aubiefifty

she has been running staff members off lately and you only see her once or twice a month maybe in the news? i know most vice pres's have little to do but good grief. i am beginning to think maybe her and hoe do not get along or something. and i am not going to start in on her laugh

What the Bible actually says about abortion may surprise you Melanie A. Howard, Associate Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies, Fresno Pacific University Wed, July 20, 2022 at 7:22 AM·4 min read Activist Jason Hershey reads from a Bible as he protests in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with the anti-abortion group Bound for Life in 2005 in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee via Getty Images In the days since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had established the constitutional right to an abortion, some Christians have cited the Bible to argue why this decision should either be celebrated or lamented. But here’s the problem: This 2,000-year-old text says nothing about abortion. As a university professor of biblical studies, I am familiar with faith-based arguments Christians use to back up views of abortion, whether for or against. Many people seem to assume the Bible discusses the topic head-on, which is not the case. Ancient context Abortions were known and practiced in biblical times, although the methods differed significantly from modern ones. The second-century Greek physician Soranus, for example, recommended fasting, bloodletting, vigorous jumping and carrying heavy loads as ways to end a pregnancy. Soranus’ treatise on gynecology acknowledged different schools of thought on the topic. Some medical practitioners forbade the use of any abortive methods. Others permitted them, but not in cases in which they were intended to cover up an adulterous liaison or simply to preserve the mother’s good looks. In other words, the Bible was written in a world in which abortion was practiced and viewed with nuance. Yet the Hebrew and Greek equivalents of the word “abortion” do not appear in either the Old or New Testament of the Bible. That is, the topic simply is not directly mentioned. What the Bible says The absence of an explicit reference to abortion, however, has not stopped its opponents or proponents from looking to the Bible for support of their positions. Abortion opponents turn to several biblical texts that, taken together, seem to suggest that human life has value before birth. For example, the Bible opens by describing the creation of humans “in the image of God”: a way to explain the value of human life, presumably even before people are born. Likewise, the Bible describes several important figures, including the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah and the Christian Apostle Paul, as having being called to their sacred tasks since their time in the womb. Psalm 139 asserts that God “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” ‘The Creation of Adam’ from the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican, painted by Michelangelo. GraphicaArtis/Getty Images However, abortion opponents are not the only ones who can appeal to the Bible for support. Supporters can point to other biblical texts that would seem to count as evidence in their favor. Exodus 21, for example, suggests that a pregnant woman’s life is more valuable than the fetus’s. This text describes a scenario in which men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and cause her to miscarry. A monetary fine is imposed if the woman suffers no other harm beyond the miscarriage. However, if the woman suffers additional harm, the perpetrator’s punishment is to suffer reciprocal harm, up to life for life. There are other biblical texts that seem to celebrate the choices that women make for their bodies, even in contexts in which such choices would have been socially shunned. The fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, for example, describes a woman with a gynecological ailment that has made her bleed continuously taking a great risk: She reaches out to touch Jesus’ cloak in hopes that it will heal her, even though the touch of a menstruating woman was believed to cause ritual contamination. However, Jesus commends her choice and praises her faith. Similarly, in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ follower Mary seemingly wastes resources by pouring an entire container of costly ointment on his feet and using her own hair to wipe them – but he defends her decision to break the social taboo around touching an unrelated man so intimately. Beyond the Bible In the response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Christians on both sides of the partisan divide have appealed to any number of texts to assert that their particular brand of politics is biblically backed. However, if they claim the Bible specifically condemns or approves of abortion, they are skewing the textual evidence to fit their position. Of course, Christians can develop their own faith-based arguments about modern political issues, whether or not the Bible speaks directly to them. But it is important to recognize that although the Bible was written at a time when abortion was practiced, it never directly addresses the issue. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Melanie A. Howard, Fresno Pacific University. Read more: US abortion restrictions are unlikely to influence international trends, which are largely becoming more liberal Monsters are everywhere in the Bible – and some are even human Melanie A. Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

a slight oversight. and no bill does not care for weapons at all.

