6.10.24 football Articles

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al.com

Casagrande: The odd fall from coaching Auburn to social media trolling

Updated: Jun. 10, 2024, 7:32 a.m.|Published: Jun. 10, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

6–7 minutes

This is an opinion column.

Say what you’d like about social media, but there’s something refreshing about how it levels the playing field.

There’s a certain democracy to these cyber cesspools where the common user can catch the eye of the rich and powerful.

Where Joe Six Pack once needed to buy a ticket to shout down his favorite athlete or coach, he can simply wipe the Cheeto dust onto his pre-stained undershirt long enough to roll over to the desktop and heckle freely from the safety of mom’s basement.

It’s also where the celebrity cool factor went to die -- where the bubble of mystery that once made these people interesting popped.

Turns out they’re not so different from Mr. Six Pack, shedding that slick exterior to reveal they’re just as thin-skinned while possessing the same wacky takes on worldly topics.

And that’s where we introduce ex-Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin to this discussion.

A full 19 months removed from among the most remarkably disastrous coaching failures in recent memory, he’s gone full keyboard cowboy.

Details released for proposed Coleman Coliseum renovation, expansion

Casagrande: Narratives, disagreement from chat with Alabama, Auburn ADs

New Alabama basketball arena proposal details, capacity and price estimates

It’s hard to imagine his recent posts on the platform formerly known as Twitter are helping if Harsin wants to end his time as a formerly employed college football coach.

We’re talking full airing of grievances, odds takes on reality, trolls of anything Auburn and the local press. On Thursday, just hours after following Harsin on X, he blocked me.

But not my burner account!

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i will check in throughout the day folks for more updates. Tigerland made it easy but they are tanking...............

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It’s down to Auburn and Michigan for four-star DL Nate Marshall

Taylor Jones

Sun, June 9, 2024 at 3:48 PM CDT·2 min read

1

Nate Marshall was a late addition to this weekend’s visitor list, and will leave with a tough decision to make.

The four-star defensive lineman is committed to Michigan, but his recent visit to the Plains has given Auburn almost identical odds to the Wolverines as far as his top school goes.

“It’s Auburn or Michigan,” Marshall said in a recent interview with On3. “I would say it’s pretty close, especially after this visit.”

This weekend marked the second time that Marshall has visited Auburn, his first since April. In a program that is looking to return to its prior glory, every Auburn coach is looking for players that can “change the culture.” Marshall is viewed as one of those players.

Marshall’s primary recruiter is defensive tackles coach Vontrell King-Williams, a fellow Chicagoan.  The relationship Marshall has built with King-Williams is a key reason why Auburn remains high on his radar.

“I like Coach Vontrell,” Marshall said. “He’s from where I’m from, so we have that connection. He’s been recruiting me for a year or two, so we have that relationship, that bond. He was an analyst here when JG (Jeremy Garrett) was here. For him to be here, it actually really helps Auburn’s chances. He’s a guy that I was already close to, talking to every day.”

Marshall is the No. 4 defensive tackle from the 2025 recruiting cycle according to On3 and ESPN rankings, and is considered to be the top prospect from Illinois by On3 and Rivals. Michigan remains the frontrunner, but Auburn can make one final push in late July as Marshall plans to return to campus for Big Cat Weekend.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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247sports.com

Jason Caldwells Monday morning quarterback column

Jason Caldwell

4–5 minutes

Busy time for Auburn football

I'm not sure I remember and more hectic recruiting time than we have right now in major college football. With December and April turning into transfer portal recruiting times for staffs, June has become the month of official visits. By the time this month is done, Hugh Freeze and his staff will have hosted close to 40 official visitors in a span of about three weeks.

Is it ideal to have visitors on campus now versus in the fall or December? Probably not, but this is the way things work now because this is when kids want to take their visits. If you say you'll wait, chances are you won't even get a visit because recruiting will be over with. 

Throw in probably 1,500 kids on campus for various camps over the last week and it's a time of very little sleep and very little rest for the Auburn staff. This is the perfect time to give a shoutout to a bunch of people behind the scenes that make these weeks possible at a place like Auburn.

Will Redmond is a guy we featured a few weeks back as Auburn's new GM of Player Personnel, and it's a busy time for him between official visits and also making sure the coaching staff gets eyes on the top prospects during the camp sessions.

Tim Baggett, Brendt Bedsole, Ethan Johnson, Grant Miller, AK Mogulla, Aaron Pittard, TJ Randall, Mikel Riggs and many others are vitally important to making weeks like these run on the field. Off the field, Bianca Webb and her recruiting operations staff put in long hours with official visits and unofficial visits to make sure everything goes smoothly. While the staff gets talked about for the long hours, there are a bunch of folks involved who work tirelessly to help put recruiting classes and rosters together.

