aubiefifty

free country brother..............i agree with it almost totally but i see the bull almost every single day.

when i read this i stood up at my desk and danced the funky chicken........lock em up by gawd!

Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison for criminal contempt of Congress Mark Hosenball ·Contributor Fri, October 21, 2022 at 10:16 AM WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, ex-White House strategist and adviser to former President Donald Trump, was sentenced Friday to four months in federal prison and a $6,500 fine for refusing to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months each on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, but the prison terms will be served concurrently. Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist under former President Donald Trump, gestures outside U.S. District Court in Washington on the day of his sentencing on contempt of Congress charges on Friday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) A jury found Bannon guilty of the two counts in July — one for refusing to appear for a deposition before the panel and the other for refusing to produce requested documents. Each count carries a minimum potential sentence of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison, as well as a fine of $100 to $1,000. Federal prosecutors sought six months behind bars, while Bannon’s attorneys asked the court for probation. The judge released Bannon pending an appeal from his attorneys, and, in a response to the prosecution's accusations during the hearing that he considered himself above the law, told reporters after the sentencing that "this thing about I'm above the law is a total lie."

My Take: A call for truth in Republicans Leon Schaddelee Tue, October 18, 2022 at 11:15 PM It’s that season when somebody has to complain about the nature of political ads. It might as well be me. It’s not ads that attack opponents that I find offensive, but ads that do it dishonorably, by misleading, even portraying opponents falsely. As usual, it’s Republicans who are more guilty of this than Democrats. Yesterday I got an email from Ottawa Impact that underscored that reality, with statements like this: “The Democratic Party is currently led by radical progressive Marxists who seek to divide the American people, rapidly bringing our nation to a state of decline which is nearing socialism and communism.” What follows is a litany of falsehoods that demonize Democrats, portraying them as un-American and enemies of real Americans. The communique ends this way: “… we love you, The People.” I don’t think so. The People are also Democrats, and there was no love for Democrats and their leaders there in that document. Love sees the good in people, including Democrats who ought to be respected for trying to do the right thing for persons who have historically been oppressed in the country, like members of the LGBTQ and Black communities. It doesn’t take a Marxist to see oppression where it exists; Christians can do it, too, and, if they care at all about justice, they must. And then they must do something about it. “The line separating good and evil passes not through states,” the Russian writer Solzhenitsyn famously said, “nor between classes, nor between political parties either but right through every human heart.” That means "good" and "bad" America are in each of us Americans, where the two are engaged in a great struggle for dominance. Our civil war is, first of all, within each individual soul. Good America in each of us respects opponents for their motive, even if it doesn’t respect their policy. It doesn’t label people good or bad — only God can do that — but debates ideas. When does the other guy’s bad idea turn him into a bad guy? A dangerous question to ask in a democracy, where national solidarity is a necessity. Even more dangerous to try to answer it. If we don’t stop mischaracterizing each other and don’t start loving, we lose any chance of democracy; we set the stage for its opposite. Both fascism and communism begin with the demonizing of political opponents. And because that’s happening, we have a right to fear for our national future. For Good America to win, it must not only see good in others, but tell the truth about them. If Republicans don’t want to invite the label "Bad America," they ought to be honest about their political opponents. In case they actually believe the falsehoods they’re spreading, I will not call them lies but misconceptions. I challenge local and national Republicans to stop behaving like Bad America and, as Paul put it in Ephesians 4:15, speak the truth in love. Assertion to the contrary, no Democrat leader is a radical progressive Marxist. Leaders like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, a distinct minority in the party, only want what every other Western nation has: nothing more sinister than social democratic government. A far cry from communism. They say Democrats are seeking to divide the people. Wrong. They say Democrat leaders want to defund the police. Wrong. They say Democrat leaders wants to “sexualize” our children. Wrong. They say Democrats want the right “to end the lives of full-term babies up to and on the day of birth.” Wrong again. They say Democrat leaders want to put dangerous criminals back on the street. Why would they?! No Democrat wants people to revile their country. Rather, she wants everyone to know the truth about us, that we’re a mix of Good and Bad, just like individual people. (It’s always amazed me how the Jews can be so honest about their nation, as depicted in the Old Testament, while American conservatives can be so dishonest about theirs — and with so much less incentive! If conservatives are Christian, who belong first of all to a spiritual nation, they should be the first to criticize the worldly nation when it’s wrong.) If Republicans are really as Christian as they say, they love the truth and hate the false. Truth: the foundational value, the essence of Christian faith. If you don’t have that, any other values you have count for nothing. Let Republicans prove their much-vaunted values are godly by renouncing falsehood. — Leon "Chip" Schaddelee is a resident of Zeeland. This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: A call for truth in Republicans this guy might be from out of the country but he sure gets it.

ya think saban can teach hars anything? grins

Top Auburn football coaching candidate may have flown to Nebraska for meeting Andrew Hughes 3 minutes There’s nothing that gets college football die-hards going like tracking the trajectory of private flights from areas of interest to others. Deion Sanders’ potential flight from Jackson, Mississippi to the Plains got many Tiger fans excited about the prospect of ‘Prime Time’ becoming the next Auburn football head coach. Now, another top candidate for the Auburn football head coaching role — that being Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin — is having his flight information tracked, though this time, it wasn’t to East Central Alabama. Instead, the Lincoln, Nebraska native allegedly flew from Oxford, Mississippi to his hometown on October 16. Of course, the Nebraska Cornhuskers head coaching role has been vacant since Scott Frost was dismissed following a Week 2 loss to Georgia Southern at home. Here was the flight information via Huskers Talk’s Twitter account: Auburn football, nor Nebraska, are better landing spots for Lane Kiffin than Ole Miss Lane Kiffin has a great thing at Ole Miss at the moment, even if fans sometimes prefer being on The Grove on gameday than filling up the student section — something Kiffin himself has called out. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium filled up for the 11 A.M. Auburn football game on October 15, but a Week 4 matchup with Tulsa caused Kiffin to snap at the media in the post-game media scrum after the Rebels didn’t score at all in the second half and won a one-score game against their Group of Five opponent: “Were you at the game? I must’ve been at a different one. It is what it is. Looking around it wasn’t very full and obviously at half the students left, too. When you don’t score in the second half of a game, you’re not going to criticize the fans. I’ve got to do a better job of motivating the players.” Even if fans didn’t show up to Tulsa, Kiffin has sustainable success in Oxford as he continues to utilize the transfer portal to find starters — Jaxson Dart being the most notable during the 2022 cycle — and hunt for diamonds in the rough out of high school, such as Pike Road running back Quinshon Judkins, who just went for 139 yards against the Tigers. Jumping to Nebraska, who ranked outside the top 40 in 2022 and is currently outside the top 50 in recruiting for 2023, would be foolish. Making the move across state lines to Auburn football would be less so, but even still, his expectations would be far higher. Sticking with Ole Miss and shedding the label of being a job-hopper would be Kiffin’s best career move in Fly War Eagle’s opinion.

