Rednilla

One caveat: While I'm willing to give Harsin and company a few years to start winning big, I don't think it's going to take that long to be recruiting with the big boys again. If we win 9 games in the regular season this year (which is a tall task, to be sure), I think the only thing that may keep us out of at least the top 15 is the fact that I don't know how many high school/JUCO kids we'll be signing, or how transfers between D-I schools will be treated by recruiting services going forward.

It's sure to help the Bill Snyders of the world, I would think.

It's sure to help the Bill Snyders of the world, I would think.

No, I was talking about the optimism of the fan base, of which many are posters here. I just wasn't talking about optimism regarding this recruiting class. I was actually pointing out that Mikey made the OP as much of a buzz kill as he could while inserting something that makes him seem optimistic, but doubtful.

Okay, I'm sure someone has already taken a crack at this one, but no, the pandemic excuse is not dead and stupid. Yes, every school is dealing with the ramifications of the COVID restrictions, but A) Not everyone has a new coaching staff headed by a guy who's been recruiting the other side of the country his entire career, B) if you have ever been to Auburn and any other college town, you should know that being there is a HUGE part of the selling point for coming to AU, and, most importantly, C) he said 2010 was exactly the same as 2022, and it's not. Also, with the transfer portal in play, I don't think it's nearly as important to recruit the high school ranks so spectacularly as it was a dozen years ago. I mean, we're bringing in an entire defensive secondary, a behemoth DT to clog the lanes in the 3-4, an edge rusher, a legitimate backup QB, and we're likely to pick up a veteran WR to anchor that unit. And that's in a year we fired our head coach.

One other note here is that Holland didn't receive his fourth star until very late in the process, after ending an incredibly prolific high school career.

I firmly believe that at least two of the current commitments, if not all three, will end up as 4 stars, and I believe that the staff is being very selective in who they take for a couple of reasons. 1) Harsin doesn't seem keen on taking whomever he can get if plans A, B, and C don't work out, and 2) the transfer portal is our friend. As long as we're able to find a couple of offensive tackles that Friend thinks he can mold into SEC players, I am 100% okay with how recruiting is going, even if we don't see it really start to come to fruition on the high school side until 2023. And look, we have a QB commit that is rising on the boards, has been committed for a good long while, and is out recruiting for us. And reports out of camp are that the amount of people and effort being put into recruiting is on an entirely different level. Besides, there's a difference between optimism building in the program and having optimism in this recruiting class. Yes, okay, I will admit that Mikey had a couple of points that are relevant, but the fact that he left out EVERYTHING about the circumstances surrounding Harsin's hire while saying they were the exact same situation suggests that he isn't just here "being realistic on a message board." He's butthurt because everyone is excited about the new coach, and he can't wait to bring us down the way some of us brought him down about Malzahn. I did not see him admit Gus was ready to be fired until months after the fact, and he was doing it as a way to placate those of us who blew up his spin.

Injecting realism isn't. Countering every statement of optimism with it is. A lot closer than measure up to and failure.

And I didn't accuse you of stating that if we don't match Chizik's recruiting then Harsin is a failure. I accused you of stating that he won't measure up to Chizik. Here's the quote of what you did say: Measure up to is pretty danged close to matching. Oh, okay, so you weren't saying the best we can hope for is 50/50, you were saying that we're stupid if we're hoping for anything even that good. Statistically, yes, you are correct. Now, that having been said, let me return to my point about the word fanatic. It is defined as "a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal". The only thing you have had a zeal for is shooting down optimism by being "realistic". What have you got shoved up your butt that you don't want anyone to be optimistic that we might have actually found a winner of a coach? And how do you call yourself a fan when that is the only thing that you could possibly seem to be single-minded about?

Anyone who thought 6 months ago that we'd be any better off is a fool. It takes time to develop relationships, and it's not nearly as easy to do in the climate of this year, especially for a new coaching staff. And yes, you are doom and glooming. You started a thread specifically to make the point that if we don't finish at least 4th in recruiting with at least 3 five star recruits, then Harsin just doesn't measure up to the worst head coach to win a national championship in the history of college football. You're doing everything you can to instill the idea that the best we can hope for is 50/50 that Harsin will be any better than Malzahn. Look, I get it, you don't want to get all excited about positivity in the program without tangible evidence that we're going to be a year in, year out championship contender. Just remember that the word "fan" comes from fanatic, and the only thing you've been fanatic about since Harsin was hired is putting a damper on the optimism generated by hiring a head coach who has actually run a program successfully for more than one year.

