4/23/23 Football Articles

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General 4/13/2023 2:30:00 PMBy: Jeff Shearer

Remembering hall of fame athletic trainer Hub Waldrop: 'An Auburn legend'

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AUBURN, Ala. – Renowned for his athletic training skills, revered for his personal touch and the enduring impact he made at Auburn University, Herbert "Hub" Waldrop passed away April 9 at the age of 85. 

Waldrop served Auburn for nearly a half century, rising from assistant trainer and freshman assistant coach to head athletic trainer, while teaching in Auburn University's School of Kinesiology. 

"The kindest, most ethical, go-by-the rules guy you ever wanted to meet," recalled Bo Jackson, the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner. "He cared about the players as people, not just because they played sports. 

"He wanted to know how was your life outside of football. He was more like a parent to us. Every player would say the same thing. I don't think there's one person on the planet who has anything negative to say about Hub Waldrop. 

"He greeted everyone with a smile, and that's hard to find. Not only me but all the players who played under his care are going to miss him dearly."

Quentin Riggins, a member of Auburn University's Board of Trustees who contributed to three SEC championships from 1987-89, echoed Jackson's sentiments. 

"I don't care if it was 6 o'clock in the morning or 6 o'clock in the evening, he was there," Riggins said. "He cared about each and every athlete. He took a genuine interest in each player. He was going to be waiting on you in the training room and he was going to take care of you.

"He spent more time with us than with his family. He probably spent more time with us than our coaches. He deserves every accolade."



Waldrop earned his first Auburn University degree in health and physical education in 1960, then earned his master's in 1962. In 2012, Waldrop received the Jack Meagher Award for significant contributions to society through athletics. 

When Auburn Athletics chief medical officer Dr. Michael Goodlett came to Auburn in the summer of 1993, Waldrop taught him what it meant to be an Auburn man.

"Hub was one of the most genuine Auburn people I've ever met," said Goodlett, Auburn's team physician. "He was a hall of fame trainer for a reason. He was the kind of athletic trainer that every athletic trainer should want to be. He cared about the kids personally."

Goodlett marveled at Waldrop's ability to correctly diagnose sports injuries.

"He could take a history and watch you walk, and he knew what was wrong with you," Goodlett said. "He was usually spot-on. I was honored that he shared his knowledge of Auburn with me. He was a delight."

Waldrop mentored many, including Jim Lovell, who became the athletic trainer for the Atlanta Braves before becoming the team's senior director of travel. 

"I couldn't have asked for a better one. Coach was as good of a man as you'll ever find anywhere," Lovell said. "He loved his players. He loved those of us who worked for him and he loved his family. He was such a great example because he balanced his work responsibilities and his family responsibilities and caring about other people. It was amazing to watch how he did it."

Waldrop served as assistant athletic trainer from 1960-75, then as head athletic trainer from 1976-94 before serving another decade in Athletics in career counseling and drug education.

In 1983, he received Auburn Athletics' Distinguished Service Award. After retiring from Athletics in 2005, his service to Auburn continued in his athletic training course, pouring into students.

One of those students, Robin Martin, would go on to become the School of Kinesiology's director for advising. 

"Hub Waldrop was an Auburn legend," Martin said. "As a student, we learned more life lessons from him than anything. He was one of the kindest men I've ever met and I'm a better person having had the chance to know him."

A tenured faculty member since 1962, Waldrop balanced his teaching and athletic training duties for decades. 

"Hub Waldrop was as excited and proud when he received his academic promotion to assistant professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (now the School of Kinesiology) as he was when Auburn celebrated a win at Toomer's Corner," said Susan Nunnelly, former women's basketball coach and director of campus recreation. "Not only did he teach students academic knowledge, he taught them life lessons that would reach far beyond the classroom and training room – dedication, discipline, compassion, honesty and trust. Coach Waldrop was an Auburn man who lived the Auburn Creed daily." 

"Hub was one of the kindest, most caring souls I have ever met," said Dr. Mary Rudisill, director of the School of Kinesiology. "He loved Auburn University and was a dedicated teacher."