Auburn announces names for Woltosz Football Performance Center, Creel Family Development Lab Published: Oct. 20, 2022, 6:31 p.m. 3-4 minutes In a Thursday press release, Auburn announced names for the upcoming football performance center and development lab. Tigers’ head coach Bryan Harsin will lead practice at the new football facility, the Woltosz Football Performance Center, and the weight room will be named the Creel Family Player Development Lab. The named spaces honor Walt and Ginger Woltosz and Keith and Ginger Creel. “Once again, the Woltosz and Creel families have demonstrated their leadership and commitment to Auburn by their transformational giving,” Interim Director of Athletics Rich McGlynn said. “These named spaces will serve as permanent reminders to football student-athletes, coaches, and the Auburn family of their steadfast dedication and inspiring generosity.” Read More Auburn Football: How Bryan Harsin is handling Auburn’s open date Business as usual for Bryan Harsin on bye week despite swirling job rumors Takeaways and impactful plays from Auburn’s 48-34 loss against No. 9 Ole Miss In 2019, the Woltoszes gave what was then the largest gift in Auburn Athletics history for the football performance center that now bears their name. Bill and Connie Neville surpassed the record toward the recently named Neville Arena. “The Woltoszes and the Creels have a passion for supporting Auburn – and specifically Auburn student-athletes – that is second to none,” said Tim Jackson, executive associate athletics director, Tigers Unlimited. “Their generosity toward this project is a game changer for our football program, continuing their broad support for many Auburn Athletics programs.” Walt Woltosz earned bachelor’s (1969) and master’s (1977) degrees in aerospace engineering from Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and was later awarded an honorary doctor of science by the University (2021). Ginger Woltosz graduated with a degree in business administration from San Jose State and earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Their daughter, Caitlin, graduated from Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business and contributed to two equestrian national championships in 2016 and 2018 while earning SEC and national academic honors. Their son, Tanner, was a goaltender for the University of Connecticut hockey team, earning academic and athletic accolades. Dedicated in August 2021 and scheduled to be the home of Auburn’s football operations at the conclusion of the 2022 season, the Woltosz Football Performance Center features 233,428 square feet and includes indoor and outdoor practice fields. The $92 million facility is the largest athletics project in Auburn history. The Creel Family Player Development Lab boosts 25,000 square feet of strength and conditioning equipment and training space. Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.

John Samuel Shenker: 'If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly' The Auburn veteran defends his coach and his team. Zac Blackerby 19 hours ago Emotions and all over the place when talking to folks that follow Auburn football. There's passion and the desire to see Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers excel over the course of the final few games of the season when beatable teams come to Jordan Hare Stadium. There is a narrative that the Auburn head coach has lost the team and the locker room. That narrative was put to be by Auburn captain and veteran tight end John Samuel Shenker. "I think this game (against Ole Miss) speaks for itself," Shenker said on Locked On Auburn. "If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly. Guys are fighting. That’s (the rumor that the locker room is lost) far from the truth. We’re still battling hard. We’re playing hard and we believe in everything we’re going. People are going to say that when you lose games, that’s going to happen. But no, He (Bryan Harsin) hasn’t lost anybody. We’re fighting. We’re going to get ready, get healthy, and then we’re fighting on and playing against a good Arkansas team next week." He also touched on the potential discussions that do happen inside the locker room. "I think it gets harder and harder," Shenker said. "In my opinion, if you’re going to be influenced by it, just turn it off and let it be. Those guys (the bench) aren’t playing, and you just don’t want stuff like that to seep into the locker room and spread. I think we’ve done a good job up until this point with that… Now you have time off, and people go home and hear from their families and all of the opinions of everybody that’s not on the football field so it can be a challenge, it really can. Especially when you’re losing football games. It’ll be a huge key coming back next week, focusing on what we have to do as a team because we’re the only ones out there. That’s the big thing that guys need to be able to understand, and see that come to fruition."

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl held back tears of joy when a reporter asked him about his relationship with ex-Auburn assistant coach and newly hired Florida head coach on Wednesday in Moutainbrook for SEC Basketball Media Day. “There are certain topics I get talking about that I get emotional about, like all of a sudden turning a light switch on,” Pearl said. “I get a little Dick Vermeil in me. When you mention Todd Golden, it almost immediately begins to trigger like if you ask me about my son, Steven.” Golden spent three seasons as the head coach at San Francisco and earned a bit to the NCAA before getting hired by Florida this offseason to replace Mike White. The 36-year-old started as an assistant coach with the Dons in 2016 and replaced Kyle Smith for the 2019 season. Pearl hired Golden in 2014 as director of basketball operations. Golden stayed in the role for two seasons before elevating to assistant coach. “I was fortunate enough to be with him when he first got the job at Auburn,” Golden said. “Transparently, we had a lot of work to do in regards to recruiting and building up the program. Seeing his work ethic and how he led the group was inspiring. I’ve always really respected how hard he can get his players to play for him and for the program.” Auburn hosts Florida on December 28th and Neville Arena. It’ll be a bittersweet reunion between mentor and mentee on the hardwood. “I’m kind of looking forward to competing against him, to be honest. I think it’s going to be really fun. We’re both really, really big-time competitors,” Golden said. “We love each other off the floor, but once we get in between the lines, it’s going to be a great competition.” Florida with returning All-SEC preseason first-team big man Colin Castleton was picked to finish seventh in the conference by media. Auburn was selected fourth by the reporters. Auburn and Florida split their home-and-home series last season. This year the games will take on a special meaning for Pearl. “It’s emotional. I love Todd. I love him like a son,” Pearl said. I am so proud of him for the coach that he has become, the father that he is, and the man that he is. So glad that he’s in the league. I think our league did a great job this year hiring some incredible, young, talented, up-and-coming coaches, and it’ll be all -- he’ll be all I can handle as far as what they do and how they do it.” Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.

Check out Jabari Smith’s first NBA basket Updated: Oct. 19, 2022, 11:24 p.m.|Published: Oct. 19, 2022, 7:49 p.m. 2 minutes Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shoots during an NBA game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. , Georgia.(Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) By Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com Former Auburn standout Jabari Smith Jr. scored the first basket of his NBA career on Wednesday night. The third player picked in the 2022 NBA Draft, Smith started at power forward for the Houston Rockets in their 2022-23 season-opening game against the Atlanta Hawks. Smith’s first basket came on a 25-foot pullup with 8:06 left in the first half. The 3-pointer trimmed the Hawks’ lead to 36-35 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, not far from where Smith was a prep star at Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia. The basket didn’t account for Smith’s first NBA points, though. He had made two free throws with 8:52 left in the second quarter after being fouled on a shot under the basket. Smith averaged 16.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in his only season with Auburn, during which the Tigers posted a 28-6 record, won the SEC regular-season title and reached the second round of the NCAA tourney. Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

