-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, I am glad you guys come around, its nice to have a different perspective from time to time. Anyway, just curious as I read on your board a bit of outrage at first about your new coach but now seems to be swinging the other way. Curious an Auburns fans perpective. Is he settling a bit to the Auburn fan base. He seems to be recruiting pretty well. What do you think about the offense they are bringing in. I have always considered Auburn a program with a brutal running game (See Brown, Caddy, etc) and a stellar Defense. They have done very well with that kind of game. Change isnt a bad thing and it will take time to "recruit" those kinds of players. Although the running backs with Auburn on their list of possible schools is stellar to say the least. I guess I am curious, what is the general vibe around the Auburn stables this time of year....
I hated to see CTT go. As long as the dynamics remained the same, however, he would never win in the long run. Makes me sad that he was fighting opponents, admin, personal situations; too many things to overcome. I think Gene has put together a very strong staff. I would dare say that between CGC, Coach Lolley and Coach Thigpen we have one of the strongest groups in the country around our DBs. How the rest of the group melds together will determine a lot for Auburn. Things look good until someone hits you in the mouth, I need to see how they respond once the arrows start flying. Young and aggressive though, yes, that they will be. Our guards will have their hands on the ground this year. Some of our linemen have put on upwards of 40lbs that Franklin made them shed. They will be more physical. Lack of depth and the pace offense does concern me. Skill positions do not concern me. We have folk that can make plays. I am hoping Chris' arm will hold up. I saw him at TTU and to this day think he was better than Graham Harrell. If he comes out and accomplishes what I believe he can this season will surprise a lot of people. The kid is a gunslinger and a student of the game. He will know where to go with the ball and will coach up his players to be where he needs them to be. (My assumption he will win the job). Linebacker is like the line, one injury away from problems. Hell, one substitution away from problems. This will be the biggest weakness. I think the D Line will have enough intensity (Coach Rocker anyone?) to be very effective. Coming off the ends we can give most folk fits. At tackle, I am withholding judgement. We need some folk to step up. Back to the coaches; all except Lolley are at a point in their career that they are going all out to make a statement. The energy level just is so much higher. Doing things different, like breaking the squad into two groups for practice so when it is your turn with the position coach you get quality time (Ones rotate inside to work with conditioning and other coaches when the twos and threes come out for reps). Feel good right now, just need to see how we handle adversity. That is what will make or break ya.
Do you think so? They aren't sniffing the top-25 in recruiting so far. LSU has 14 four-star recruits committed. Auburn has 2.
we've got a decent starting group, but we're rather thin on numbers, particularly at LB and OL. Chizik wouldn't have been my first choice, but that's because my hiring priorities would've been different than that used by Jay Jacobs. Chizik does deserve credit for hiring a solid staff, making recruiting a prioritized emphasis, and not allowing the QB race to become an off-season controversy. Oh, and Red, .... never make the mistake of believing that Auburn and LSU are on equal footing when it comes to recruiting. Much harder to recruit at AU, ... so relatively speaking, Chizik is on the right path. :thumb:
Well I am basing it on the fact that right now, several very high valued recruits (Seastrunk) have them very high on their list. No commits yet but he has them in the fight with several pretty good recruits.
Dat' be true, Tex .... but February is a long time away and .... IMHO, if the staff doesn't shore up the caliber of OL-recruiting, it won't impress the blue-chip RB's that are considering Auburn for the '10 class. It should also be pointed out that Seastrunk is an out-of-state recruit, and Auburn is on more-equal footing when recruiting outside the state of Alabama. You folks may not imagine the level of imbalance we experience with bias from the in-state media. :nope: not much you can do about it other than accept it and work around the issue.
I can imagine, that is one thing we dont have to deal with however. I have to admit I wish LSU had something like the Iron Bowl. That is one of my favorite non LSU games every year. The passion, history and just flat out rivalry is amazing in that game. I live in Dallas and I attend the OU vs UT game every year here. It is amazing to see, I wish that game was a neutral site like the OU Texas game. Seeing the stands perfectly split down the middle is amazing. As a college football fan, the Iron Bowl, red river shootout. ND vs. Michigan (Which I am going to this year) doesnt get any better then that. So true you have to deal with St. Nick and his hoard of sheep. You have something I wish we had at LSU. A yearly instate rivaly where the history and hatred runs deep. I dont count Tulane. that isnt a hated rivalry. Was back in the day, but not for many years.