SEC Media Days Live, Day 2: Mike Leach does it his own way (FULLY UPDATED) Phillip Marshall 9-11 minutes Mike Leach not shy with his opinions. (Photo: Jake Crandall, USA TODAY Sports) ATLANTA - Day 2 of SEC Media Days is is over at the College Football Hall of Fame. Go inside for what Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Mississippi State’s Mike Leach and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer had to say and more. LEACH ON OPENING STATEMENTS, SABAN AND NIL Here is how it usually works during SEC Media Days. Commissioner Greg Sankey introduces every coach with high praise and often with an amusing story. The coach praises Sankey for his leadership and then gives an opening statement before taking questions. After the commissioner did his thing, here is what Leach said: “I appreciate that. Any questions?” He wasn’t being flippant or trying to make any kind of point. He was just being Mike Leach. Later, he was asked why he didn’t make an opening statement. “Well, I hate opening statements,” Leach said. “I really don't see the point of it. So as opposed to me sit there and think of some flowery opening statement, which I've done before, and then at the end of the opening statement a number of people ask questions that have already been addressed in my opening statement, I decided we'd just sort of cut out the middleman. You go ahead and ask the questions, and I'll go ahead and answer 'em.” Later, he was asked about Nick Saban’s “blueprint” for success and whether he tried to use it. “I guess I don't fully understand the question,” Leach said. “I mean, some of it's the resources of the program -- not to take anything away from Coach Saban, because he does a tremendous job -- and then also has a big tree of coaches. “But there are circumstances that can be beneficial, too. I mean, he's done things at Alabama that nobody thought was possible. But I would say he's a better coach at Alabama than he was at Michigan State, for example. I think there's some circumstances that can contribute to success, too, that have to be accounted for.” And, finally, for some reason, Leach was asked about the spat between Saban and Texas A&M coach Nick Saban. He used that one to go off on what NIL is doing to college football. “I think they both kind of illustrate the frustration of how things are right now,” Leach said. “It's not sustainable, so something's going to change. We haven't defined exactly what is an amateur, a student-athlete, as opposed to a professional. I think we need to do that. I think there is ways to do it. “I think some football players, it may be in their best interests to remain a student-athlete, under that model, as opposed to professional and vice versa. I think that's got to be defined.” College athletes, Leach said, have it better in some ways than those on the professional level. “Currently college athletes have more privileges than anybody at any other professional level. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't think it stays the same because there are responsibilities that go along with being a professional. “Go up to your next favorite NFL guy, say, ‘Hey, I heard in the NFL they're going to have unmitigated free agency, 365, 24/7. And, by the way, there's not going to be any salary cap or draft, you're just going to have bidding wars. Just watch the expression on their faces. Don't look at anything else or write down any notes because the expression on their face will be well worth it. I don't think the dust has settled. We're in a big transition period on a number of things in college football. We got sharp guys actively trying to sort it out. I hope that it will be.” There you have it. That’s Mike Leach. It wasn’t so long ago that quarterback Spencer Rattler was being touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate at Oklahoma. And then he was benched. And then he left for South Carolina. Rattlers arrival created plenty of excitement, and that excitement has only grown. Second-year coach Shane Beamer makes no attempt to hid his own excitement. “People forget, Spencer Rattler was the starting quarterback at Oklahoma," Beamer said. "He had some pretty high amount of pressure replacing guy by the name of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts. And then what does he do in his first two conference games at Oklahoma as the starting quarterback? We, not him, we lose to Kansas State at home, then we lose to Iowa State on the road. He's replacing all these guys, had a lot of pressure going into that season. Started out 0-2 in the conference. Never flinched. "The narrative I know was he got benched last year in the Texas game. He got sat down the year before, too. Then he came back in the second half, played his butt off, beat Texas in four overtimes and he never lost a game as a starting quarterback again and still hasn't as a starting quarterback." BEAMER WANTS MORE South Carolina received a lot of praise for going 7-6 last season, maybe more than was deserved after a 30-0 loss to an average Clemson team in the regular-season finale. Beamer said Tuesday he was not satisfied and wants. More. "For us, it's continuing to build on what we did last season, no one's satisfied with seven wins," Beamer said. "I didn't come here to South Carolina to be 7-6 every year. We have higher expectations than that." CAN LEA MAKE VANDERBILT A WINNER? Lea knew what he was getting into when he signed on as Vanderbilt’s head football coach. He was a Commodores’ fullback from 2002 through 2004. He welcomed the challenge to try his hand at winning football games at his alma mater, where doing that has been so hard for so long. After four seasons as an assistant at Notre Dame, Lea returned to Nashville for the 2021 season. And it went like most seasons go for Vanderbilt. Lea’s first game was a 23-3 loss at home to FCS foe East Tennessee State. The Commodores went 2-10 overall and 0-8 in the SEC. But Lea saw progress and has seen more as another season nears. “Once we reached the season, we were forced to confront our reality, and our physical, mental, technical and tactical deficiencies were evident from the start,” Lea said. “I want to be clear that the season was challenging on many levels, but we were not victimized by that adversity. “Last fall was a necessary experience for us. It exposed the true starting point for this early start of our build as a program. The adversity of the fall broke off all the parts of us that were fake and unbelieving. It stripped us down to our studs. From there, we started our build.” Like every Vanderbilt coach before him, Lea expressed confidence that Vanderbilt can do great things. “I don't take ownership of anything that happened before,” Lea said. “I certainly take ownership of last season. We fell way short of our expectations.” SABAN: ALABAMA PLAYERS HAVE RECEIVED $3 MILLION Saban put a dollar figure on how much Alabama players have received in NIL money. What once would have been startling was almost pedestrian. Alabama players, Saban said, have made some $3 million in the past year. ‘Well, I don't dislike name, image and likeness. I'm all for the players. I want our players to do well. Our players made over $3 million in name, image and likeness. I'm all for the players being able to do as well as they can and use their name, image and likeness to create value for themselves.” But Saban reiterated some of the concerns he has expressed previously. “I think there's probably a couple factors that are important in that,” Saban said. “How does this impact competitive balance in college athletics? And is there transparency to maintain fairness across the board in terms of college athletics? How do we protect the players? There are more and more people that are trying to get between the player and the money.” CAN YOUNG DO IT AGAIN? Alabama quarterback Bryce Young will try to do this season what has been done just once before – win the Heisman Trophy in back-to-back seasons. “I think that one of the most important things for Bryce or any player who has success is to understand that success is not a continuum,” Saban said. “… Success is momentary. So, if you're going to continue to have success, you have to stay focused on the things you need to do to improve, to prepare, to lead, to impact and affect other people around you. “Bryce has shown every indication that he's got a willingness to do all those things. He's a perfectionist in terms of what he wants to do and what he wants to accomplish. So far, I've been pleased with the way he's been able to maintain the mindset that you need to do to continue to improve and make progress as a player.” SENIOR VANDY LINEBACKER ON LEA’S GROWTH Senior Vanderbilt linebacker Anfernee Orji said Monday he has seen Lea learn and grow as he approaches his second season. 4COMMENTS “I think it is just him focusing on the details and being more of a head coach and being relatable,” Orji said. “He’s still, in my opinion, one of the greatest linebacker minds in the country. He’s really close with the defense, and I am close with him. I go pick his brain and talk ball all the time. He teaches me the little things to help me better my game. He also played at Vanderbilt as well, so it’s just great having someone who has been in my shoes before.”

247sports.com Auburn basketball team honored for academic performance Mark Murphy 4 minutes 2 Minute Drill: Depth on defense a concern for Auburn Tigers AUBURN, Alabama–The 2021-22 Auburn men’s basketball team, which was recognized for its on-the-court success, has also been honored for its collective academic performance. On Tuesday the National Association of Basketball Coaches announced the Tigers have received the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award and four individuals have been named to the honors court. Zep Jasper, who will be a graduate student guard for the 2022-23 Auburn team, was honored along with a pair of rising senior guards, Lior Berman and Chandler Leopard. Preston Cook, a senior guard on last season’s team, has also been honored. According to the NABC, Auburn is one of only six NCAA Division I men's basketball programs along with Arizona, Colorado State, Kansas, Tennessee and Villanova to finish in the Top 25 of the final Associated Press Poll and achieve a 3.0 or higher team grade-point average this past season. In addition to Auburn and Tennessee, Vandy was the other SEC team with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0. “Academic success is a core value of the NABC and a priority shared by men’s basketball programs across the country,” NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson said. “Excellence in the classroom requires hard work and dedication, and the NABC considers it a privilege to honor these deserving student-athletes and the coaches and staff who support them.” Coach Bruce Pearl’s 2021-22 team won the Southeastern Conference regular season championship and made program history by ascending to No. 1 in both the AP and coaches polls for the first time. Also for the first time in program history two players Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler were named All-Americans in the same season. Those players became the first pair of AU players be selected in the first round of the same NBA Draft. The 2022-23 Tigers are currently preparing for a three-game exhibition tour to Israel where they will play the Israel Under-20 National Team on Aug. 2 at Malha Arena in Jerusalem, the Israel All-Star Select Team on Aug. 7 and the Israel National Team the following day at Sport Palace in Tel Aviv. Pearl said he wants the trip to be a memorable trip for his players, who are scheduled to tour historical sites while in Israel. “Aside from basketball, this is an educational experience for our players," he said. "We are going to take them to where Jesus was born in Bethlehem and visit the City of David in Jerusalem. From a historical and religious standpoint, this is going to be one of the greatest trips in our student-athletes’ lives. I am grateful to Auburn for its continued support of our foreign trips over the years and helping with our ministry.” 9COMMENTS Pearl said the exhibition tour will a basketball challenge for his team. “These foreign trips have been one of the greatest teaching moments I have been a part of in 40 years of coaching college basketball. Israel has not been your typical destination for college basketball teams. Yet, Israel, is one of the top two-three countries in the world in its quality of competition and support for professional basketball."