The toughest of leagues

We have talked about the difficulty of baseball and softball in recent years when talking about competing in the Southeastern Conference. With softball now done and baseball's College World Series lineup almost set, it's apparent that things are only going to get more difficult moving forward in those two sports.

In softball, with 4-time national champion Oklahoma and runner-up Texas joining the league, that would have meant 15 teams in the new format would have made the NCAA Tournament last season. That's almost a quarter of the field from one league. Oklahoma is the most dominant softball program of the last 20+ years and is on one of the most dominant runs in history. Texas is young and talented and only getting better. Welcome to the toughest league in the country in any sport.

Maybe just behind them is SEC baseball. If Georgia beats NC State tonight in game three of the Athens Super Regional, that would give the league 5 of the 8 teams in Omaha with Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Florida all punching their tickets over the weekend. If NC State were to win, that would give the ACC the other four teams. No matter what, the entire field in Omaha will be comprised of just two leagues. With the Pac 12 going away and the Big 12 losing two of its three historically best programs in that sport, college baseball is quickly becoming a two conference sport. Yes, programs like Oklahoma State and Kansas State will make a run occasionally and we saw West Virginia this year, but there is no question that in softball and baseball, the SEC is where it's at and things are only going to get tougher.

Track-ing the Tigers

Some have asked me the next Auburn program to win a national championship. Over the weekend we almost saw it happen with the men's track and field team coming up just one point short of winning the title. Coach Leroy Burrell has done a remarkable job along with his staff of building the program back in a hurry with a combination of transfer and newcomer talent. I believe a title is coming soon as they continue to add more depth to the team. The sprint portion of things is already elite and will only continue to get better. If Auburn can add just a little help from the middle distance and field portions, look out.

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Could Auburn football be the SEC's 'cinderella' ahead of expanded College Football Playoff?

Taylor Jones

2–3 minutes

The College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams beginning this season, which will allow more teams to have a say in who wins the national championship.

Not only will teams such as Florida State or Georgia have better odds of not missing a bid again, but it also opens the door for Group of Five champions or even Cinderella teams to sneak into the party.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli broke out his basketball mindset recently by submitting his picks for each Power conference’s Cinderella team to make the College Football Playoff. For the SEC, he has chosen the Auburn Tigers.

Fornelli says that Auburn’s chances of reaching the College Football Playoff are unlikely, but not impossible. The strength of a conference that features Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Tennessee will make it difficult for the Tigers to sneak in. However, Auburn’s history of creating chaos and keeping teams away from playoff bids could repeat itself in 2024.

If Auburn stays healthy this season, Fornelli says that the possibility of Aubur reaching a playoff bid remains wide open.

Plus, (Auburn is) a talented team. The Tigers don’t have the depth of talent others in the SEC have, but if they get lucky with injuries, they have enough to compete with just about anybody they’ll face during the regular season. I’m not overly high on Payton Thorne — Auburn’s passing attack was pretty bad last year — but I’ve learned over the years to give coach Hugh Freeze the benefit of the doubt with his QBs. He does a good job of wringing every ounce of ability out of them.

Fornelli also mentions the Tigers’ schedule as a factor that could cause Auburn to miss out on a bid. Auburn will face Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky on the road while hosting Oklahoma and Texas A&M in SEC play. ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks Auburn’s schedule as the fifth-toughest in the nation despite missing Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee, and Texas following the SEC’s decision to scrap divisional play.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

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si.com

Auburn Tigers Latest Football Commitment is a Big One

Dominic Petrillo

~2 minutes

The Auburn Tigers offensive line class has gotten another boost as Broderick Shull, a four-star OL from Bixby, Okla. picked the Auburn Tigers over the weekend.

Shull, ranked the No. 5 offensive lineman and No. 19 overall player by On3 chose the Tigers over Nebraska, Texas Tech and Texas A&M among others. 

The newest member of the Tigers offensive line commitment list, Shull is the highest ranked thus far and becomes the 13th member of the Auburn Tigers recruiting class under coach Hugh Freeze. 

Shull spoke to On3 after his commitment and stated “I did pray about it for a bit. I feel that feeling is what God spoke to me about and that’s being an Auburn football player.” 

Another piece of this recruitment is the relationship Shull has with five-star offensive lineman Andrew Babalola of Kansas. While Babalola is considered a Stanford lean at the moment, the relationship he has built with Shull can only help the Tigers in their attempt to land the elite lineman.

Auburn’s 13 commitments for the class of 2025 is good for 10th in the nation according to 247Sports and No. 9 nationally by On3.

Shull joins Tavaris Dice, Tai Buster, Carde Smith, and Spencer Dowland as the fifth member of this offensive line class.

The SEC is a league built in the trenches, at six-foot five, 275 pounds, Shull will bulk up and add another resource to help rebuild the Auburn Tigers into a contender once again in the new SEC. One without divisions.