Joseph Goodman: Jermaine Burton messed up and now it’s on Alabama coach Nick Saban Updated: Oct. 20, 2022, 9:44 a.m.|Published: Oct. 20, 2022, 7:06 a.m. 7-9 minutes The mistakes kept coming for Alabama even after the loss to Tennessee. And so now Alabama coach Nick Saban has an important decision to make. How should he handle this unacceptable situation involving one of his players? What a mess. A video surfaced this week of Alabama receiver Jermaine Burton reaching out and striking a female Tennessee fan amid the on-field chaos of Tennessee’s dramatic victory against Alabama at Neyland Stadium. These are the sports stories where no one is a winner. JOE VS. THE PRO AND THE HERO: Week 8 picks are here RELATED: UA player chases fan, Vol on Vol violence after win against Alabama GOODMAN: Where ghosts of a rivalry float upward like smoke Should Burton be kicked off the team? Should he be suspended? What’s the punishment for hitting a woman that’s a fan of a rival school? Saban said on Wednesday night that it would be handled internally after saying earlier in the day, through a statement, that Alabama was gathering information about the situation. So here’s what happened. Tennessee defeated Alabama 52-49 on a last-second field goal. Epic game, of course. One of the best you’ll see. Moments later, Tennessee’s fans rushed the field. During that wild scene, with Alabama’s players trying to leave the field through a rush of students, Burton’s exit intersected with the oncoming path of the fan. At that point, Burton reached out and struck the fan. Oof. Bad stuff. Dumb. Kinda looks like Burton was trying to clothesline the fan, but it’s impossible to really tell anything or even know anything other than Burton wasn’t trying to give the woman a high-five or congratulate her on Tennessee finally beating Alabama for the first time since 2006. The fan later said on social media that she was smacked. Don’t know about that either. Maybe so. The video that captured the moment is of awful quality, shot by a fan from in the stands. For the conspiracy theorists out there, and this being the SEC there are always “alternative truths” to consider, the person recording the video had nothing to do with it. This wasn’t a “Slip’n Jimmy” situation. Burton wasn’t set up, in other words. The amateur videographer was just pointing their smartphone in the direction of all of the chaos down on the field. I was down there. It was pretty nuts. Maybe even rivaled Kick Six-level crazy. Not only were fans pouring onto the field, but they were manipulating fire at the same time to honor the tradition of smoking cigars after The Third Saturday in October. Most everyone was either less than sober, drunk on joy, really mad or a paid nerd like me trying to document everything. Even the cops couldn’t control the fans. The goalposts later came down, and one set was carried off en masse and tossed into the Tennessee River like an offering to the war gods of the SEC. Look, it goes without saying that players can’t hit fans, and that fans can’t hit players. It happens, though. Earlier this season, a fan of Texas Tech appeared to strike a Texas football player after Tech upset the Longhorns. Auburn fans have interacted with Alabama players after games, too. Just me thinking out loud here, but you’d think Alabama would have a plan for these types of moments. Every time they lose on the road, the opposing team’s fanbase storms the field. Then again, it seems silly wasting time on plans for after a loss. Maybe not anymore. If nothing else, Burton, who is from Calabasas, Calif., and transferred to Alabama from Georgia for this season, has unfortunately made that a requirement for all teams after he hit a female fan. Stunned, the fan turned around to face Burton as he walked away. The comment attached to the video on TikTok: “Jermaine Burton smacking me in the head while walking past him after their loss Saturday.” The video and comment were later removed. Fans of Alabama’s rivals have already determined that Burton should be kicked off the team, of course. Maybe. Saban will decide, and then Saban will have to live with that decision. If Burton is gone, it leaves Alabama with one fewer standout receiver. Most teams have clear policies in place for incidents involving domestic abuse, but this is not domestic abuse. Still, Burton hit a woman on the field, and so now it’s a defining moment of this season for Saban. If Saban is forced to dismiss Burton, then that decision could affect Alabama for the remainder of the season. Look what happened in the national championship game against Georgia when Alabama lost Jameson Williams to an injury. Alabama’s offense fell apart. Burton was supposed to be the replacement for Williams. Weird as it sounds, Burton left the team he won a national championship with against Alabama to play with Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. Can’t blame him for that. Young is the best player in college football. All that is secondary now, though, and or at least it should be. It shouldn’t matter whether Burton is a starter, super star, walk-on, where he came from, or even the circumstances of the incident in question. But of course it does, and so let’s not try to pretend any differently. Let me be clear, though. Burton needs to be held accountable for hitting a woman. Case closed. But did Burton even know it was a woman? Maybe not. It was such a wild scene after the game. I didn’t push anyone that I can remember, but I have seen reporters shove fans before. Tennessee was fined $100,000 by the SEC for its fans rushing the field. Here’s the thing about that, though. Schools are fined for fans rushing the field not because players might hit opposing fans. Players know they can’t hit anyone. The fines exist because fans can trample each other and be killed. I hate this for everyone involved. These aren’t the things that are supposed to define a season, but a standard needs to be upheld and all eyes are now on Saban. This is a national story because of the nature of the game and how it ended. It’s a high-profile case because Alabama is a national brand and because of Saban’s reputation as the best coach in the history of college football. Also this, too. A player hitting a woman on the field is unprecedented in sports. I don’t know how this compares to other flashpoints between fans and players throughout sports history, but the video that was posted to the internet was disturbing. Hopefully the fan is OK. At the very least, Burton and Alabama need to apologize. The video, which was blurry, doesn’t indicate that she was hurt or injured from the alleged smack. Does the severity matter? The circumstances? Saban will decide, and no one else. If Burton remains on the team, then Alabama will be tied to Burton’s actions for as long as he plays football in Tuscaloosa. Saban gives second chances. Most good coaches do. Keep in mind that Saban didn’t fire defensive coordinator Pete Golding after he was arrested for a DUI in the offseason. Saban has kicked players off the team in the past, though, for moments of violence in public. This incident can’t be dismissed as the fan’s fault or a natural consequence of fans storming the field. Burton is in the wrong here, and now it’s on Alabama to determine what happens next. What’s acceptable, and what’s not? Let’s not downplay the obvious. Men striking women can’t be ignored, diminished, rationalized or allowed at any time. Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.

Pearl, others endorse idea of more summer college basketball games By Mark Murphy17 hrs MOUNTAIN BROOK, Alabama–As is the case with some other college basketball coaches in the Southeastern Conference and around the country, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said he is in favor of expanding the schedule to include more competition for teams in the summer. Auburn and other teams participated in summer exhibition tours outside the United States. Under current NCAA rules those summer games can take place only once every four years. In Auburn’s case the Tigers played three times in Israel, winning two out of three matchups in August. “I think, that quite frankly, we should expand that August basketball period,” Pearl said on Wednesday at the SEC’s basketball media days event. “It is a real opportunity. “If you look right now at what live television is doing in America (in August), football has not started yet,” Pearl said. “Hockey and basketball, that stuff is over. We have got baseball, we have got golf, we have got tennis. They (television networks) are looking for live programming. “Why not have an August window of a few games whether it is here or internationally? I think it would be great. Tie it into some NIL (name, image and likeness)?opportunities and I think the networks would really enjoy it. It would be something sort of after the summer and before the fall.” Tennessee’s coach, Rick Barnes, noted that he really likes the idea that is being discussed by college administrators at the national level and by coaches. “I personally wish that we had more exhibition games this time of year,” he said. “If we want to take the NBA Summer League model for the summer, we should also think about what they do with their preseason because not only do we need it, I think referees need it," Barnes said. "I think it would really help officiating. They could get more work in before we actually get into games because these early tournament games mean a lot. For some situations they've only had a game or two under their belt when that starts. Maybe that might be their first one. “I think players would tell you, we all are more for playing games so I think, again, it's good,” Barnes said. “I do. During the summer, I think I would probably use it in a way to let my coaches coach the game. Just like the format they have used in the NBA Summer League.” “We are playing Gonzaga in an exhibition game in Texas in a couple of weeks,” Barnes said. “I wish we could play probably four preseason games. If it were up to me, to allow us to get that outside competition before we started. I think it would cut down on the grind of this time of year being in the gym.” Bruce Pearl answers questions on Wednesday at the SEC Media Days event. (Photo: Mark Murphy, Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports) The SEC Network televised all three of Auburn’s games in Israel. Several other college teams, including Kentucky from the SEC, had overseas games televised in August. 6COMMENTS Pearl said his team’s trip to Israel was a “great experience” for the players both educationally and with the basketball component of the trip that included one game vs. the Israel Under20 National Team, one game vs. an all-star squad featuring professional players and the other vs. the Israeli National Team. *** Subscribe: Receive the latest Auburn intel, opinions and scoops*** Comments (6)