The levels you are going to in trying to dampen the optimism being built by this new staff are pretty funny. Signing day is two months sooner, and recruiting was all over Zoom conferences until a month ago, meaning the coaches weren't able to use Auburn to sell Auburn (or visit recruits to get their foot in the door), but hey yeah it'll all be EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT WAS IN 2010!!! Oh yeah, btw, let's make a comparison that makes Harsin look worse than a coach who won more than 8 games exactly one time in his entire head coaching career. That's sure to knock all those optimists who understand butthurt when they see it off their pedestals.

Geriner has been moving up the rankings. He's a 4* on 247Composite, so that means he's likely only a 3* according to rivals...something I expect to change. I'd be surprised if Stinson doesn't end up a 4*, as well. https://247sports.com/college/auburn/Season/2022-Football/Commits/ Also, recruiting is not the same thing as players we have publicly committed. Recruiting is the relationships we're developing with recruits, and that's going pretty well from all those who tend to have an idea what's going on.

Well that's disappointing.

I'd say that bodes well for the good guys!

Truthfully, he's not wrong in his description...but the thing is that, like you said, we're getting to the point that we can genuinely trust that our coach knows what's up and is either prepared for this already or can readily adapt. But at the same time, losing a 7 footer who can hit from all over the floor and is shooting up the boards hurts any way you look at it. We'll be okay, to be sure, but it's not so easy to replace guys like this, so being concerned is not unwarranted.

Dang, that stings. I wonder how much it might have to do with Kessler being here and it not being clear that he would go pro after only one season. I was looking forward to having a 7-footer for at least the next two seasons, even if Kessler did leave, and excited to have a pair of 7-footers if he didn't leave, but I guess that is not to be. Or maybe he'll take another visit to Auburn and remember why he loves it so much here. Or maybe he'll see how Bruce uses a stretch 5 with Kessler this season and decide that he likes that look. Who knows?

And that's fair, but it speaks to how long we COULD have someone with seniority over him. Not that I think seniority necessarily means anything to Harsin and Bobo, but it's something to think about. Well, it's not inconceivable that they could stretch out the length of time they remain here, take a light load of classes every semester and graduate in 5 years, since they know they can play that long if they want. The rest of what you mentioned are all solid points, particularly the habit of running 2 TE sets opening up the possibility that we could legitimately see 3 to 4 TEs get significant time, even without injury.

Honestly, I'm not even sure where I pulled that from in my head for Fromm. I don't think he's on the same athletic level as King, Frazier, or Riley-Ducker, but I do think he could be a good receiver/route runner...and maybe I'm underestimating him athletically, I don't know. Deal, as noted, is more a blocker. I think his ceiling is similar to where John Samuel Shenker is, which is not a bad place to be, because I'm a fan of Shenker (how can you not love a big tight end with hands of glue?), but from what everyone is saying it doesn't sound like either of them particularly fit the normal TE mold for Harsin.

Those three all have 4 years of eligibility left, as does Landen King, obviously. If King redshirts this season, then he'll still have 4 years eligibility when Riley-Ducker would get here. Now, the coaches could sell him on his being more their type of TE, because Deal doesn't seem to fit that mold, and I'm not entirely sure Fromm does, either, so he could be looking at challenging for playing time as a freshman, I suppose, but between Frazier and King, I think we're alright regarding athletic, pass catching tight ends for a while.

If he's looking to play early, would Auburn really be a good landing spot for him with all the talent we have at the position already? Only reason I could see him legitimately wanting to come here is if he wants to play for a national championship, because the other three teams aren't going to get there.

I actually kind of doubt the G-League is looking for an undersized SG unless a few guys turn them down.

Didn't realize Bryce was 6'3. Yeah, I'd say we have a significant chance to pull this kid, because Bruce has kinda made his name with undersized guards.

6'3 is undersized for a 2? I always thought that was in the ideal range...

Isn't SG the last position that Auburn has not signed a 5 star talent? I mean, we got Coop at the point, Jabari at PF, and Kessler at C, and wasn't Mustapha Heron a small forward? Or was he a SG, too? Not that it matters to how much we want to bring Cruz in, just a tidbit.

Oh, he's got a nice shot, but I don't know how well he'll do handling the ball much.