In 1998, Waldrop was inducted into the Alabama Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. Married for 62 years to the former Jean Robertson, the Waldrops raised their daughter, Lisa Kiteley, and grandchildren Caroline, Trent, Allison and Clay to love Auburn as they did. 

Waldrop positively influenced everyone with whom he interacted. 

"He had the most profound impact on Auburn football players than any one individual," said former athletics director Jay Jacobs, an offensive lineman in the 1980s and administrator during Waldrop's tenure. 

Jacobs recalls advice Waldrop gave at football practice after Jay had gotten engaged.

"'To be a great football team, you've got to work at it every day,'" Waldrop told the young conditioning coach. "'Your marriage is the same way. To have a great marriage, you've got to work at it every day.' 

"He spoke truth into people's lives. He was an athletic trainer, but he was also a father, a brother and a mentor."

A native of Fairfield, Alabama, and graduate of Hueytown High School, Waldrop earned a football scholarship to Auburn University. An eye injury ended his playing career but he remained on scholarship as a student trainer, the foundation of what became a legendary career. 

"He was as good of an Auburn man as ever existed," said former athletics director David Housel. "But more importantly, he was a good, good man.

"Hub was a great athletic trainer, but more than anything, he is regarded for his love of the athletes. His love, his compassion, his toughness. He was always there for them. He was a man of deep faith, and it came through in his relationship with other people."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer

Miranda Nobles from Auburn University's School of Kinesiology contributed to this remembrance

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saturdaydownsouth.com

 

Robby Ashford might have the most pressure on him of any spring game player, but what will that yield?

Connor O'Gara

7–8 minutes

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I get the sense that Hugh Freeze is frustrated, and I can’t say I blame him.

In theory, now is when he should be getting a full look at Robby Ashford to evaluate if he can be his first QB1 on The Plains. After all, Ashford held that title for the majority of a lost 2022 campaign, though the sample size came amidst a midseason coaching change and Auburn essentially shifted into a modern day service academy with its rushing volume (the Tigers averaged 46.5 rushing attempts per game under interim coach Cadillac Williams).

One would think that given the way the transfer portal window now works for potential post-spring additions, Ashford should have plenty riding on Saturday’s A-Day performance.

In reality, though, we should probably temper our expectations because of the limitations in play.

Hence, Freeze’s frustration.

The basic setup of a spring game, wherein a quarterback isn’t live, doesn’t really play to Ashford’s skill set (Freeze would get blasted if he made quarterbacks live and 1 of them got hurt). He doesn’t have to worry about sensing pressure from the blindside and if he takes off with his legs, the play essentially has a 3-second shelf life in a game of 2-hand touch. While Ashford impressed in that setting last year, how he reads defenses and operates in the intermediate passing game is the most important thing for Freeze’s evaluation.

Perhaps that explains why the first-year Auburn coach banged the drum for teams to be playing real exhibition games against opposing programs instead of hosting intrasquad scrimmages (via AL.com).

“I’m going to cry again for the solution,” Freeze said. “The solution is: Allow us to scrimmage somebody on A-Day. Another team. I think everybody would get out of it exactly what they want.”

(For what it’s worth, I don’t think Alabama wants 4 months worth of overreaction to a potential slow start against UAB. Alternatively, I don’t think Nick Saban wants to answer questions about why a starting offensive lineman suffered a significant knee injury in a spring exhibition game.)

What Freeze wants is to actually see if his quarterback can handle game situations, and not just benefit from the parameters in place. Or alternatively, he’d probably like to see his quarterback’s true mobility and not just what he does against 2-hand touch.

Freeze makes a fair point. It can feel like, as he said, “a wasted day” to host an intrasquad scrimmage that doesn’t help in the evaluation process as much as we might think it does, especially when you have 2 starting quarterbacks at opposite ends of the spectrum with their pocket presence.