Most Valuable Tigers: No. 3 Nathan King 6-7 minutes 12 SEC teams will make bowl games in 2022 We're still in the heart of the college football offseason, with more than three months since the end of spring ball, media days this week, and another couple weeks until the start of preseason practices. So what better time to crank up the rankings? Auburn Undercover is counting down the top 25 most valuable players for the Tigers' 2022 season. Bryan Harsin had hoped to complete his roster by the of May or start of June, and with 10 transfer additions now on board, it appears he may have done so ahead of Year 2. Summer workouts began the first week of June. A few notes to set the table: These rankings are based on a player's previous contributions to the team, as well as his assumed impact in 2022 — how important he is expected to be to Auburn's success in both production and the win-loss column. It is not simply Auburn's best players in descending order. If a freshman is included on the list, his positioning is obviously a projection of his talent and significance to his respective position group. Next up in our countdown is No. 3: senior edge rusher Derick Hall. AS A RECRUIT Hometown: Gulfport, Mississippi Class: 2019 Rank nationally: No. 8 WDE, No. 148 nationally (4-star) 247Sports high school scouting report: "Lean, muscular athlete with long levers that looks capable of carrying a lot of weight and keeping athleticism. Twitched up and explosive as a linear and vertical athlete. Very versatile with the ability to play defensive end, linebacker or potentially even tight end. Length allows him to eliminate space. Elite combine athleticism. Struggles in space against plus athletes and is very stiff - likely pointing towards a future on the defensive line. Needs to show more physicality. Has some boom or bust potential, but if things click he can be a high-level power five defender with mid-round NFL upside." AS A PLAYER (Michael Chang, Getty) Hall fit the physical mold of a stud pass-rusher from Day 1 on Auburn's campus, and he's nicely developed into one across three seasons. After getting his feet wet as a true freshman in the rotation at was previously known as Auburn's "buck" linebacker spot, Hall stepped into a starting role as a sophomore. He had a couple standout performances where he was able to flash his potential as an All-SEC-caliber player along the defensive front, with a pair of sacks in games against both LSU and Mississippi State. Then, Hall took off last season. He finished tied for third in the SEC with nine sacks, and tied for ninth with 12.5 tackles for loss. He registered a TFL in all but two games and had a sack in seven games. Auburn's edge rusher room also featured a fifth-year senior, a former top-150 recruit and a highly productive transfer, but Hall showed significant improvements in his pass-rushing skills and led the charge. The highlight performance of his career, and one of the best games for an Auburn defender in the past few seasons, was the Iron Bowl. In the near-upset that ended in a four-overtime loss to Alabama, the 6-foot-4, 256-pound Hall sacked Bryce Young three times, and had 3.5 TFLs for the game. According to Pro Football Focus, Hall finished No. 6 in the SEC in quarterback pressures (43) and hurries (25), and is the conference's No. 3 returning player in both categories, too. 2022 OUTLOOK Helping to facilitate a second coordinator change for Auburn in two years, Hall was praised in spring practices for his increased leadership skills. First-year position coach Roc Bellantoni said he was like having another analyst or grad assistant on the field every day. And that's key for a position group that, prior to adding Western Kentucky transfer Marcus Bragg last month, had only three scholarship players on the roster. Hall and Eku Leota combined for 22.5 tackles for loss last season and figure to be one of the SEC's better pass-rushing duos. But the second rotation will feature Dylan Brooks, a former top-100 recruit who's yet to play a college snap, and Bragg, who had four sacks last season. Hall could be a preseason first team All-SEC pick later this week, and that kind of season would thoroughly boost Auburn's defensive front — and the unit overall. A lot of question marks can be offset by a consistent pass rush, and Hall showed last season he can be a force off the edge. WHAT THEY SAID “A lot of knowledge comes with that, whether it be football position knowledge or knowledge of the game, so I feel really comfortable about this year. I feel like it’s going to be a big year for me and the football program as a whole.” — Hall

you are getting closer. closer. you are getting warmer. warmer. now you are getting colder..............

i was one that thought you used an obscenity and wondered how you got by with it. but i agree with you. the fact a woman jumped the fence and saved her on child on for them to cuff her was sad.they were going to put her in jail is my understanding until they decided it would make them look worse than they already do. i will say for every coward in uniform there are a hundred more that would step up and take their place and do the right thing.

as much ass kissing you did with trump i figured you knew your way around butts and and lets make no mistake you did a bunch of it and still do it so why not take on for the team? all maga has done was cause a whole bunch of pols sweating if they do prison time or not jj. just go with the suggestion and try not to screw this one up. trump tanked and tried to ruin the country. biden was elected because people were tired of trumps crap so he is you guys fault as well. and if you folks screw aroung and make me vote for hillary next election the gloves are coming off and i am not gonna be nice to you maga folks anymore................grins

Bill Maher Fanpage · Uvalde: AR-15 Buffalo: AR-15 Boulder: AR-15 Orlando: AR-15 Parkland: AR-15 Las Vegas: AR-15 Aurora, CO: AR-15 Sandy Hook: AR-15 Waffle House: AR-15 San Bernardino: AR-15 Midland/Odessa: AR-15 Poway Synagogue: AR-15 Sutherland Springs: AR-15 Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15 It's the guns.

load up the suppository and give him him a mega dose jj. you owe your country that much..................

well i am proud you gave him some love. i mean he is so senile he cannot comb is hair from what i have seen.

i think lane is growing up....

maybe auburn is at the crossroads selling their soul to the devil?

how weird is this? we do not make the top forty but auburn is going to surprise some folks? i do not understand..................

steele posted this two days ago....... Phil Steele believes 'Auburn is going to surprise some people' Zac Blackerby 2 minutes The SEC West is brutal and predicting what is going to happen this season is almost impossible. College football expert Phil Steele, known for his preseason magazine, admitted how hard the decision was when it came to ranking the seven squads in college football's strongest division. Steele picked Alabama to win the SEC West and Texas A&M to finish second. After that, he had a hard time knowing where to go next according to his interview on Locked On SEC. "I could pick any of the five to be third," Steele said. "Which one are you picking last? I don't want to pick any of them last. Playing in the SEC West is just ridiculous. As it came out, I didn't pick any team last. I have two teams tied for sixth. I originally was just going to tie everyone for third. I mean, it is a wide-open race." He touched briefly on all the schools that he had tied to finish third, including the Auburn Tigers, the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Ole Miss Rebels. "I think Auburn this year has a much higher buy-in level than they did last year and they've got talent," Steele said. "I think Auburn is going to surprise some people." Steele had LSU and Mississippi State tied to finish sixth in the SEC West.