VIDEO: Bruce Pearl at 2022-23 SEC media day ByNathan King 17 hours ago Picked to finish fourth in the SEC in his ninth season on the Plains, Bruce Pearl brought point guard Wendell Green Jr. and forward Jaylin Williams to Birmingham on Wednesday for the 2023 SEC Tipoff event. The Tigers are the conference's defending regular-season champions, after going 15-3 in league play and earning a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament. ideoIn His Own Words: Bruce Pearl at SEC media day

By Mark Murphy16 hrs 9 Mountain Brook, Alabama–Coach Bruce Pearl and the other 13 SEC basketball coaches and players were on the stage Wednesday at the 2022 SEC Basketball Media Days. Here are comments from the head coach of an Auburn team that won the 2021-22 SEC championship and is picked to finish fourth in the league this season. Q. Coach, going into this year, do you as a coach, you've been doing this for a while, do you look at rankings going in with recruiting, or with the SEC media you guys are ranked in the top 5. Does that matter to you and your players? It's a long season. BRUCE PEARL: I've always been better as the underdog. I remember in 2018, they picked us -- CBS had picked us to go 4-14 in the SEC, and we opened up at Tennessee on the road, and Tennessee was a team that was going to factor for the championship. Somehow I got 4-14 up on the scoreboard, and I talked about that. I thought we were -- I did think we were better than that. That team I think went 14-4 and won the regular season championship, picked almost last so I'm way more comfortable in that role. I saw the way it was ranked out, and I thought it was pretty close. I thought we were somewhere between four and seven with a high being 4, and I think that's what you'll see. You're in the top seven teams in our league, you've got a chance to be in the top 30 teams in the country. When we were trying to develop the program and grow the program, the rankings mattered in recruiting. There's so many other factors in recruiting right now, rankings don't matter nearly as much. You look at it, and the key is are we good enough Sunday to win an opponent, and from that point forward, are we going to continue to get better. If we do, we've got a chance. Q. Coach, obviously losing Jabari and Walker, there's no replacing those two guys specifically, but how are you going to try to replace the production that they gave you, both on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor? BRUCE PEARL: The greatest thing about Walker and Jabari is they both were humble and hungry, both just wanted to get better, they both wanted to win championships, they both wanted to be great teammates. That's all they cared about every day. They were pros, and they were great kids. That's the culture we have. I've got to tell you, replacing them with Johni Broome and Yohan Traore, I don't know how we could do any better. My coaching staff did a great job, not that either one of them are either one of them right now, but really, really good players, really good prospects, great kids, and so they'll fill in some of the minutes, but Jabari was the third player taken in the draft. Walker was the National Defensive Player of the Year. I don't care who we would have recruited. It really in my mind boils down to how much more did everybody else improve. How much better is Wendell Green and Zep Jasper, K.D. Johnson and Allen Flanigan, Chris Moore and Jaylin Williams, Dylan Cardwell and Babatunde. That's going to be, in my mind, what's going to make up for not having two first-round draft picks. Q. Just a question about what did you feel like you learned from your team and the experience that you all had over in Israel, both on and off the court? BRUCE PEARL: Well, you know, it was an amazing experience. I love the fact that the NCAA allows us to take these trips every four years. I look at Coach Brady out there, and I'm sure that he could tell you about some amazing opportunities that they've had. One of the greatest things I've ever done in coaching is every four years take these foreign tours. They're educational. They learn their history. They learn so many things about the world, and then all of a sudden we get a chance to play a little basketball and practice, and they also get some exposure with maybe some foreign teams and some international basketball opportunities. I think it's a great thing. I think that, quite frankly, we should expand that August basketball period. I think it's a real opportunity. You look right now at what live television is doing in America -- football hasn't started yet; hockey and basketball, all that stuff is over. You've got baseball, you've got golf, you've got tennis -- they're looking for live programming. Why not have an August window of a few games, whether it's here or whether it's internationally? I think it would be great. Tie it into some NIL opportunities, and I think the networks would really enjoy it. It would be something sort of after the summer and before the fall. It's a great experience. And by the way, as far as Israel is concerned, one of the top countries in the world as far as basketball. A lot of -- Richard was talking about the fact that he played in Israel for three years for Maccabi Tel Aviv. That's an amazing trip that I'm going to continue to try to get other college teams to go on, because you guys know I'm of my faith, and Jerusalem is God's holy land and a very, very special place for all the world's religions, Abraham being the father of all nations, and why not bring your kids back there and see where it all started. We've got some teams that are interested in going back again next year, which I'm very excited about. Q. Todd Golden earlier from Florida was talking about you. Tell us a little bit about that relationship and when you found out he was taking the gig. BRUCE PEARL: There are certain topics that I get talking about that I get emotional about, like all of a sudden turning a light switch on. I get a little Dick Vermeil in me. When you mention Todd Golden, it almost immediately begins to trigger like if you ask me about my son, Steven. It's emotional. I love Todd. I love him like a son. I am so proud of him for the coach that he has become, the father that he is, the man that he is. So glad that he's in the league. I think our league did a great job this year hiring some incredible, young, talented, up-and-coming coaches, and it'll be all -- he'll be all I can handle as far as what they do and how they do it. It'll be a great challenge, so I'm proud of him. I'm happy for him. Florida made a great hire. That's a place now that expects to win championships, at Florida, because whenever obviously Coach Donovan was there they were winning championships, and Mike was very successful at Florida. Not as successful as Billy, but I would take Mike's record at Florida. I would take that record and be okay with it in the league. He's following a couple of really good coaches. Q. You got Wen (Wendell Green) with you today. How much have you seen him grow in offseason into being a leader for this team both on and off the floor? BRUCE PEARL: You know, Wendell put together some incredible numbers last year. His assist-to-turnover ratio was a national leader, and obviously he's got great, great range. You know, he started out as a mid-major player at Eastern Kentucky, and we didn't have to beat a ton of high majors on him because he's 5'10", 5'11", and he's undersized. But Wendell is not undersized in any other way just in where he lines up. He's got great confidence. He makes other guys better. He's dangerous on the floor. And the biggest thing is just physically he's gotten stronger, and defensively he needs to bring it every possession because there's not a lot of margin for error. He doesn't have a ton of length. There's certain things like sitting in a 2-3 zone or switching a lot defensively which is really great to do and hard to go up against. I don't have that luxury because I could have two six-foot guards on the floor a lot at the same time. Q. In this era of recruiting, what are the first three or four questions that prospects ask you now? BRUCE PEARL: Well, I mean, we've always focused on, number one, the Auburn family and Auburn culture and our university -- quality of our university, the fact that our student-athletes are graduating and coming out and being successful. People love Auburn that go there. They just do. Our kids, we don't have a lot of guys that want to transfer because they like Auburn, not just because they like playing for me, it's a great, great place. So we still recruit to that culture. There's a lot of places they can get the basketball, but if they want the whole, the