Auburn Tigers

[Hacksaw]

"If I'd told you to guess which fan base in America was going to be responsible for both of these acts, a public teabagging and tree murder, most of your first guesses would have been Alabama. Even Alabama fans would have guessed this."

lol

Yeah, and the sad part is the high percentage of Bammer fans who are not only proud of these acts, but jealous that they weren't able to participate directly.

[AlabamAlum]

Horse shit. Most Bama fans want both Updyke and whatever this guy's name is put to death.

I'll start the IV for the lethal injection.

[KeviNole]

Really? For a tree?

[Jungle Rat]

Horse shit. Most Bama fans want both Updyke and whatever this guy's name is put to death.

I'll start the IV for the lethal injection.

Can we store this in the archives as the last AA post ever?

[Professor Tiger]

Nice recruiting class yesterday. It was the weirdest one I can remember. We only had 16 commits going in, and were finalists for at least 5 big-time national recruits - Goldman, L. Williams, Darby, Alexander and Patterson. We struck out on all of them by noon. I think a lot of Auburn folk were taking their lunch break on a ledge. But then we got back two players we thought we had lost - Louis and J. Williams. Then we got a surprise commit from 5 star OL Avery Young, which coaxed a lot of us off the ledge.

It's still a small class with only 20 signees (one's an All-American transfer FB from IL, who doesn't count in the rankings). But we landed 4 star talent at nearly every position and ended up with a strong 3.63 average star rating.

Next year, with both offensive and defensive coordinators and no NCAA cloud, we should get back in the top 5, where we belong. It would also help if don't get blown out by all our major rivals on TV in 2012.

[Professor Tiger]

We've still got a shot at Jordan Diamond, who will announce tomorrow:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1050 ... -or-auburn

But based on our signing day, I'm not optimistic about our chances with any out-of-region hotshots. Although maybe he's ready to trade in Chicago winters for southeast Alabama's. Ann Arbor gets more snow than Chicago.

We're also still in the hunt for 5 star WR Stefon Diggs. I'm not real optimistic about him either.

[Professor Tiger]

WE GOT HIM.

This class now has TWO 5 star OT's (not to mention two more 4 star OL's.) With this one LOI we jumped from #14 to #9 in the country.

Fabulous job, Coaches Grimes, Chizik and Co.

Now, go and get 5 star WR Stefon Diggs.

[GBJs]

If within the ext two seasons Auburn can't run the ball effectively your O line coach should be sent wherever Roof is.

[Professor Tiger]

I agree.

And Roof is now, amazingly, the DC at Penn St. I will ignore the considerable temptation to make some Sandusky jokes.

[Jungle Rat]

You should considering what happened to you as a young boy.

[Professor Tiger]

It's official: Wille Martinez to Auburn:

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012 ... willi.html

It looks like the tradition of trading of coaches and players between and Auburn and Georgia continues: Joel Eaves, Pat Dye, Vince Dooley, Rodney Garner, and now Van Gorder and Martinez. Nice to know some things don't change.

[GBJs]

You should have kept Roof. </sarcasm>

Perhaps Martinez will be a better position coach than he was coordinator. Okie's DBs probably aren't the best judge...they' don't play defense.

[Professor Tiger]

Martinez can't possibly be a worse secondary coach than Lolley. Mickey Mouse would be a better coach than Lolley. Or Roof for that matter. Our secondary and defense have only one direction to go and that's up.

Lolley and Roof were the architects of the famed "give opposing receivers a 20 yard cushion all over the field" coverage, and the dreaded "only tackle with your shoulders" technique. Once Roof installs his system at Penn State, they will want Sandusky back.

[GBJs]

The problem I saw with AU's defense last year, aside from inexperience, was player development. The young men didn't seem to improve over all from even the beginning of the season. And that goes to Chicky's feet.

Besides, how you gonna make the ESPN high light reel usin sumpin 'sides yo sholdas to tackle?

[Professor Tiger]

I agree. The problem of inexperience solves itself, but lack of improvement over 13 games points to bad coaching. And the only way to solve bad coaching is to replace the coach(es), which Chiz did.

Watching our defense under Roof last year was like watching the ill-fated "Spread Eagle offense," which lasted 7 whole games before Tommy Franklin was shown the door. Maybe Van Gorder will be to our defense what Malzahn (peace be upon him) was to our offense.

[GBJs]

I aint so sure about malzhan's O. It took a special athlete to make it work, just like meyer / Tebow. Remember, he didn't change the offense last season but the results were poop-like in comparison. I think I'll stick with our boring old pro set thing that has 48 wins and two championships in 4 seasons. Even with only 7 wins in 07. Its still one game better than 11 wins / yr for 5 years.

I have to go for now. I think I may cry.

[Professor Tiger]

I aint so sure about malzhan's O. It took a special athlete to make it work, just like meyer / Tebow. Remember, he didn't change the offense last season but the results were poop-like in comparison. I think I'll stick with our boring old pro set thing..

It takes special athletes to make your boring old pro-set thing to work too. Like Ingram, Richardson, Julio, etc. If you have great athletes, you can run the wishbone or wing t and it will be successful. If you don't have great athletes to run it, no system will work all that well.

[GBJs]

You can't be sayin' Chiz can't recruit. Is it player development?

...remembers Tone's workin like heck and player development comments about Fulmer...

[Professor Tiger]

Chiz's staff has proven that they can recruit. They just couldn't make a bunch of true freshmen and sophomores play like redshirt juniors and seniors against Top 10 teams.

This year should be better, when the first crop of Chiz's recruits will be juniors. Getting proven winners in Van Gorder and Martinez should put some fire (or at least basic competence) in our defense, which has been absent recently.

[GBJs]

You can't teach fire. Basic competence should already be instilled. Those great players you mentioned above...Class '08 won 12 and 14 games respectively in their first 2 seasons.

I'm layin' the defensive malfeasance of the Roof (peace be with him) era at Chiz's feet. Chiz was a D coordinator and a pretty darn good one. As a fan, I don't think I could accept youth being an excuse for not being in the top 110 of D-1 football for total defense. Not at Auburn.

And I sometimes miss that wishbone... It is fun to watch now and then. Hard to stop now a days because of the "shoulder tackle" highlight reel, and if you can't stop a run it demoralizes the whole team.