Best Surprise

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

To counter the Biggest Bust thread, I thought we could share a positive spin and talk about guys that didn’t come in with very high expectations but turned out to be a very pleasant surprise!

There are several of them.  I will need y’all’s help to jog my memory.   

[Farmer Brown 2,461]

Daren Bates. He was a 2 star, I think. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong. 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Farmer Brown

[Gowebb11 9,872]

From the recent past, Peyton Barber came to AU without a lot of hype. I remember seeing him in limited action and not being overly impressed after watching Mason and CAP. But he ended up being a dang good SEC running back and has had a nice NFL career. On this current team, I would go with Ja'Varrius Johnson. He seemed to get lost on the depth chart his first couple of years but has developed nicely, especially later in the year. I look forward to him having an excellent junior season. 

[macus23 24]

Another from recent past, Will Hastings.  He came to Auburn as a kicking specialist and ended up as a dependable receiver who could beat you deep with deceptive speed, or beat you by running crisp routes with great footwork to get open.

[LPTiger 5,475]

Kevin Greene.

[Mikey 16,781]

I suppose Ben Grubbs is going back too far for some of you but it's not every 2* player who ends up a starter, 1st round pick in the NFL draft and makes the all-pro team. Eight year NFL career following his time at AU.

[fredst 9,070]

Dontarrious Thomas and Karlos Dansby were a formidable linebacker duo that was pretty unexpected. Thomas was very lightly recruited and Dansby was highly regarded but as a WR; Dansby was converted to safety and evolved into a linebacker. Both went on to successful NFL careers, especially  Dansby

[au302 2,669]

I'll stick to recent memory. Daniel Thomas, Roger Mcreary, Iggy (as a CB), Pettway, and Jarquez Hunter. Sean White gets an honorable mention

[auburnphan 6,050]

Nobody knew the greatness that would be Wade Christopher…..shut the thread down

[auburnphan 6,050]

Jimmy Brumbaugh was the lowest rated player in his signing class, impact player as a freshman and throughout his career.

[Mike4AU 1,755]

34 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Kevin Greene.

Absolutely.  Now in the NFL Hall of Fame. 

[TigerHorn 1,385]

Remind me, but wasn't Jerruad Powers pretty low-rated? 

Jeremy Ingle, walk-on. Didn't we have back to back walk-on starters at C? Hard to get much lower rated than walk-on. 

Ben Grubbs was supposed to be DL, thought he had a higher rating there?

Jay Ratliff, TE to DE, long time in the NFL. 

Brumbaugh, D Thomas, K Dansby, Senator Tubs could find those diamonds in the rough and coach them up! 

[TigerHorn 1,385]

Oh, and how could we forget Bo Jackson? 3rd or 4th best RB in his class at AU, not really highly regarded nationally. Think he played some FB in HS. Bammer insisted on moving him to LB. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

23 minutes ago, au302 said:

I'll stick to recent memory. Daniel Thomas, Roger Mcreary, Iggy (as a CB), Pettway, and Jarquez Hunter. Sean White gets an honorable mention

I was thinking about Daniel Thomas.   McCreary has certainly been better than advertised (as well as Iggy).   I’m not ready to say that about Jarquez just yet, but he’s off to a great start!

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

4 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

Senator Tubs could find those diamonds in the rough and coach them up! 

No joke!   We made a living on those type guys defensively during the Tubs years!   Another one I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet is Sen’derrick Marks!

[Quietmaninthecorner 2,032]

1 hour ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

To counter the Biggest Bust thread, I thought we could share a positive spin and talk about guys that didn’t come in with very high expectations but turned out to be a very pleasant surprise!

There are several of them.  I will need y’all’s help to jog my memory.   

This team... Tony Fair.   He had a few  positive  notes,  but when I saw him I thought " WTH?  there is no way this guy is in shape to play SEC football,  and will probably be 2 years before he could get into good enough shape to be effective in SEC ball."         BOY WAS I WRONG!    Caught me off guard and was more than pleasantly  surprised  

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

7 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

Ben Grubbs was supposed to be DL, thought he had a higher rating there?

Jay Ratliff, TE to DE, long time in the NFL.

Two of my faves!

[TigerHorn 1,385]

5 minutes ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

No joke!   We made a living on those type guys defensively during the Tubs years!   Another one I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet is Sen’derrick Marks!

Yep, I was trying to think of his name! Became one of our most consistent DL. 

[TigerHorn 1,385]

6 minutes ago, Quietmaninthecorner said:

This team... Tony Fair.   He had a few  positive  notes,  but when I saw him I thought " WTH?  there is no way this guy is in shape to play SEC football,  and will probably be 2 years before he could get into good enough shape to be effective in SEC ball."         BOY WAS I WRONG!    Caught me off guard and was more than pleasantly  surprised  

Yeah, if you watch him, he doesn't rack up stats, but he consistently stuffs the middle and forces runs outside, which is a major asset. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,046]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

From the recent past, Peyton Barber came to AU without a lot of hype. I remember seeing him in limited action and not being overly impressed after watching Mason and CAP. But he ended up being a dang good SEC running back and has had a nice NFL career. On this current team, I would go with Ja'Varrius Johnson. He seemed to get lost on the depth chart his first couple of years but has developed nicely, especially later in the year. I look forward to him having an excellent junior season. 

Pretty much held that 2015 offense together, with limited contributions from KJ at times

[Gowebb11 9,872]

27 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

Remind me, but wasn't Jerruad Powers pretty low-rated? 

Jeremy Ingle, walk-on. Didn't we have back to back walk-on starters at C? Hard to get much lower rated than walk-on. 

Ben Grubbs was supposed to be DL, thought he had a higher rating there?

Jay Ratliff, TE to DE, long time in the NFL. 

Brumbaugh, D Thomas, K Dansby, Senator Tubs could find those diamonds in the rough and coach them up! 

Joe Cope was the other walk on center. Spencer Johnson was another great Tubs find, as well as Rod Smith. 

[abw0004 10,303]

1 hour ago, macus23 said:

Another from recent past, Will Hastings.  He came to Auburn as a kicking specialist and ended up as a dependable receiver who could beat you deep with deceptive speed, or beat you by running crisp routes with great footwork to get open.

And was a walk-on

[abw0004 10,303]

Daniel Thomas for me.  Lowest ranked player in the 2016 class.  He was a low 3* and the 100th best safety and the 1,523 best player in the country.  Was not even given an offer until signing day in February because we were waiting for other players.  One of the hardest hitting safeties we have had in a while and played clean (no targeting calls).  Still in the NFL playing for the Jaguars.  My former man crush.

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by abw0004

[tigeraddikt 1,697]

36 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Pretty much held that 2015 offense together, with limited contributions from KJ at times

Single handedly won us the JSU game. Gus…smh lol

[AUwent 3,833]

Could we say Nick Fairley?