full monty at this about developing themselves as a student-athlete, that's great. We talk about winning championships. We've won three in the last five years in the SEC. We talk about advancing in the tournament, and we talk about sending guys to the pros. We've had, I think, five or six guys in the last five or six years that have been drafted and are having great success. So when you put that all together, that's kind of what we're selling. Obviously there's going to be questions about the support. Every game is sold out. Try to buy a single game ticket to an Auburn basketball game. Go on StubHub. Compare that to buying a single game ticket to another facility in the country. I'm not so sure that our single -- you can't get in. You can't get a ticket. So the environment is great. Obviously we'll get questions about the NIL, and we have to be competitive in that arena to be able to maintain -- all my rosters have been pre-NIL rosters, and this will be a look at the first post-NIL roster. Of course, as we continue to move forward, we've got to continue to do a good job in that area. Q. You kind of beat me to the punch on summer basketball, but I'll ask you about one of the other big ideas for the sport right now: Expanding the tournament field is getting some chatter. Where do you come down on that? BRUCE PEARL: Whatever they decide. It's almost like the rules committee, whatever they decide. You want to keep it where it is, I'm fine with it. I have no problem with expanding it. So I guess I would then be for expansion. I think what I would do is I would look at the other sports and I would look at what percentage of the other sports teams have an opportunity to be in postseason. I think in men's basketball, it's a lot less than it is in some of the other sports. I know you just had Buzz up here before. Had Texas A&M, if they were the last team that weren't in, that was a team that you didn't want to play at the end of the year because at the end of the year they were playing as good as anybody. It's just like Ole Miss in baseball last year. They were the last team in, and they win the National Championship. Those are two pretty good arguments to be able to maybe -- maybe it's time we expand it. I'm always, when it comes to rules, what's in the best interest of the student-athletes. If more student-athletes get an opportunity to play in that NCAA Tournament and have that one shining moment, I am definitely for it. Q. You talked last March, you said the SEC was going to get crushed from critics because they didn't have a lot of teams advance in the NCAA Tournament. Given how far some of these programs have come, is it almost reasonable to say instead of just talking about we're going to get six or seven teams in, that we've got five or six or seven, who, if things fall right, they could go pretty far in the tournament? BRUCE PEARL: I don't think I could sit here and predict who's getting in and how far they can go, and I don't know if this is true, but I've experienced this myself. When you're in a league like we were in last night and you're competing for an SEC championship, it is a grind. The year that we went to the Final Four, we finished fifth in the SEC. I don't think we underachieved, but we didn't overachieve. At the end of the year we kind of like, man, we're a pretty good team, what do we got to show for it, and then we got hot at the end of the year. We won the last four regular-season games, we went to the SEC tournament in Nashville, won four games, and then we won three -- I guess we had to win four games. So we were 12-0 in March. So I'm not going to make any excuses for last year, but I think when you're in a great league and there's a grind in that league -- I think sometimes, you look at football, if you look at -- to SEC football, to go through SEC football every single weekend, there are no weekends off in SEC football. There aren't many off at all now in basketball. There are leagues in this country, other leagues in this country, other Power Five leagues, there are a couple weekends off. They're pretty excited about playing an SEC team. We get to -- in football. We get there, and it's hard after you've just played Alabama or Georgia or the other teams that are really, really good. So I think in some ways the quality of our league kind of beat us up. Last year the ACC had a great NCAA Tournament, unbelievable, great -- what a run they had. The league wasn't as good top to bottom. It wasn't. So therefore I think some of those best teams in our league, they were pretty excited about getting into that tournament. And they showed it. Q. I was reading that I guess Allen Flanigan took a leave of absence, now he's back and he's competing with another Arkansas kid. How is Allen doing? How good is it to have him back? What do you expect from him? Chris is a guy that hasn't played a lot of minutes, but it sounds like you're high on him, too? BRUCE PEARL: You know, our basketball team's great strength is I've got 13 really good players. I really do. There is great competition and depth at every position. If I had to put out a starting five right now, I could tell you that really truly there's only one position of the five where I know who's going to start. That means the other four right now are up in the air. It's pretty close to our first game, which tells you we've got great depth, and there is great competition. So we'll be learning an awful lot about our team as we go. So Allen and Chris, they're right there. They are neck and neck, and they're battling it out. One is going to start and the other one is going to come off the bench and the other one is going to end. So they're both going to play. It's great to have him back healthy, and he's physically healthy. Allen Flanigan is one of the best athletes in the SEC, trying to become one of the better basketball players in the SEC. I mean, he's big, strong, fast, physical, skilled, and just going to translate, use that athleticism and have it be where he can be productive. That's a very important -- his athleticism, his power, his strength, very important part of his game, so him back healthy is good. Q. Kamani Johnson from Arkansas was flashing back to that game last year, the celebration, the atmosphere, and he said it was like crossing an item off your bucket list. What does that say about where Auburn basketball is today? BRUCE PEARL: Wow. Obviously that's a great compliment to Auburn and Auburn basketball when we get to go to Arkansas and play in that historic building and that historic town for great college basketball and have that be a bucket list game. Again, I go back and look at Coach Brady, and I know he played against some pretty good Auburn teams, but that wasn't a game he had circled on his calendar. So if we have got a few teams in our league that are looking at Auburn as a game they've got to get to advance, that's why I came to Auburn. Look, it's easier to get it going than it is to keep it going, and we'll see if we can keep it going. But it's a great compliment. That was the hardest, toughest environment that we had last year, was at Arkansas, and we played great. We played great. I don't think Arkansas had a field goal in overtime, and I'm not so sure they had very many -- how many field goals can Arkansas have in the last overtime and end of regulation? Q. What is the practical application of NIL in the college basketball arena? Because we're only a few years away, removed, I guess, from the FBI investigation into that, paying of players. BRUCE PEARL: Well, one of the great things about NIL -- I'm going to tell you a great story, true story. I get a text from K.D., and you all know me and K.D. have got this very special relationship. He's my maniac, not anybody else's. He texts me and he tells me how much the relationship matters to him and how much he appreciates the fact that I've always had his back and that I let him be him and he's got my back. It was wonderful. I immediately, after getting that text message, call my son and said: What has he done, and what haven't you told me he has done? He's like, Dad, I don't think he does -- I don't think he's done anything wrong. It was then that I realized that he got his first NIL check. Probably the biggest check he's ever gotten in his life. I don't know. I actually did wind up asking him what was that all about, and he said that was it so now what he was able to do for himself and his family was significant. So I know we got problems with the consistency and things like that. Stories like that that are true stories are why I think NIL is a good thing. We've just got to figure out how to manage it. It's new so we're all trying to get a hold of it. Comments (9)

