Recruiting... just my thoughts

News came out today that the nation's No. 1 wider receiver prospect, Reuben Randle, has scheduled an official visit to Auburn for this weekend. He is also considered the top overall prospect by Rivals.com.

This is great news for Auburn.

At this point, I don't believe he will end up at Auburn, but the fact that Auburn is even in consideration after so long of not even being on his list, really says something for the recruiting prowess of Auburn's new staff. 

He was scheduled to take an official visit to Oklahoma State, but Coach Curtis Luper convinced him to come to Auburn instead. Go CCL! For the top recruit in the country to use one of his five official visits for AU is awesome. 

Also, rumor has it that Bryce Brown, the nation's top running back prospect according to Rivals.com, may be interested in visiting Auburn as well. He is currently committed to Miami but is rumored to be unhappy with Randy Shannon after the Robert Marve fiasco and transfer. If Auburn can get him to the Plains, we'll have a good chance.

There is another rumor that Tyrik Rollison is interested in Auburn now. He is listed as the No. 2 dual threat quarterback and the No. 2 most accurate passer in the nation by Rivals.com. He is also listed as the nation's NO. 58 overall player. He is an outstanding talent out of Texas and here's the kicker: the top school on his list has been Oklahoma State for a while and his recruiter? Curtis Luper. This one could really happen and believe me, Auburn could use him. 

Things are certainly beginning to take shape for Gene Chizik and his new staff. Even if these guys don't end up at Auburn, it's great to see that our new coaches can generate interest in Auburn out of guys who previously were totally uninterested. 

--

Now, my dad and I sometimes disagree on this next subject - we are just from a little bit different schools of thought.

I argue that rating systems nowadays are far more accurate than they used to be and going after four and five star prospects are near-guarantee's in today's game. 

He argues that the Tuberville/Dye philosophy is still a productive way to recruit. That is, of course, to go after the guys less sought after, sign them and develop them into great players. For a long time I agreed with this school of thought, because for a long time it worked. It worked GREAT for Pat Dye and it has certainly worked well for Tubs. But you have to be very good at scouting talent and potential to be able to do this, and it generally seems to work best with non-skill positions, like linemen. 

When it comes to quarterback, the ratings are pretty accurate. Jason Campbell was the No. 2 quarterback in the nation coming out of high school and Carnell Williams was the No. 5 or 6 running back. Ben Obomanu was the No. 4 wide receiver.

Ben Grubbs was a 3-star defensive end - he's now in the NFL as a guard.  Tyronne Green was a 2-star defensive tackle - he'll be in the NFL as a guard. And Ronnie Brown was not highly recruited either.  Antonio Coleman was a 3-star. Sen'Derrick Marks was a 2-star. So there's a few points for my dad's argument.

I think you can safely sum it up like this: you can pretty well bet that if a guy is rated 5-star by the recruiting services, he's going to play well on the field (if he doesn't get into trouble). They don't always pan out, but usually do. But just because a guy isn't highly rated rated doesn't mean he won't blossom into a superstar. 

I think you definitely need to keep your eyes open for the diamonds in the rough for sure, but also go after the diamonds that are already clean and polished.