Rednilla

It's not being backed up two years. As you said, the 2019 signee left school, leaving a spot for one of the 2020 signees to count backwards, which leaves room for another 2020 signee. Johnson reclassified, so he is now a member of the 2020 class, and he signed during a time period in which only 2020 signees can sign. You see, he COULDN'T count to the 2021 limit and be on the team in 2020 since he was not unrecruited, like the punter we just picked up from Australia. Yes, it's following a path through loopholes, but it's still 2020, so Johnson isn't "counting back," he's just counted normal. If he were going to be a true freshman in 2021 yet still count in the 2020 class, you would have a point, but the only way he will be a true freshman in 2021 is if the SEC cancels the season and everyone's eligibility has a year added to it.

Mississippi Valley State wasn't exactly playing against the SEC, and they had arguably the greatest wide receiver of all time on the roster. I'm not saying the offense doesn't have potential, and I absolutely want to give Morris the keys and let him run things as he sees fit, but I question how this would be better for us when we just signed a 5 star running back and signed two 4 stars in the class before that. The innovative thing would be to utilize all of the weapons, not start running some system of 5 wide outs that was super successful a decade and a half before any of these kids were born.

Okay, so I'm confused. He's enrolling for this season, but he's still being counted in the 21 class? Have they just not updated the rankings or something?

I would be all for developing a package for this, but there's no way Gus would allow it to be used for more than a drive, I don't think.

It's called the Oop-dee-oop. Get it right!

That's actually a rule I don't care about too much. For one thing, it's not so much incorrect these days as it is informal, and this is quite an informal medium. But moreover, that's just one I've never abided by a whole lot, and I find myself violating the rule more often than someone with my writing background should.

Unless we go through a fair amount of attrition, we really don't need a second back in this year's class. But yes, I hope we get LJ Johnson, too. Quite frankly, as much as I still kinda prefer Goodwin when comparing the two, I think Johnson is probably the most complete running back this recruiting cycle.

That's why it's up to those of us who understood exactly how much of a weapon he was as a blocker to make sure that if he is talked about like that, we remind and inform others that he didn't make it to the NFL because of the whirlybird.

The whirlybird.

You're free to use your contacts to find out something about him, too...

Interesting! I've never heard of that exception, and honestly I don't understand what precedence might have established this possibility, but I'm glad it worked out for us!

This guy didn't watch the same Iron Bowl I did. Bo didn't dominate the game, but he did play really well, and Mac Jones benefited more from his stellar wide receivers than he played a superior game to Nix. I don't know anything about that kid who played at Arizona State, but he probably wasn't up against quite as stiff a test as Bo was.

I'm pretty sure this just basically means he'll be a walk-on for a semester but get put on scholarship in January, when he can count toward next year's recruiting class.

LOL, I know, but my thought was more that if this is an elite level speed running back, he'd be pulling away from DBs in high school. Again, I think it's the level of competition that I underestimated more than anything. Even while I was watching, I had the thought that it's certainly not bad if this is 6A, because a fair amount of those DBs will end up playing Division 1 football, but my consideration was that if he's not pulling away from high school DBs, how is he going to fare at Auburn when he's facing SEC DBs? Not saying that my thinking is right, just trying to explain where it's coming from.

I didn't mean that he was slow, but admittedly 4.42 is faster than I would have guessed. It just seemed like he had a lot of DBs running with him on those runs, rather than him pulling away as I would expect of a back with good top end speed in high school. Of course, if it's 6A, that makes a little more sense, because there's a ton of talent at that level in TX. And maybe my standards for speed are a bit high, with Shivers and Goodwin in the fold. In any case, it'd be great to see Johnson playing for Auburn.

What classification is this he's playing against? Doesn't appear to have the top end speed Goodwin does, but great vision and balance, at least from those few clips the film showed. It wouldn't hurt my feelings any if we missed on him, as stacked as we are at running back already, but it sure never hurts to pick up a player of his talent. And, much as it surely grates at Golf's nerves, I tend to value the yellow one's input on players, especially those from Texas.

Didn't mean for it to, but I can understand how it might have been misleading.

I got that it was his point. I was providing an example that supported it.

Well, Sean White was the MVP at the camp Deshaun Watson went to. I'd say Watson had the better college career.

That's your bias talking. I'm not too surprised by the drop, considering the performance at Elite. I'd rather have a QB who performs better on game day, anyway, and the kid is a lightening rod when they strap on the pads.

Looks like a corner to me. Don't know that he'll be on Iggy's level, but not many are. I can see the appeal of having his quickness on the offensive side of the ball, but if he really wants to play on Sunday, he should stick to defense, IMO.

I only included that bit because the last time we had an heir apparent waiting in the wings, it didn't work out so well, and I wanted to head it off before anyone came in blaring about the dangers of being complacent with an heir apparent backup and not trying to get other quality players as well to keep up the competition. I just think back to what it was like having Berger-->Slack-->White-->Nix-->Craig...

I'm really, really excited about Davis. I keep telling people that if he was two inches taller, he'd be a five star recruit. I think he has more potential at the college level than even Bo, personally. I don't think he'll take the starting position away from Bo or anything, but I do think his legs are going to make a world of difference in this offense, much like Nick Marshall's did. I don't expect him to have quite the same kind of impact as Nick, because Nick could outrun most SEC defensive backs, and I don't think Dematrius will ever have that kind of top end speed. He does, however, have that acceleration burst necessary to be a step up from just enough to keep the defense honest with the zone read, as well as great escape-ability when scrambling. And I LOVE the way other top prospects are following him as the alpha. Of course, the fact that he led his team to the state championship the last two years has been regurgitated a lot on Auburn boards, but to have been the starting QB at a Texas powerhouse program since he was a freshman, you just know he has to have something special about him. It's nice having a full QB room again with four guys on scholarship, but it'll be even nicer having a full QB room AND a chain of succession where the heir apparent is already there and the starter is an upperclassman. That's the way you want the quarterback situation to look, but we haven't had a line of more than 2 successful QBs with a starter as well as the heir apparent on the team since Pat Dye was running things (Bowden had it for his first few years with Stan White/Pat Nix/Dameyune Craig from 93-95, but that was due to Dye's recruiting). I suppose it makes sense that times have changed, and kids who have what it takes to be quality SEC QBs don't want to have to be a backup for 2-3 seasons, but it sure would make me feel better if we were able to maintain a line where the starter was never lower than a redshirt sophomore (barring injury), and there was always an heir apparent youngster either redshirting or waiting in the wings after redshirting. Yes, I know, that's the dream...but with Davis coming in 2021, I can see the first step of that dream finally coming through. And I honestly don't think he's going to be like Jeremy Johnson and fall so short of expectations. He's had too much success in a league that is as close to college football as high school can make it for me to believe he will fall so flat.

I have heard the same, though not the time limit of 3 years best case (it does make sense, I just haven't heard anyone put a number on it). I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if he didn't want to be a college HC again and things click with him and Malzahn, because that might actually facilitate Gus becoming a CEO head coach, having someone he trusts running both the offense and the defense. I just rather doubt it's going to work out that way.

Well, it's good to get a kid like this, considering our new QB commit apparently wanted him on board. I'm excited about the possibility of utilizing the tight end position more abundantly going forward, and the prospect of having Morris around long enough to properly utilize all of this TE talent we're hauling in is pretty intoxicating. I do have to wonder how quickly his prospects for a head coaching position might change if we have as much success in the next year or two as we are capable of having. But this kid looks fantastic.