www.secsports.com/video/34834162/auburn-green-jr-lists-pros-pearl-coaching-style unfortunately i cannot share it due to my ignorance. so i posted the info and if you copy it and paste it on the google bar the video will come up. i apologize for being such a big dummy but i know you guys have a lot of passion so i have done what i could. again apologies. and if anyone can post it on this thread thanx.

How Bryan Harsin is handling Auburn’s open date Published: Oct. 19, 2022, 6:30 a.m. 6-7 minutes Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin isn’t using this week’s open date to sit on a beach with his feet kicked up. His Tigers won’t play a game this week but will practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, coming off a three-game losing streak after Saturday’s 48-34 loss at No. 7 Ole Miss. Harsin started the week continuing a tradition that goes back to Shug Jordan and Pat Dye of the Auburn coach speaking in Birmingham with the Monday Morning Quarterback Club during the week of the Tigers’ open date. Harsin’s flight to Birmingham took about 30 minutes. Brad Law of the Auburn radio network hosted a 30-minute question and answer session at the Harbert Center in Birmingham with Harsin for members of the long-standing club, many of whom are Auburn alums and significant supporters. The second-year coach also had an opportunity to see several high-level Auburn boosters while visiting the Magic City. Read More Auburn Football: Bryan Harsin: Success for Auburn ‘a lot closer than what it seems’ Business as usual for Bryan Harsin on bye week despite swirling job rumors Takeaways and impactful plays from Auburn’s 48-34 loss against No. 9 Ole Miss Next up for Harsin was a flight from Birmingham to Mobile. Harsin visited Saraland, Vigor, and Mobile Christian high schools before heading to dinner at the 1st & 10 Club for a charity event. Auburn initially planned for assistant coach Zac Etheridge to attend the event, but Harsin wanted the chance to speak to Auburn fans he wouldn’t usually get a chance to directly. Harsin met with UMS-Wright Preparatory School athletic director and football coach Terry Curtis in Mobile before flying back to Auburn. He conducted practice on Tuesday and will on Wednesday before giving his team a much-needed weekend off after seven consecutive games. Thursday and Friday will be busy days for Harsin and his coaching staff. He and every assistant coach will make stops at high schools in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama. His team visited over 300 high schools in Alabama and several others during spring. Per NCAA rules, the Auburn staff has 42 days to visit high schools in the fall evaluation period. They are not allowed to visit any school more than once during this period, making the use of the 42 days very strategic, as each coach on the road on a given day counts as an individual evaluation day. Coaches aren’t permitted to talk to players from September 1 until December 3rd during the eval cycle. However, school visits are imperative for relationship-building with high school coaches. Offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau and Defensive Coordinator Jeff Schmedding stay with the team on Friday nights to conduct the regular unit meetings and activities less than 24 hours before kickoff. Wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard, defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh, Etheridge, running backs coach Cadillac Williams, and edge linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Roc Bellantoni have spent Friday nights at high school games during the season as part of the 42 days allotted to Auburn for high school visits. Harsin’s son Davis is a quarterback for 7-1 Auburn High. Harsin regularly attends his son’s games. Observing his son’s games allows Harsin to support Davis while getting the bonus of watching players at Auburn High that would interest Harsin in recruiting. He also watches opposing players from some of the top schools in Alabama’s highest classification. Auburn plays powerhouses such as Hoover, Enterprise, Opelika, and Central Phenix City, with each school having top players from the class of 23 and 24. When Harsin goes to watch his son, it doesn’t count against the 42 days in the fall evaluation period. Harsin plans to use four days this week, including a stop in Atlanta on Friday before visiting Kansas on Saturday for some Junior College action. A possible visit for Harsin would be to Coffeyville Community College for their game against Georgia Christian CC. Keyshawn Blackstock is a 6′5 300-pound tackle at Coffeyville. Auburn is among 60 schools, including Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Florida, and Jackson State, with scholarship offers to Blackstock. Harsin plans to start his day on Friday by driving from Auburn to Phenix City and into Columbus, Ga, for stops at high schools in middle Georgia before hitting several metro-Atlanta high schools. A logical stop for Harsin would be Nationally ranked Langston Hughes in Fairburn Ga when they host Newnan High. Auburn defensive back commit Terrance Love attends Langston Hughes. Georgia Bulldog O-Line commit Bo Hughley, who took an official visit to Auburn, is a teammate of Love’s. There is a belief in recruiting circles that the Tigers can flip Hughley similarly to four-star offensive lineman Clay Wedin from Tampa. Josh Horton, Jelani Thurman, from the 2023 class, and 2024 quarterback Air Noland also play for Langston Hughes. Increased dedication to recruiting is getting notice from high school coaches and internally at Auburn. The Tigers expect over 20 players to leave for graduation or early entry to the NFL. Edge rusher Derick Hall and running back Tank Bigsby could return, but with each having first-day draft grades, it’d be hard to expect them not to test the waters of the NFL. As it goes, in today’s ever-changing college football landscape, Auburn could lose players to the transfer portal as they did last season. The NCAA announced a two-year waiver to the 25-scholarship cap per year signing rule in May during the preseason. Auburn still is limited to 85 scholarships, but if more than 25 athletes leave for graduation, NFL, or the portal, the Tigers could replace each one instead of having fewer than 85 scholarship athletes on the active roster. Auburn expects to have two or three days for visits left out of the 42 once the open date week is over. Harsin could use those to attend a state playoff game of a recruit heading into December’s early signing day. Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.

gadsdentimes.com The four biggest problems Auburn football needs to fix coming off its bye week Jacob Shames 4-5 minutes AUBURN — While Bryan Harsin remains coach, Auburn football is still in a precarious position. The Tigers (3-4, 1-3 SEC) entered this week's bye on a three-game losing streak. While they'll have extra time to prepare for their Oct. 29 game against Arkansas (11 a.m., SECN), there's much they'll have to overcome if they want to turn their season around. Many of Auburn's problems are that of the bigger-picture sort — recruiting, uncertainty, the fallout from February's internal investigation into Harsin — but here are the four biggest on-field problems the Tigers will need to sort out. REPORT CARD:Auburn football report card vs. Ole Miss: Did the Tigers' offense earn first 'A' of the season? 'DAMN CLOSE:'Auburn football showed fight in loss to Ole Miss, but was it Bryan Harsin's last stand? Offensive line woes A poor offensive line can sink any team, no matter how deep it is at other positions. On offense, the issues don't end with Auburn's offensive line, but they begin there. Per Football Outsiders, the Tigers rank 111th nationally in line yards per carry — a measure which gives the offensive line full credit for rushes between 0-3 yards and half credit for rushes between 4-8 yards. They're also 117th in stuff rate, meaning that over one-fifth of their rushes have been stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. Passing-wise, they've allowed 18 sacks, the third-most in the SEC. Auburn is on its third center of the season, Brandon Council, after injuries to Nick Brahms and Tate Johnson. Council moved from left guard three games ago, meaning the Tigers had to shuffle the rest of their offensive line. They did so again against Ole Miss to adjust for the injured Alec Jackson and Austin Troxell. The Ole Miss performance was Auburn's best, by far, of the season. Killian Zierer, Jeremiah Wright, Council, Kameron Stutts and Brenden Coffey paved the way for 34 points and a 179-yard outing for Tank Bigsby, who got space to run free for the first time in weeks. Only time will tell if the Tigers have found something that works. Run defense What appeared to be only a minor issue through the season's first five weeks has skyrocketed in urgency. The Tigers gave up 292 yards on 39 carries to Georgia and seven days later, Ole Miss gained 448 yards on 69 rushes. Auburn hadn't given up that many yards on the ground in at least 20 years and likely far further back. The gashings by the Bulldogs and Rebels have caused the Tigers' season stats to plummet. Per Football Outsiders, they rank 121st in line yards per carry and 123rd in stuff rate. Opponents have gained over four yards on half their carries against Auburn. The Tigers' average of 204.4 rushing yards allowed is the 12th-worst figure in the country. Turnovers Auburn has hemorrhaged possessions without stealing back many of its own. Nationally, the Tigers are dead last in turnover margin, having forced five turnovers and given up 16. "That’s just a recipe for an unsuccessful team if that doesn’t change," Harsin said on Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference. "That’s an area that we’ve emphasized. We haven’t quite seen the results of that yet. We have to take care of the football." Auburn has lost six fumbles but has committed 19 in total, another figure which ranks at the very bottom of the country. Utilizing wide receivers The Tigers rank at the bottom of the SEC in just about every passing category. Their offensive line issues, as well as Robby Ashford's inaccuracy, have limited their ability to maintain a consistent aerial attack, but so has inconsistent wide receiver involvement. Just 53% of Auburn's receptions and 62% of its receiving yards have gone to its wideouts. Both those figures rank 13th in the conference, ahead of Georgia (though the Bulldogs have two potential first-round picks at tight end in Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington). It took until the fifth game of the season for a Tigers wideout to score a touchdown. Without a vertical threat, Auburn will continue to be hard-pressed to move the ball against quality opponents, as teams can stack the box against Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter. Ja'Varrius Johnson, Koy Moore and Shedrick Jackson need more touches on the outside, and Ashford will have to get the ball to them. Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

