’t look for any additional Auburn commitments until either during the high school all-star games, or after the BCS Championship game. Most of the players Auburn has left on their board are wanting to take the rest of their visits, or announce during the all-star games.
The one thing that sticks out to me in this class is the fact that Auburn is going to a bigger defensive backfield. I think the games that Alshon Jefferies, AJ Green and Julio Jones had against Auburn’s smallish backfield opened some eyes about future needs.
As with most other recruiting seasons, I’m sure there will be a surprise or two come signing day. Auburn still has a couple of huge targets they’re working feverishly to switch.
Happy New Year!!!
Quan Bray will decide at the under armour game, and I think it is between AU and UGA. When I spoke with him that is the vibe I got.
It seems like these high school all-star games have become as popular as signing day for top recruits to announce their decisions. It’s not like I’d need any extra reason to watch the games. I still remember watching Tim Tebow in one of these all-star games, and this was when he was deciding between Alabama or Florida. I remember he was flushed into the corner of the end zone on one play, and throwing off his back foot, hit one of his receivers about 45 yards downfield. You can see during these games some of the players that will be immediate impact players in the SEC.
I would not be suprised to see them move the dates of these games back, so players can take more official visits before they make their decisions.
I don’t know, I think playing in the national championship game does more for recruiting than does having this week to recruit. just my opinion.
Conventional wisdom is that winning a national championship helps you more the following season in recruiting. Most of this year’s top recruits have made their minds up before the BCS Championship game is played. It’s the high school juniors that are watching the Auburn – Oregon coverage 24-7 that will put Auburn and Oregon high on their list of schools. That Under Armour commercial featuring Auburn during the Under Armour All-America game didn’t hurt, either.
The two players that we got a commitment from tonight, drove our recruiting ranking up from 23rd to 18th, but most of the teams ranked above us have a lower average per player than we do. We just don’t have the 22 – 23 commitments yet.
Whoomp!!!! Auburn has jumped from 24th in the nation to 8th in just the past few days, with the pickups of Brent Calloway, Quan Bray, Kris Frost and Robenson Therezie. Auburn is still on the short list of several top recruits, and will almost certainly move higher as more commitments come in.