College football rankings are surfacing in preseason form this month ahead of fall camp and the start of the 2022 season, the latest power poll arriving via Phil Steele, one of the industry's veterans and leaders in accuracy for early prognostications. As Steele notes in his robust college football preview, the preseason top 40 poll is based on how he feels teams will finish in the final rankings. Over the past nine seasons, Steele writes, 86.2% of programs listed in his preseason rankings have reached bowl eligibility. In our own post-spring rankings, six of our national analysts submitted way-too-early top 25 ballot and those were tabulated to form a power ranking of sorts heading into summer. With the start of practice a few weeks away, we'll update that soon once position battles are decided and two-deeps are established. Get the fastest scores, stats, news, LIVE videos, and more. CLICK HERE to download the CBS Sports Mobile App and get the latest on your team today. Here's a look at Steele's preseason top 40 along with our thoughts on his selections and where several have fallen in our poll: (Photo: Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY Sports) 40. Fresno State Bulldogs 39. Appalachian State Mountaineers 38. Kansas State Wildcats 37. Minnesota Golden Gophers 36. Arkansas Razorbacks 35. Kentucky Wildcats Arkansas is one SEC program we're high on, but maybe not quite as lofty as a few others. Steele seems to agree, putting the Razorbacks outside of his top 25. One of our voters left Arkansas off his ballot completely in our post-spring rankings update, but that'll likely change when our updated poll is released in a few weeks. The return of K.J. Jefferson at quarterback means the Razorbacks will have one of the league's top quarterbacks — a top-five player at the position in our eyes — and that gives them a shot against a brutal slate. ... Kentucky is a team from the SEC East worth keeping tabs on coming off a 10-win season with several of its best players returning, including projected first-round signal caller Will Levis. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports) 34. Houston Cougars 33. Louisville Cardinals 32. Florida Gators 31. Boise State Broncos 30. Ole Miss Rebels Steele is confident Louisville is a season-long threat in the ACC this fall with Malik Cunningham at quarterback and several top-end playmakers around him during a pivotal season for coach Scott Satterfield. ... First-year Florida coach Billy Napier and the Gators hope to play spoiler behind Georgia in the SEC East and have made recent waves on the recruiting trail. ... What does Ole Miss have in store for its encore season after a 10-win triumph a season ago? Lane Kiffin expects one of the nation's top transfer hauls to pay off in a big way. (Photo: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics) 29. Air Force Falcons 28. UCLA Bruins 27. Tennessee Volunteers 26. BYU Cougars 25. Cincinnati Bearcats Tennessee was one of several SEC teams behind the 'Big 3' of Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M ranked in our own top 25 preseason rankings, but the Volunteers landed just shy in preferred billing in Steele's version. ... BYU is a team capable of making a run as a New Year's Six darkhorse, given the Cougars' schedule with several opportunities against quality Power Five competition, including Oregon. ... Cincinnati became the first Group of Five program to reach the playoff last season, but the Bearcats replace nine NFL Draft picks and haven't been slotted as a final four threat by most this time around. (Photo: Mike Roach, 247Sports) 24. Wake Forest Demon Deacons 23. Michigan State Spartans 22. Penn State Nittany Lions 21. UAB Blazers 20. Iowa Hawkeyes 19. Wisconsin Badgers 18. Texas Longhorns 17. UCF Knights Wake Forest's wide receiver group might be the ACC's best and multi-year starter Sam Hartman at quarterback is criminally-underrated from a national standpoint. After nearly winning the conference last season, there's some unfinished business to attend to in Winston-Salem for the Demon Deacons. ... UAB? This is the first major surprise inside Steele's top 25. Veteran coach Bill Clark's unexpected retirement effective Aug. 1 likely changes things for the Blazers, who welcome back the bulk of a talented, championship-caliber team. ... After acquiring several instant-impact transfers, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has some media members believing Texas will have a chance to compete for a Big 12 championship coming off a 5-7 disaster. Is it possible? Sure, as long as Quinn Ewers is a difference-making quarterback and the rest of the star-studded cast performs. Texas hosts Alabama early, so we'll know if this preseason ranking holds water. ... UCF is the highest-ranked Group of Five team in Steele's preseason poll and he believes Gus Malzahn's squad has a chance to get to the New Year's Six. (Photo: USC Athletics) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 18 USC is Steele's most-improved team this season, garnering the top spot as well as landing inside of his top 20. Ranked as high as No. 10 on one of our own preseason ballots and outside of the top 25 on another, opinions are heavily-skewed on the Trojans entering Lincoln Riley's first campaign at USC. Much of the national attention in January centered on the transfer portal and after landing five-star Oklahoma transfer Caleb Williams, some voters tossed USC inside the top 15 coming out of spring. Then, USC added Jordan Addison after spring practice was over, giving Williams the nation's top returning receiver to work with this fall. (Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 25 The Cowboys have a shot to win the Big 12 Conference and are part of a four-team mix with a crack at a championship season, along with Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma, according to Steele. Oklahoma State cracked the top 15 of our initial way-too-early rankings, but opinions on the Cowboys were not unanimous and that ranking changed considerably in our post-spring update. Oklahoma State was left off three ballots entirely and was ranked inside the top 20 on the other two, pushing the Cowboys to No. 25 despite reaching the league title game last fall. (Photo: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 11 Steele has a ton of respect for Baylor and coach Dave Aranda, who he says is one of the nation's fastest-rising leaders. The Big 12 race is a tough nut to crack at the moment given the handful of teams all within a couple spots of one another. Baylor gets the benefit of the doubt here as the league's reigning champs because the schedule is treacherous and projecting another plus-12 showing in turnover margin would yield the utmost optimism. That being said, only one Big 12 team was ranked ahead of Aranda's Bears this summer in our own way-too-early rankings. (Photo: Nick Faulkner/PackPride, 247Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 8 Could the Wolfpack win their first ACC football championship under Doeren? Steele believes it's a possibility. N.C. State came in at No. 8 in our preseason rankings update after one voter pushed Dave Doeren's squad all the way to No. 4 given the number of returning playmakers. Much of that offseason steam surrounding the program comes thanks to quarterback Devin Leary, who nuked opposing defense to the tune of 35 touchdown passes last fall. Two games that we're keeping an eye on that will heavily impact the Wolfpack's value as a preseason title contender are Clemson and Wake Forest. Win those and N.C. State could run the table. 247Sports preseason ranking: N/A It's time to start believing in Miami under Mario Cristobal. Now that we haven't, but the Hurricanes were the "first team out" in our post-spring top 25 rankings, a poll that's sure to change heading into fall given this program's summer buzz. Cristobal has landed several elite prospects for the 2023 class and beyond this month and appears to be building a monster in the ACC. With quarterback Tyler Van Dyke this fall, Miami could challenge Clemson, Pittsburgh and N.C. State for the conference crown, Steele says. Miami's talent level is impressive for a team with a first-year coach. (Photo: Cory Fravel, 247Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 17 Here's your reigning ACC champs — and we're not talking about Clemson. Pittsburgh's star-studded offense from a season ago was gutted after Heisman finalist Kenny Pickett left for the NFL and Biletnikoff receiver Jordan Addison transferred to USC, but make no mistake — Pat Narduzzi has a team that believes they can win another league title. Especially dominant up front on both sides of the football, the Panthers are going to be a tough out in ACC play and host fellow Steele top 40 team Tennessee in September for a spotlight matchup. (Photo: Abbie Parr, 247Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 12 Steele's second-highest rated team out of the Pac-12 behind Utah and ahead of USC, the Ducks are a title contender out West. Quarterback Bo Nix appears to be the guy for Dan Lanning's team at quarterback after a terrific showing in the spring game and suffice to say this squad will take the hard-nosed mindset on the other side of the football. Oregon is one of three teams from the Pac-12 we've slotted inside our post-spring top 20 and might be the most valuable given the expectation level nationally outside of the title picture. That season opener against Georgia is extremely important for the perception of the program under a new regime. (Photo: Bob Levey, Getty) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 4 Steele's not as high on these preseason darlings as some analysts this season, including our own, but he still ranks Texas A&M inside of his top 10. Sound familiar for the Aggies? Texas A&M was in a similar spotlight this time last year, but failed to live up to lofty expectations from outsiders during the regular season. This team has an extremely high ceiling and how many of these five-star true freshmen get their feet wet as dependable options in Year 1 under Jimbo Fisher will be vital to this squad's success. It's an all-time signing class that could pay immediate dividends. (Photo: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 10 Steele feels good about Oklahoma not missing a beat under first-year coach Brent Venables. Our 247Sports voters are bullish on the Sooners as a "good" team, but maybe not national championship contender material just yet as a program in transition. Much of that overall worth hinges on his defense's performance in Year 1 along with the progression of UCF transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who takes over for the departed Caleb Williams under center. Oklahoma moved up two spots from its previous ranking after a better-than-expected spring. One thing is obvious surrounding this year's squad in Norman — the fanbase is jazzed up and ready for a new era of Oklahoma football judging by the spring-game attendance numbers. (Photo: 247Sports) Steele points to Notre Dame being an elite team this season, but not one that reaches the playoff at year's end. The Fighting Irish also fell out of our preseason way-too-early top five in this summer's post-spring update thanks to one voter slotting Notre Dame at No. 15 on his ballot. Ranked as high as No. 5 on another, Notre Dame should be able to maintain it pace throughout the 2022 campaign as a title contender if the quarterback situation works itself out and the Fighting Irish learn from their Week 1 showdown at Ohio State. Win or lose, one game will not define Marcus Freeman's first campaign and that's the message he'll be giving in South Bend if the opener goes south. (Photo: Jeffrey Swinger, Getty) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 6 What we think: Every year, Steele is high on the Utes as a contender in the Pac-12. He picked Utah to win a conference title last season and it came to fruition. As for our own interpretation of Utah in 2022, the Utes were the unanimous No. 8 team across all of our ballots in January and moved up to No. 6 overall this summer after one voter slotted Kyle Whittingham's at No. 5 on his ballot. Here, Sporting News slots Utah at No. 8. The reigning Pac-12 champs could be one of this season's preseason darlings after winning 10 games last fall and nearly taking the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. Much of that nucleus is back in 2022, including quarterback Cam Rising. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 9 Give credit to Steele — he called Michigan's impressive rise last fall and once again believes the Wolverines will be a national championship contender in 2022 under Jim Harbaugh. Since J.J. McCarthy was unable to throw during spring camp, it's difficult to ascertain how this offense is going to look this fall at the quarterback spot with Cade McNamara returning. Both of those guys are going to play and much of the pressure falls on their shoulders with play-caller Josh Gattis moving on to Miami. The rushing attack of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards should alleviate some of that stress, however. (Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice, Getty) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 5 Sleep on Clemson if you want to, but that would not be a smart idea given this team's talent level, according to Steele. Clemson earned a top 5 ranking in our post-spring poll by one point over Pac-12 favorite Utah. Given what we saw from Clemson's defense during spring, a unit returning a bevy of starters and girth at the line of scrimmage, the Tigers should be the ACC's team to beat. The bigger question lies at quarterback and whether D.J. Uiagalelei can hold on to his job against the likes of five-star freshman Cade Klubnik. The latter flashed during spring practice and is going to play this season. It remains to be seen if that's with first-team reps or in relief of the incumbent, however. (Photo: Brad McClenny / Gainesville Sun, USA TODAY Sports) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 3 Steele credits Georgia as being one of three teams best-equipped to be the last standing this fall because of its talent level. Are the defending national champions underrated a bit this summer or have they been properly slotted behind two heavyweights with fewer holes coming out of the 2022 NFL Draft? It might be a little of both. One of our voters ranked the Bulldogs in the No. 2 spot, three placed Kirby Smart’s team at No. 3 and another slotted Georgia at No. 4 in the preseason just behind Texas A&M. With so much of last year's defense off to the NFL, that side of the ball for the Bulldogs' may take some getting used to in September. (Photo: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire, Getty) 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 2 Steele's preseason favorite in the Big Ten, he's picking the Buckeyes in the playoff, too. It's hard to argue with the primary points on why Ohio State should be one of the College Football Playoff frontrunners this season. The Buckeyes have the nation's top returning quarterback not-named Bryce Young and believe they have fixed their well-documented defensive issues with the hiring of Knowles. He's going to ensure Ohio State's talent is in position to make plays. If the Buckeyes are elite up front, they'll be in the mix at year's end. (Photo: Dale Zanine, USA TODAY Sports) 19COMMENTS 247Sports preseason ranking: No. 1 Steele noted in his early view of the Crimson Tide that Alabama is his preseason pick to win the national championship. Armed with Young and Will Anderson, arguably the nation's two best players overall, Alabama received a maximum of 125 points in our post-spring update after all five ballots that were cast tabbed Nick Saban's program in the top spot. Alabama addressed a couple of needs with high-end additions through the transfer portal and could be looking for another prior to fall camp. Offensive line play is one area to watch early and was a point of emphasis this spring from Saban, despite a couple injuries that limited how this group will actually look in a few months. ">247Sports