247sports.com Time for Auburn to make 'new mistakes' after bye week Nathan King 6-7 minutes Auburn football has some formulas through seven games. Just not winning ones. Yes, the Tigers have their game-by-game tropes entering their bye week, and many of them have consistently contributed to the team’s 3-4 mark and 1-3 clip in SEC play — including a three-game losing streak. Many of them are on offense, but the defense’s run-game struggles have reared up in recent weeks, too. Bryan Harsin doesn’t want to wipe the slate clean; he knows there was too much improvement in the loss at Ole Miss, particularly with his rushing attack. But one of Harsin’s biggest goals of the bye week is to flip the whiteboard over and begin taking new steps over the final five games. Even if some of those are backwards, Harsin is tired of seeing the same issues reflected in each of his team’s four losses. “At the end of the day, we’ve just got to start making some new mistakes,” Harsin said Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference. “There’s been some things that have hurt us that have been repeated. We have to eliminate those; we have to move on. There’s got to be new things that show up with every opponent we face — some new mistakes. We’ve got to start making those.” Essentially every position group on Auburn’s roster has its fair share of problems at the moment, whether by its own accord, or in relation to the other units that need to be successful — like the offensive line and the running backs — in order to find success. But if there’s one statistic that can be traced back to many of Auburn’s shortcomings, it’s certainly the minus-11 turnover margin. No one in college football is worse in that department, and just above the Tigers are programs like Temple, Eastern Michigan and New Mexico State. Auburn would have a much stronger upset bid in itd 48-34 loss at Ole Miss had it avoided a pair of early turnovers — one on an overthrown screen pass from Robby Ashford, and the other on a strip-sack where T.J. Finley coughed up the ball on the next possession. The Rebels scored off both short fields and went up 21-0 in the early stages of the second quarter. The Tigers have now committed eight turnovers in their last three games, and 12 in the past five games. Ashford has the most fumbles (eight) of any player in college football, though he’s only lost two this season. In terms of ball security, Auburn is also the worst in the country by a wide margin, with 18 fumbles on the year; the next-closest teams, UConn and Akron, have 14 apiece. Limiting turnovers has been harped upon by Harsin and Auburn’s coaching staff since the Tigers had four against Penn State. But they haven’t seen many positive returns. “I think we’re at the very bottom when it comes to turnover margin,” Harsin said. “That’s just a recipe for a unsuccessful season, if that doesn’t change. That’s an area we’ve emphasized and haven’t quite seen the results of that yet.” Harsin also mentioned missed tackles (of which Auburn had 19 against Ole Miss, the most for the Tigers in a game since 2016) and a consistent running game (301 yards in Oxford essentially came out of nowhere) as focuses this week in practice. Of course, Auburn could also stand to find more consistency in its offensive line, and its quarterbacks are, statistically, the worst in the SEC in several categories. The run defense is now the nation’s 12th-worst and has given up the second-most touchdowns (19) int he country. None of those developments are news to the Tigers, though, as they attempt to orchestrate a late-season turnaround and avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 2012. “What I like about our team is that you can talk about those things and be very matter of fact,” Harsin said. “I think they understand why — when you watch the film, it’s very obvious why there’s an issue here or an issue there. … It’s teaching the game, and really just being consistent with that until we can go put a full game together of all three phases.” A complete game, or even a decent success rate in all three phases, has evaded Auburn to this point — even going back to a one-score win over San Jose State in Week 2. Against LSU, Auburn grabbed a 17-0 lead, but turnovers handed the Bayou Bengals a win. At Georgia, the Tigers held down the defending national champions’ offense for most of the first half until the dam broke because of one of the worst passing performances for Auburn in the past decade. And at Ole Miss, Auburn easily posted its best offensive outing of the season, scoring on six of its final eight drives of the game and running for 301 yards. But the Rebels were even better on the ground against a reeling Auburn run defense, putting up 448 yards. If there was ever a time to put things together, it would be next Saturday, at home, coming off a bye week, against Arkansas, a team Auburn has won six straight games over. “Those guys know we’re a lot closer than what it seems,” Harsin said postgame after the Ole Miss loss. “And so, a few things here and there, that’s what changes the game. But that’s football, as well. And the reality of it is we didn’t win; Ole Miss did. They did it better than we did today. So, what we have to do is go back and figure out what we can control and how we’re going to improve and get better and what we can do going into the next game to find a way to win. “But those guys will fight. And they want to win. And they’re not going to throw in the towel.” 23COMMENTS *** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more ***

Auburn Morning Rush: Tigers player signs with Panthers, Auburn practice gets visitor Montgomery Advertiser—USA Today River Wells October 19, 2022 6:30 am CT Happy Wednesday, Auburn fans — it’s Morning Rush day. Well, every weekday is Morning Rush day, but that doesn’t mean we here at Auburn Wire don’t have some new tidbits for you. Today, a former Auburn linebacker gets signed to another team in the NFL and will remain in the NFC, the basketball team gets a visitor at practice with plenty of head coaching experience (and the team also killed in on social media reactions last year, apparently) and one of Auburn’s men’s golfers was recognized in the national rankings for individual collegiate golfers this year. Buy Tigers Tickets Without further adieu, here is your Auburn Morning Rush: Chandler Wooten signs with Panthers Arizona Republic—USA Today Former Auburn linebacker Chandler Wooten has found a new home. Wooten, who played with the Arizona Cardinals during the preseason, signed with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday off the Cardinals practice squad. Wooten helps the Panthers with linebacker depth after injuries to Frankie Luvu and Cory Littleton, and he’ll get a chance to prove himself in Carolina and add on to his preseason interception during his first year in the NFL. Seth Greenberg visits Auburn practice USA Today Network The Tigers basketball team had a guest at practice today. Seth Greenberg, two-time ACC coach of the year and current ESPN basketball analyst, stopped by Auburn’s practice to watch Bruce Pearl’s squad prepare for a college basketball season where the Tigers have been ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll. Pearl will likely try to apply any wisdom Greenberg had for him to this year’s campaign, where he’ll try to maintain Auburn’s success despite the departure of Jabari Smith. Tigers basketball drew social media engagement in 2021 USA Today Network And speaking of Jabari Smith, it’s likely he had a lot to do with our next subject. SkullSparks announced that the Auburn Tigers drew some of the most engagement on social media across any college basketball team in 2021, coming in sixth place just behind Kentucky with 215,000 interactions. Auburn fans are very passionate about the Tigers and a regular-season SEC championship does wonders for visibility, so the honor should come as no surprise. Auburn golfer makes Sagarin top 40 rankings (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) The Auburn men’s golf team is getting some props. Tigers sophomore Evan Vo was ranked No. 40 in Jeff Sagarin’s Golfweek ratings for individual collegiate athletes, making him the highest-ranked Auburn Tiger on the list among two golfers. Vo has six wins and four losses against other golfers in the Top 25 of Sagarin’s rankings.