TJ Finley, who opted to stay at Auburn instead of transferring, is battling Ashford and trying to improve his statuesque ways in the pocket. How can a coach really tell if Finley is developing in that area if his mental clock isn’t being sped up by the thought of taking a shot to the ribs?

Go figure that Ashford actually looked like the better player in last year’s spring game and it was Finley who earned QB1 honors to start the season. In other words, take Saturday for what it is.

Also remember that this might not be the final group of pass-catchers that Freeze’s QB1 will be working with. Reports out of camp have been, um, let’s say “underwhelming.”

That wasn’t necessarily a revelation. Last year, Auburn didn’t have a single pass-catcher hit 500 receiving yards, and the offense ranked No. 122 in FBS with 9 passing touchdowns. Leading receivers Ja’Varrius Johnson and Koy Moore are back, but neither truly established himself as a prolific SEC receiver. On top of that, it’s a new offense for them, too. Being on the same page is by no means a given, especially when they’re working with several quarterbacks getting first-team reps.

It’s not crazy to think that Auburn’s leading receiver in 2023 isn’t even on the roster yet. Nobody would be surprised if Freeze dipped into the portal to add some much-needed depth at the position. The addition of Cincinnati wideout Nick Mardner should help. The 6-6 wideout has 1,488 receiving yards at the FBS level, 913 of which came at Hawaii, where he worked with new Auburn receivers coach Marcus Davis. More recently, however, Mardner had 218 receiving yards at Cincinnati.

In other words, it’s perfectly fair to have limited expectations for Auburn receivers on Saturday.

That really feels like it’ll be the case for the Auburn passing game as a whole. That shouldn’t be an issue for a fan base that hasn’t seen a top-40 passing offense in the 21st century (the Tigers’ lone top-50 passing offense in the 21st century came in 2004).

But Freeze doesn’t care about that. He cares about establishing some offensive roots at his new job. It’s hard to establish much of an identity if the quarterback position is in flux heading into the regular season. More pressing is if the quarterback situation is in flux heading into the spring transfer portal window.

Grayson McCall and Spencer Sanders didn’t line up after there was reportedly mutual interest, but that’s not to say Freeze is committed to the idea of a post-spring addition. We don’t know what the market will look like. Yes, we’ve seen post-spring transfers like Joe Burrow, but given all the movement we saw in the post-regular season window, it’s hard to imagine the quarterback market will have more potential options than it had a few months ago.

Then again, all it takes is 1. Freeze is searching for his 1. That figures to be the case well after Saturday’s festivities conclude. Whether that includes some new blood remains to be seen.

For now, though, all Ashford can do is continue to try and win over his frustrated new coach.

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i hope this is not a repeat.....

 

Auburn reportedly showing interest in former TCU WR Jordan Hudson

Justin Hokanson

4–6 minutes

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AUBURN — One of the positions where Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze feels like help is needed is the wide receiver position. During spring camp, Freeze didn’t hold back. He mentioned wanting to see more development from the receivers.

Then, on the first day of the spring transfer portal window, sophomore Tar’Varish Dawson announced his intentions to transfer. Dawson didn’t exit spring in position to start, but seemed poised to provide quality depth this fall. Dawson has since committed to Cincinnati.

That brings us to former TCU wide receiver Jordan Hudson.

Hudson has been one of the most coveted prospects in the transfer portal this offseason. A former four-star recruit in the 2022 cycle, the 6-foot-1, 190 pounder has no shortage of options when it comes to making a decision in the portal.

Hudson is hearing from quite a few schools, and one of those is Auburn, according to On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

Jordan Hudson is currently ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect in On3’s 2023 Transfer Portal Rankings. Last season, he hauled in 14 catches for 174 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Jordan Hudson played high school football at Garland (TX) High, where he was rated as a four-star prospect in the class of 2022 by the On3 Industry Rankings, which generates a weighted average of all the top recruiting services. He was also ranked as the No. 70 overall player and the No. 9 receiver in his cycle.

 

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Industry Recruiting Rankings, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

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slow morning folks. i will of course check back in throughout the day to see if anything worthy pops up i can add.

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