Football 7/14/2022 11:30:00 AM Drew Fabianich named Auburn Football General Manager and Director of Scouting and Development Story Links AUBURN, Ala. — The Auburn football program is hiring long-time National Football League scout Drew Fabianich as its General Manager and Director of Scouting and Development, Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin announced Thursday. Fabianich spent the past 18-plus years with the Dallas Cowboys, including the last 14 as a national scout for the organization. In his role with Auburn, Fabianich will utilize his extensive scouting background to bolster Auburn's identification and evaluation of prospects, while working with all phases of the Auburn football player personnel and recruiting areas. He will also provide development support for current players, utilizing his two decades of NFL experience. "Drew brings two decades of scouting and player development at the highest level of this game, along with a dozen years of college coaching experience," Harsin said. "The combination of his coaching track record as well as the player personnel and scouting background, makes Drew a great fit as we look at every angle of recruiting top talent and then continuing to develop our guys during their time here at Auburn. Drew knows what it takes to get to this level and then the next level in this game, and that's a skill set which will help our players, coaches and next level recruiting process." Fabianich joined the Cowboys in 2003 as a Southeast and Midwest scout until his promotion in 2005 as a national scout. In that role, Fabianich was responsible for scouting, evaluating and grading national prospects. Over the last 10-plus years while Fabianich was with the organization, Dallas had one of the highest percentages of Pro Bowlers drafted in the NFL. "It's a pleasure and honor to be working with one of the premier programs in the country, and to be back in the SEC," said Fabianich. "I have known Coach Harsin for a number of years and have been impressed with his player development and vision. The opportunity to work with him and help build a championship roster here at Auburn is something I can't wait to get going on." Before joining the professional ranks, Fabianich spent 18 years coaching in the college and high school ranks. He began his coaching career in 1986 at his alma mater, Mesa State (Colo.) University, as a quarterbacks, wide receivers and passing game coordinator for two years before serving as a defensive graduate assistant at Baylor. Fabianich was a defensive line coach at the University of Tennessee from 1990-93 before being named defensive coordinator at UT-Martin. After a three-year stint at UT-Martin, Fabianich spent three years as defensive coordinator at Louisiana Monroe and two in the same capacity at WT White High School in Dallas before joining the Cowboys in 2003. A native of Longmont, Colorado, Fabianich was a quarterback and receiver at Mesa State from 1982-86 What they are saying about Drew Fabianich "GREAT hire by Auburn! You recruited an expert on all aspects of football, and my experiences with his evaluation of talent, and of people is second to none. I will miss talking with him on the NFL level, but the college game, the SEC, and of course, the Auburn Tigers gained a jewel!" Charles Davis Analyst NFL on CBS NFL Network "Fantastic hire! I had the great fortune of working with Drew throughout my time coaching in Dallas and he was an invaluable resource to me and our whole organization as we built our teams throughout the years. "Drew has extensive experience as both a coach and as a scout and that helped him immensely as a talent evaluator in our draft process. He not only knew players and what it takes to succeed in the NFL, but he knew how players fit into a team and an organization. As a national scout for many years, he contributed to the evaluations of all players at all positions and was an integral part of the decision-making process in our personnel department. I'm really excited for Drew and for Auburn. It's a perfect fit." Jason Garrett NBC Sports Football Analyst Former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach "Drew has a unique ability to evaluate a player and envision what they can become. He has that sense to identify their skill set and knowing how to feature or utilize a player to be at their best for the team. Drew will positively impact Auburn football for years to come." Dan Quinn Defensive Coordinator, Dallas Cowboys Former Atlanta Falcons Head Coach "I've had the pleasure to see Drew work in the NFL environment. The day-to-day grind and also preparing and presenting in the Draft Room. He is very meticulous in his evaluation and one of the reasons the Cowboys have had success in the draft the last decade. Not only will Dallas miss his evaluation skills but the energy and personality he brings to the job every day. What a great get by the Auburn Tigers!" Daryl Johnston Executive VP, USFL Fox NFL Analyst Former Dallas Cowboys Fullback hey guys if this has already posted let me know and i will delete it. it appears to have more info and i missed it if the article was already posted.