Auburn Basketball to open season at No. 15 the AP Top 25 preseason poll Taylor Jones 2 minutes Rejoice, College Basketball fans. The 2022-23 season is inching ever closer to tip-off, and the anticipation has grown even more now that preseason polls are starting to be released. The Associated Press poll was the latest to be released to the public, dropping one day after the KenPom rankings were revealed. Buy Tigers Tickets The voters expect Auburn to have a strong season in 2022-23, as they have voted the Tigers No. 15 in their initial top 25 poll that was released on Monday. Auburn is one of five SEC teams that will begin the season nationally ranked, joining Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and archrival Alabama. Texas A&M and Florida received votes as well. Here is the full preseason poll to begin the 2022-23 season: North Carolina Gonzaga Houston Kentucky Baylor Kansas Duke UCLA Creighton Arkansas Tennessee Texas Indiana TCU Auburn Villanova Arizona Virginia San Diego State Alabama Oregon Michigan Illinois Dayton Texas Tech Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 112, UConn 101, Miami 66, Purdue 56, Saint Louis 36, Michigan St. 35, Florida St. 32, Xavier 29, Wyoming 25, Ohio St. 23, Iowa 13, Rutgers 4, Southern Cal 3, Florida 3, Toledo 1, UAB 1, Memphis 1, Virginia Tech 1, Notre Dame 1.

'Much work to do' for Auburn baseball following first fall exhibition Jason Caldwell 5-6 minutes AUBURN, Alabama—Prior to last Saturday’s exhibition game, Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson made the remark that his hitting was well ahead of his pitching early in fall practice. Facing a veteran Louisiana Tech team at Plainsman Park, the Tigers fell behind early 11-1 with issues on the mound and at the plate. Making a comeback with several newcomers excelling in both areas, Auburn wound up winning 12-11 in the 12-inning game, but Thompson said it showed them what they already knew about the issues on the mound. “My first impression is that three weeks isn’t long enough to revamp our pitching,” Thompson said of having to replace guys like Mason Barnett, Trace Bright, Carson Skipper and Blake Burkhalter from last year’s team. “It has our undivided attention. We only walked one guy in 12 innings. Last year’s staff would have been hard-pressed to do that, but we just don’t have enough installed, especially with our young pitchers. “We’ve got much work to do, but we got to see some guys. Like I said, we don’t have to wait until February to get indoctrinated. That’s what was so good about playing Louisiana Tech, a good team with veteran hitters that could do some stuff.” Trailing late, Auburn turned to some older pitchers to handle business and they got the job done. The combination of junior college left-hander Tanner Bauman, John Armstrong, TCU grad transfer Tommy Vail and projected closer Chase Isbell didn’t allow a baserunner the final five innings while striking out six batters. “Some of the new guys really impressed us,” Thompson said. “The game turned when Bauman got into the ballgame, the junior college lefty. Two quick innings and showed good stuff. Tommy Vail, the other left-hander threw great. Chase Isbell, the ball came out of his hand better than it has ever come out. “We still have a lot of pitchers that didn’t participate. Our depth is good, but we’ve still got so much work to do on the mound. Now we’re going to have to learn to texture and keep installing stuff to take the sting out of the swing and create some gamesmanship to navigate innings at the Division I level.” Offensively, shortstop Cole Foster had a pair of hits as one of the veterans that continues to pay well for the Tigers, but on Saturday it was the new faces that showed out with the bats. West Georgia grad transfer Brody Wortham went 2-2 with a home run, a double and three runs batted in to lead the way. Kansas transfer Cooper McMurray also had a pair of hits for the Tigers as he looks to try to win the starting job at first base. Auburn’s talented freshman class was also well represented with catcher Ike Irish going 2-4 with a home run and two runs scored. Third baseman Gavin Miller added two hits and a walk in his day as well, a performance that will earn him a start against Alabama. “Ike Irish, we’ve been talking about him and even his foul balls the other way were impressive,” Thompson said. “Every pitch he’s evaluating. He hit a home run to the pull side. When Gavin Miller got in the ballgame, he had a couple of big hits and played third base great. He had a laser hit to him and navigated it so well. We had a couple of great at-bats by Cooper McMurray, but he’s been having great at-bats.” With two weeks to get ready for another game with Alabama coming to Plainsman Park, Thompson said the focus is going to be on the two-strike approach, both on the mound and at the plate. “Our hitting slowed down because we haven’t been making good pitches in two strike counts,” Thompson said. “Louisiana Tech did, and it slowed our hitting down. Iron is supposed to sharpen iron. We’ve got some work to do there. “If you ask what the focus is between now and Alabama, how is our execution with two strikes? We really need our hitters and pitchers competing against each other and getting better for this next exhibition. The only way I know how to do that is to create a focus on it. Our competition is all going to be centered around two strikes.” News and notes: 9COMMENTS Auburn junior RHP Joseph Gonzalez pitched a pair of innings against Louisiana Tech and could get around 20 pitches against Alabama in the second exhibition game of the fall on the night before the Auburn-Arkansas football game. Thompson said until then they plan to limit his usage to a couple of bullpens, essentially shutting him down for the rest of the fall to get him rested and ready for the season following a long year. Senior center fielder Kason Howell was held out of Saturday’s game with an oblique strain. It’s not an injury that is expected to keep him out long-term. ">247Sports

247sports.com Auburn basketball team to play in-state opponent in private scrimmage Mark Murphy 3-4 minutes AUBURN, Alabama–In addition to three exhibition games back in August played on a tour to Israel and another planned vs. UAH on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, Coach Bruce Pearl’s basketball team will get another opportunity to compete against outside competition before opening its 2022-23 regular season. On Sunday the Tigers will play in a private scrimmage at Neville Arena vs. UAB, the same team Auburn played last season before going on to win the Southeastern Conference regular season championship. Pearl said Coach Andy Kennedy’s Blazers will give the Tigers a serious workout. “They will play really hard, really physical. They are older. I mean, a lot of fifth-year guys. “They were an NCAA Tournament team the last year,” Pearl pointed out. “If Houston doesn't make a gazillion-bajillion threes, that could have been an upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They will throw the kitchen sink at us. They will play very aggressively man–like we play, man-to-man. “They will mix in some 1-3-1 (zone),” Pearl said. “They will mix in some 2-3 (zone). (Jordan) Walker, their point guard, has scored 40 points twice, the only college player returning to score 40 points twice, so it is easy for me to talk to my guards and go ‘quite a challenge.’ This guy can really, really score.” Pearl added, “We are going to try to win. We will probably play at least a couple of halves and we got a lot out of it last year. We will get a lot out of it this year.” UAB was 27-8 last season with a 14-4 record in Conference USA. The Tigers will open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 7th when George Mason visits Neville Arena. Auburn will open SEC play on Dec. 28th at Neville Arena vs. the Florida Gators. Auburn, which is ranked 15th in the AP preseason Top 25 poll, posted a 28-5 record last season and were 15-3 during the SEC regular season. Pearl and a pair of his junior guards, K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green, are scheduled to join Pearl on Wednesday at the SEC's annual basketball media days event in Mountain Brook. Last year Kentucky was picked to win the league and Auburn, which was picked fifth, won the regular season title outright with a 15-3 record. K.D. Johnson celebrates a three-pointer last season when he averaged 12.3 points per game. (Photo: Adam Sparks / Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports) "Once again, we will probably be picked in the top five or six teams in the league and how many of our players will be first or second-team," Pearl said. "I am not sure how many teams they have, but it'll probably be the same thing. Will Wendell be the best point guard? Will K.D. be on that list? Where will they put our freshmen compared to the other freshmen? Typically, we get ranked pretty good as a team, but our individuals don't get much notice." 7COMMENTS Last season Jabari Smith was named as a second team all-league selection in preseason. In the postseason he was a first team All-SEC pick as was Walker Kessler, who was not named to the preseason squad. Both players earned All-America honors and were first round NBA draft picks. *** Subscribe: Receive the latest Auburn intel, opinions and scoops***