More on Reuben Randle

Well, according to reports, it turns out the Reuben Randle was never planning on taking a visit to Auburn. This is according to his dad, who also says he is not interested in Auburn and that it's a two-horse race between LSU and Bama.

He also mentioned that Oklahoma and Miami are on his list.

This doesn't really surprise me, to be honest. 

Apparently, the info on him visiting Auburn came from his high school coach, so I don't know what that's all about.

Here's some food for thought, maybe the Auburn coaches put that rumor out there to help with recruiting??? It would be a good selling point that the best prospect in the country is looking at your school and planning a visit. Guys want to be a part of a great recruiting class sometimes because good classes result in wins. Anyway, it was probably all just a misunderstanding, but who knows...

Rocker coming home

Sources are reporting that Tracy Rocker, former Auburn All-American and Outland Trophy winner as well as Lombardi Award winner, has accepted a job as Auburn's defensive line coach.

Another great hire for Gene Chizik.

If Rocker can teach even close to as well as he could play, Auburn's recent tradition of standout defensive lines should continue.

Rocker comes to Auburn from Ole Miss, where he coached the defensive line, and Arkansas before that. He played defensive tackle for Auburn.

I expect things to shape up something like this on defense: Rocker will coach the interior defensive linemen, James Willis will handle the defensive ends/hybrid linebackers, Ted Roof will coach the linebacking corp as a whole and Gene Chizik will coach the defensive backs. Of course, this very well may not be the case, but it could happen.

Note: there is also a rumor that Chizik is interested in John Thompson, presumably to coach the defensive backs. He has been the defensive coordinator everywhere from Southern Miss to Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Lousianna Tech and South Carolina. He also was the HC at East Carolina for 2 years, where he amassed a 3-20 record. I believe he is currently the AD at Central Arkansas, his alma mater.

It is still very unclear how much of a roll Chizik will play in the defense. But then again, how clear was Tommy Tuberville's roll in his great defenses? The answer is not very.

I'd be willing to bet that Chizik will give Roof full reigns of the defense, much like Tuberville did for him. That's one thing he was probably able to learn from his experience at Auburn and ISU.

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. 

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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.

How do ya like me now?

This is likely to appear as a column in the Citizen of East Alabama Thursday:

Everyone remembers the public outcry in the wake of Tommy Tuberville’s firing/resignation, and Jay Jacobs’ subsequent hiring of Gene Chizik. People criticized Jacobs’ ability to lead a program the caliber of Auburn and called for his job. Charles Barkley even went so far as to call Auburn racist for hiring a white football coach over Turner Gill.

Well, let me ask you all a question: with the recent additions of Gus Malzahn (OC), Curtis Luper (RBs), James Willis (LBs?), Trooper Taylor (WRs) and Jay Boulware (STC) to the staff, what do you think of the Chizik hire now? Is Jacobs still an idiot?

Of course, the verdict will still be out until actual football games are played, but it appears as though instead of hiring the guy with the best record, they hired the guy with the best plan. They hired the best “fit” for Auburn.

It also looks like Gene Chizik is a very smart man. Instead of demanding $3 or $4 million a year to rival Nick Saban, he took only $2 million, or somewhere close to it, and decided to spread the rest amongst his supporting cast. How ingenious is that?

The great ones understand that you can’t do it by yourself, especially in the SEC. Tommy Tuberville understood that, too. The difference is that Tuberville had his posse formed early on, when assistant coaches didn’t make very much. And he made good choices off the bat.

Today, nearly all coaches make a ton of money – arguably way too much – especially if they win. And I guarantee you this: If Gene Chizik wins more football games than he loses next year, and improves upon that the next year, he’ll get a raise. Wins a conference championship? A raise. Competes for a national championship? A raise. My point is that in college football, there is almost always room for your salary to grow – just keep winning. But the best way to establish yourself as a winner is to surround yourself with the best coaches and recruiters in the country, which will draw the best players in the country.

One of the greats said the best way to ensure that you win football games is to surround yourself with the best players. 

Malzahn is one of the best offensive coaches in the country; Chizik is one of the best defensive coaches in the country; Willis, Luper and Taylor are some of the best recruiters in the country, not to mention their outstanding coaching abilities. Now that sounds like a formula for success.

Utah No. 1 ?

Let’s make a case for Utah. This is a team that beat Michigan in week-1, beat two top-15 teams in TCU and BYU, beat an Oregon State team that beat USC, and beat Alabama by more points than Florida did.

 

This is a team that plays in an inferior comference, but does everything it possibly can to schedule the toughest non-conference games it can. They did the best they could, and won every game. How can anybody say they don’t deserve a shot at the National Championship. This, in my opinion, is just another perfect case for either a playoff or a plus-one game.

 

I like the plus-one idea the best, simply because it is a compromise. It won’t really prolong the season too much and pits the two best teams at the end of the year against each other. Play the season out and subsequent bowl games as usual, then just take the two highest ranked teams and let them play each other.

 

Under the playoff formula, keep the bowl games for everyone not ranked in the top 8 – consider that to be the NIT-type of football. For everyone else, put 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc. Sure, it will add three weeks on to the season, but if you drop the recently added twelfth game, it’s really like adding two weeks. This way, someone from the SEC who goes all the way will play 15 games. But they’ll be the undisputed national champion. Doesn’t that phrase sound good? Undisputed.

Now let's see what Florida does.