Auburn's Tank Bigsby named to Maxwell Award watch list Tank Bigsby AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn running back Tank Bigsby has been named to the watch list for the 86th Maxwell Award, presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football, the Maxwell Football Club announced Monday. The SEC freshman of the year in 2020, Bigsby rushed for 1,099 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2021. Bigsby began the 2021 season with three consecutive 100-yard games, adding two more with 140 rushing yards vs. Ole Miss and 164 vs. South Carolina. In two seasons on the Plains, the 6-0, 213-pounder has rushed for 1,933 yards and 15 touchdowns to rank No. 20 in Auburn career rushing. From the Maxwell Football Club: Presented since 1937, the Maxwell Award is named in honor of Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, a former standout at Swarthmore College, renowned sports writer and football official. The Maxwell Award watch list will once again incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and conferences from coast to coast. The full list consists of 85 players with Ohio State having three candidates and an additional 14 schools having two players represented. The Maxwell Football Club has once again partnered with Pro Football Focus (PFF), XOS and Phil Steele Publications as selection committee partners. PFF provides detailed metrics and performance-based assessments to selection committee staff, and several senior PFF analysts are members of our selection committee. Phil Steele's College Football Preview is generally recognized as the most complete preseason magazine. XOS provides the Maxwell Club selection committee with access to game footage from all FBS colleges. Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced Nov. 1 while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled Nov. 22. The winners of the 86th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 8. 2022. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards live from Atlantic City, NJ on March 10, 2023. Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer

Shedrick Jackson senior spotlight: ‘Lead from the front' Auburn University Athletics 5-7 minutes AUBURN, Ala. – Wide receiver Shedrick Jackson is no stranger to the Auburn Family. The fifth-year senior is hoping to continue making a name for himself with his veteran presence on the team. Even though Jackson is the nephew of Auburn legend and 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson, he has worked hard to leave his own legacy at Auburn. Jackson was part of Auburn’s 2018 recruiting class that included fellow wide receivers Seth Williams and Matthew Hill. Jackson was an important component in Auburn's offense from the second he stepped onto the field in 2018. He was a true freshman who got his first playing time against Washington in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. His first start came three weeks later against Arkansas. Four seasons have passed since then, and Jackson has made a name for himself. This past year, 2021, was a breakout season for the wide receiver out of Hoover, Alabama. He played in all 13 games and set career highs with 40 receptions, 527 yards and one touchdown. By now, his teammates and coaches know exactly what they are getting from Shedrick Jackson. “Describe myself in three words? I would say disciplined, calm, and prepared,” he said. Those traits have served Jackson well over the past 18 months as he and his teammates not only had to navigate the challenges of a pandemic but also the challenges that come with a coaching change. As a senior, it can be a daunting task to adjust to a completely new coaching style, but now that he’s been able to fully absorb the changes, he is confident he can continue his success on the field. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted an additional year of eligibility to collegiate athletes who participated in the 2020 season. Jackson opted to take advantage of that extra opportunity and return to Auburn for a fifth season. “There were a lot of different things, but the main thing was coming back, trying to win and have a successful season, especially after I’m seeing the pieces that are falling into place,” Jackson said on his decision to return. “Individually, I just want to continue getting better and do some big things this season.” In the not-so-distant future, Jackson sees himself playing in the NFL and “hopefully winning a Super Bowl.” But those dreams will have to wait. As a fifth-year senior, he’s a leader for this Auburn team, and his goals reflect that. “I want to lead the wide receiver room and just make sure we’re all getting better collectively,” Jackson said. “Then I want to make sure that I’m bettering myself so that I can lead from the front at all times – just have a big year, make big plays, and do special things.” Jackson also knows the importance of a college degree. Since he has been at Auburn, his proudest accomplishment has been graduating from Auburn because "it will set me up for a lot of other opportunities.” “Even though football is what I do and what I want to do for a living, that diploma is something nobody can take away from me,” added Jackson, who graduated last August. Football will always be one of Jackson’s first loves, though. At the age of 5, he saw his friends playing and knew it was something he wanted to get involved in himself. He started playing back then and hopes to continue playing until he has a chance to play in the Super Bowl. For Jackson, his drive and biggest motivation comes from his mother, Laquesha Sanders. Seeing how hard she worked for him and his brothers, it inspires him to be great. There are so many things Jackson is still hoping to achieve before his time is up at Auburn and even after he leaves Auburn, but if he could go back and tell his younger self one thing, it would be to “learn everything I can about whatever it is, whether it’s sports or what’s going on in the world around me – just learn everything that I can.” Outside of football, Jackson enjoys hanging out with his friends. He recently got a dog and he’s been spending a lot of his free time training the dog and taking him on walks. He’s a graduate of the Harbert College of Business and is completing an additional degree. Before he leaves, Jackson wants the Auburn Family to know him as more than just a football player. “I hope they know me for being a guy that worked hard and cared about more than just winning,” he said. “I cared about the people around me and did everything that I could to make sure that the team was successful." The phrase ‘War Eagle’ is Auburn’s battle cry. It can be used as a greeting or salutation among the Auburn Family. But to Jackson, it’s special because it embodies what Auburn is and that “Auburn Family feel.” “No matter where you go, if you see somebody wearing an Auburn logo you tell them ‘War Eagle,’ and it’s a different type of language. It’s special,” he said. Morgyn Jones is a student worker in Auburn Athletics media relations

auburnwire.usatoday.com Despite rough offseason, there's still plenty of positivity surrounding Auburn Football Taylor Jones 2-3 minutes After the ending to the 2021 season, as well as the horrendous offseason that head coach Bryan Harsin has had to endure, it is easy to claim that the metaphorical sky is falling on the Plains. However, there are more positive things happening within the program than most are leading to believe says On3’s JD Pickell. In a recent episode of “The Hard Count“, Pickell discussed the wild offseason for Auburn and took the time to spin what has been considered gloom into positivity. One of the issues that Harsin and Auburn have had to endure is the loss of key players such as quarterback Bo Nix to the transfer portal. Sure, it is easy to use the departure of so many athletes as a way to forecast the future of the program. But, what is not being talked about enough, are the athletes that stayed. Every single player in this locker room had a decision to play for Bryan Harsin. Because with the transfer portal and all of the commotion in the offseason, the headlines, there’s a lot of guys that could have left. So, if you’re still on this roster at Auburn, Alabama. You decided you want to be a part of this. And that means something. The “buy-in” from the players that elected to stay with the program is huge for Auburn, as it means that they will be willing to play with full effort every Saturday, which could lead to unexpected wins this fall. To have a buy-in, after all the craziness that happened in the offseason from the internal side of this program. That’s phenomenal. That’s huge. That’s something you would almost not expect when you try to get your coach fired. To have one of the best running backs in the country coming back [Tank Bigsby]. That’s also huge. Head coach Bryan Harsin, as well as Tank Bigsby, John Samuel Shenker, and Derick Hall are set to speak with the media on Thursday during SEC Media Days. Harsin is scheduled to take the stage at 8:05 a.m. CDT.

, Auburn football at SEC Media Days 2022 Bennett Durando, Montgomery Advertiser 4 minutes AUBURN — Bryan Harsin and Auburn football are the encore at SEC Media Days this year, joining Tennessee and Texas A&M as the last teams to speak in Atlanta on Thursday. The Tigers' lineup includes Harsin, running back Tank Bigsby, tight end John Samuel Shenker and edge Derick Hall. Here are five questions going into media days. (Hint: A lot of offense questions.) 1. Any update on the quarterback competition? As preseason practices loom, so does one of Harsin's most important decisions yet. Who will be the Tigers' 2022 starting quarterback? Last time we heard from Harsin in late May, he said Texas A&M Zach Calzada would be "full go" for summer workouts after spending most of spring in a noncontact jersey (shoulder). Calzada is the presumed favorite, but T.J. Finley has the benefit of being Auburn's only returner – with three games of starting experience – and Oregon transfer Robby Ashford has the advantage of a standout spring game. It's unlikely that Harsin will reveal anything, or that he even knows anything yet, considering the importance of these upcoming practices. But how has Calzada looked in summer workouts? Is it still regarded as a true three-horse race? 2. Are Auburn's starting offensive line jobs safe? With an attack built around Bigsby, improvement on Auburn's offensive line is especially important this season. The position group has eight seniors and five returning starters. A number of them were dealing with minor injuries during spring practices, and this wasn't a particularly consistent unit last year. Are any starting roles up for grabs? 3. How will Bryan Harsin's new hire affect Auburn's recruiting blueprint? Harsin hired 18-year Dallas Cowboys scout Drew Fabianich last week as Auburn football's first general manager. Fabianich will oversee transfer portal and high school scouting. It's a notable move as Auburn grapples with its low recruiting numbers early in the Harsin era. So far, four commits in the 2023 class are the fewest in the SEC. How does Harsin envision the new role shaking up Auburn's recruiting strategy? GENERAL MANAGER: How an 18-year Dallas Cowboys scout who was high on Tony Romo became Auburn football's first GM LISTEN: The Iron Bowl of Podcasts: SEC scheduling takes are also an Auburn-Alabama rivalry 4. Who's catching passes? Shedrick Jackson was the surprise leading receiver last year with 40 catches and 527 yards. The senior is back, but Auburn's other two starters are gone. Who steps up? It's a cluster of young – and in many cases, small – receivers. Ja'Varrius Johnson, Malcolm Johnson Jr., Tar'Varish Dawson, Ze'Vian Capers and occasionally converted tight end Landen King are all in the mix. Two inexperienced transfers have joined the fray, too. 5. How is the team responding to negative predictions? In the sport's most loaded division, Auburn has been most commonly designated as the SEC West's likely loser. Part of that is related to the university investigation of Harsin in February, which has been rehashed to death at this point. Still, if losses start to pile up this fall, hot (seat) takes will amplify. How is Harsin teaching his team to handle it? Is he a bulletin-board-material kind of guy, or is his style tuning out the noise? This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: 5 questions for Bryan Harsin, Auburn football at SEC Media Days 2022

collegeandmagnolia.com Here We Are, Back in the Car Again JackCondon 5-7 minutes Oh, dang, it’s almost time again! Somehow we’ve navigated through the kind of offseason that allowed us to forget the frivolity of another Auburn football campaign. Thanks to two-thirds of the Killer Bees of the Auburn University head coach roster, we were allowed to Peacock around to a top-ranked basketball team, a third-overall NBA Draft pick, and another trip by the baseball team to the College World Series. All of that somehow allowed us to forget what had transpired between the heartbreaking overtime loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl and National Signing Day, Part Deux (The Original). After a promising 6-2 start to the 2021 season, wherein Auburn’s only losses were at Penn State in a single-possession defeat, and to eventual national champ (GROSS) Georgia, the Tigers went 0-fer. Five straight losses starting with a tough defeat at Texas A&M, followed by the biggest collapse in school history at home to Mississippi State, a tepid performance at South Carolina, allowing Alabama to drive 98 yards in the final 90 seconds to tie the game, and a who-cares bowl loss to Houston. 6-7. Hang it in the Louvre, or a museum befitting of that standard. Right after the loss in the Iron Bowl, Mike Bobo was relieved of his duties for being objectively terrible. With the offense that Auburn ran in the Iron Bowl, any one of us could’ve, you know, not called passing plays when we needed to run out a little bit of clock. Anyway, that couldn’t be allowed to continue. Bobo had to Bo-GO, and that decision was made pretty quickly. Bryan Harsin didn’t wait around, and took just a couple of weeks before hiring Seattle Seahawks quarterback coach Austin Davis to fill the role. It was an unexpected choice, but anytime you can grab someone with the NFL pedigree, and a knowledge of the Southeast, then yeah sure, go for it. Harsin had tried to continue surrounding himself with people that seemed on paper to be the right kind of guys, but it was kind of like showing your work and still coming up with the wrong answer. Austin Davis coached as many games for Auburn as I did, and left the role in January. Okay. Just a few days before that, Derek Mason announced that he was going to step away from football for a bit. SURE. Then he appeared as the new defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. He left Auburn and Bryan Harsin to go to a school in a conference that was actively evaporating and in danger of becoming a relegation league. Shortly after losing both coordinators, we saw the heat ramp up on Harsin. Rumors that he was going to be fired for cause started popping up, but he was on vacation out of the country. He completely whiffed on Signing Day in February, bringing in zero recruits, and upon his return from the sunny south, made an entrance to the SEC Coaches’ Meeting in Birmingham like nothing was happening. Before we knew it, all of a sudden he was staying. With absolutely no backing of any kind, the man was going to be around for another football season. You see, the magic of all of this is that we got distracted by Bruce Pearl and Jabari Smith and a basketball team that rocketed up the charts to be the best team in the land for some time. They won the SEC, plopped a Benjamin on Alabama, beat Kentucky, and we had a great time for a few weeks. Sure, they didn’t make the second weekend of the Tournament, but the fun had been had. Baseball made the College World Series shortly thereafter, but in between there had been some spring ball to take care of. After Bo Nix transferred to Oregon, which is just a wild timeline in itself, we had to figure things out at quarterback. Harsin brought in a bunch of dudes — Zach Calzada from Texas A&M, Robby Ashford from Oregon, and the freshman Holden Geriner — to try and either take the starting job or push TJ Finley to greatness. Finley will probably never be a top SEC quarterback, and the other three may not either, but they showed some fun in the A-Day Game, and we’ll have a battle throughout fall camp. Now here we are. SEC Media Days have arrived, the official start of football season. Lane Kiffin signed a mustard bottle yesterday (remember when THAT happened? A full lifetime ago!), and Harsin is scheduled to take the podium along with Tank Bigsby, Derick Hall, and John Samuel Shenker this Thursday to pretty much close out the event. All of this is to say that we’re inching toward yet another Auburn football season, where we can expect absolutely anything. Undefeated? Yeah sure (no). Championship season? Totally (not). Quite honestly, Harsin needs to show that he’s either winning immediately or making huge strides to success in the future. Recruiting has taken a hit, despite the fact that with a few coaching adjustments here and there last year, this could’ve been a ten-win team. Now, you get Georgia and Alabama on the road, along with teams making improvements across the board along the schedule. We’ll see if he’s on a creaking branch by the time we hit the open week in late October, or if things are looking up and Jordan-Hare is providing us some of the same excitement we’ve come to know. We’re six weeks and change away from kickoff. It’ll be here ‘fore yew know it.

i can never quit on my tigers. my dad played on the frosh team and i spent every summer roaming auburns streets as a rugrat. auburn is part of my family heritage and i will always hope and pull for auburn to do better? never. but i do understand your frustration.

i have no idea who feller is. but god this kills my soul because i went back and you are right. i am 67 next month and i guess i am slipping. but i am man enough to say i am sorry and i am. i read it too quick. just remember that. when i am wrong and know i am wrong i will always apologize.